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           _ m m m  (Guaranteed 100% Pure Local News from Assam) 
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                       Vol.1, No.5 * October 14, 1998
   ------------------------------------------------------------------

1  TAKING REFUSE IN WITCHCRAFT, MLA BEAT UP YOUTH       [S:14-OCT-98]
   ----------------------------------------------
   GUWAHATI:  Mostafa Sahidul Islam, the Congress  MLA  of  Moirabari
   constituency  and  his  security guards beat up a youth, one Altaf
   Hussain in the Christianbasti area  of  Guwahati.    The  incident
   occurred   when  Altaf  Hussain,  who  has  a  signboard  painting
   workshop, Rangghar Art in the area,  came  to  open  his  shop  on
   Tuesday morning.
   
   According to reports, after beating him up, the MLA took the youth
   to an old lady, known to practise witchcraft, at Noonmati area  of
   Guwahati,  but  she reportedly told the MLA that the youth was not
   the one he was looking for. Sources said, the  MLA  believed  that
   the  youth had influenced his wife through tantrik rites to refuse
   to gift away her ancestral property at Christianbasti to him.
   
   The MLA himself bought the youth back to his shop and let  him  go
   after   he   discovered   that   he   was   innocent.   Meanwhile,
   Christianbasti  Traders'  Association,  Udayachal  Mahila  Samiti,
   Christianbasti  Students'  Union  and  several other organizations
   have demanded stern action against the legislator.
   
2  BRIDGE OVER DOYANG YET TO BE COMPLETED AFTER 9 YEARS [S:14-OCT-98]
   ----------------------------------------------------
   GOLAGHAT:   The  Kushal  Konwar  Setu,  over  the  river Doyang in
   Golaghat district is still a dream even after nine  years  of  its
   foundation  stone  was  laid  amidst great fanfare by the then PWD
   Minister Mr Atul Bora (AGP) on June 27, 1987.  The  195-metre-long
   bridge  was  supposed  to  be  completed  within  two  years at an
   estimated cost of Rs.24.3 million.  Initially the construction was
   entrusted to the Assam Government Construction Corporation (AGCC).
   
   When  the  construction  work  did  not progress well, the revised
   estimate of the work rose to Rs.85.3 million.  About a  year  ago,
   the Government relieved AGCC from the work and entrusted it to one
   B.N.Sarma.    The   contractor   spent  about  Rs.800,000  on  the
   construction work, after which it again came  to  a  halt  as  the
   Government could  pay  only  Rs.100,000  to the contractor.  After
   nine years only 23 per cent of the work has been completed.
   
   The  proposed  bridge  linking  Golaghat subdivision with Dhansiri
   subdivision is considered to be of strategic importance  since  it
   would  provide  an  alternate  route  linking the subdivisions. At
   present the only route to Dhansiri subdivision  is  through  Karbi
   Anglong  district  via  Silonijan.  Due to frequent bandh calls in
   Karbi Anglong, sometimes up to 1,101 hours, the people of Golaghat
   and Dhansiri subdivisions have to suffer.
   
3  APPOINTMENT OF TEACHERS IN BENGALI SCHOOLS           [S:11-OCT-98]
   ------------------------------------------
   GUWAHATI:  Mr Bhaskar Sarkar, general secretary  of  the  Guwahati
   city  Congress(I)  committee expressed concern over appointment of
   Assamese language teachers in Bengali medium  schools  of  greater
   Guwahati.   He  alleged  that  a  sinister  move  was  made by the
   department concerned to appoint Assamese medium  teachers  in  two
   posts  of  Bengali Higher Secondary School, Paltan Bazar and three
   posts in Assam Railway Higher Secondary School,  Panbazar.    Five
   posts  have fallen vacant after the retirement of Bengali language
   teachers in the two premier Bengali medium schools of Guwahati.
   
4  RANI IRKED OVER CM'S STATEMENT ON FLOOD RELIEF       [S:13-OCT-98]
   ----------------------------------------------
   NORTH LAKHIMPUR:    Ms  Rani  Narah,  MP,  reacted  sharply   over
   telephone  from  Delhi and termed the assurance by the Assam Chief
   Minister Prafulla Mahanta in a public meeting  at  Dhakuakhana  as
   irrelevant compared to the grim situation in the subdivision.  She
   said that the Chief Minister could well initiate the developmental
   works  from  the FDR fund instead of waiting for Central flood aid
   indefinitely.
   
   When  people in Bakulguri and other areas have virtually turned to
   begging  from  pedestrians  to  survive,  the   Chief   Minister's
   scheduled  visit to a single camp in Dhakuakhana for half-an-hour,
   cannot bring relief to the people.
   
5  POULTRY FARM IN DIRE STRAITS AFTER LOC SCAM         [AT:12-OCT-98]
   -------------------------------------------
   TEZPUR: The Sonitpur District Poultry Farm, established in 1965 on
   27 bighas of land at Barika Chuburi on  the  outskirts  of  Tezpur
   town, remained closed since 1994 due to the alleged neglect of the
   Assam  Government  and  acute  financial  crisis of the Veterinary
   Department, after the Rs.4-billion Letter of Credit (LoC) scam.
   
   Officials of the department said that  till  1992,  the  farm  was
   running  smooth  rendering good service to the people of Sonitpur,
   Darrang, Nagaon, Lakhimpur, Dhemaji districts and the neighbouring
   Arunachal Pradesh state.  However, after the LoC  scam,  the  farm
   was  in  dire  straits, and in 1994, the electricity was cutoff by
   the ASEB due to nonpayment of bills.  Later  the  telephone  lines
   had to be disconnected.
   
   One sophisticated equipment set up by the nutrition  wing  of  the
   department  for  the  research centre there has been covered under
   cobwebs. Eight halls of 120 feet long each  where  4,000  chickens
   were kept at a time has become a den after the research centre was
   closed in 1994, the sources said.

6  PUJA BUDGET CURTAILED TO GIVE RELIEF TO FLOOD-HIT    [S:12-OCT-98]
   -------------------------------------------------
   DHUBRI:  Ramkriskna Club, Mission Road of Dhubri  town  celebrated
   Durga Puja  in  a  different  way  this time.  Keeping in mind the
   devastating flood and  financially  distressed  condition  of  the
   people   of   Dhubri,   they  curtailed  the  budget  and  avoided
   extravagance.  Instead, they distributed  ready-made  garments  to
   the  children  of  100  families  affected by flood and poverty in
   their locality.  Deputy Commissioner of Dhubri Ms  Gayatri  Baruah
   thanked the Club for their thoughtful gesture and generous help.
   
7  TWO MEN DIE IN A WELL AT LEDO OF UNKNOWN CAUSE       [S:14-OCT-98]
   ----------------------------------------------
   LEDO:   Two men died on September 29, while digging a well at Ledo
   Tirap village, 2 km from Ledo town.  Sources said that Simsal Rout
   (40) who was at the end of the 20-feet-deep  well,  suddenly  felt
   uneasy and began to shout for help.  The other man Amiya Ali (28),
   got down  into  the  well to help him.  But, unfortunately, he too
   faced the same situation and later both of them were  found  dead.
   The workers of Mines Rescue Station, Itakhola-Ledo recovered their
   bodies later.
   
8  MICE MENACE NEAR UDALGURI                           [AT:12-OCT-98]
   -------------------------
   UDALGURI:   Believe it or not, the entire area of Bandarguri under
   Bhirabkunda police outpost has been plagued by mice.  Thousands of
   mice are reported to  have  destroyed  food  grains  of  the  poor
   farmers.   The distressed farmers reported that they have used all
   possible means to minimize the  number  of  these  ever-increasing
   rodents.   Mice  poison, insecticides etc have surprisingly had no
   effect on the mice, they said.
   
9  TINA KHAUND FIRST ASSAMESE TO COMPLETE ARANGETRAM    [S:14-AUG-98]
   -------------------------------------------------
   GUWAHATI:  Tina Khaund, 19, daughter of Arup and Neeta  Khaund  of
   Boston,  Massachusetts  has successfully completed her `Arangetram
   (solo Bharat Natyam dance debut) on August 22.  She is  the  first
   Assamese  girl  and  one  of  the  few Indian girls to have had an
   `arangetram' in USA.

10 ASSAMESE REFEREE IN UZBEKISTAN, THREE IN ASIAD LIST  [S:14-OCT-98]
   ---------------------------------------------------
   GUWAHATI:    FIFA  football  referee  Nirmal  Chetia  will  go  to
   Uzbekistan for the Asian Cup Winners Cup to be played there.    He
   will  be  accompanied  by  three  other  Indians,  Michael Andrews
   (Kerala), Krishna Avatar Chauhan (Delhi)  and  S.K.Shankar  (Tamil
   Nadu).
   
   All India Football Federation (AIFF)  named  31  players  for  the
   men's  team  and  40 players for the women's team selected to join
   the preparatory camp for Bangkok Asian Games.   Of  the  40  women
   probables, ten  are  from Manipur and three are from Assam.  Those
   from Assam are:  Mamu V Gogoi, G Romani and Anjana Pegu.  The camp
   is scheduled to begin from October 16 at SAI, Bangalore.
   
11 HONOUR FOR ASSAMESE ATHLETES                        [AT:13-OCT-98]
   ----------------------------
   NORTH GUWAHATI:    Lombodhar Deka, a swimmer of North Guwahati who
   was selected to participate in the Himachal  Watersports  training
   camp  held at Bilaspur recently, secured the first position in the
   training camp.  Besides, four other  athletes,  Mrigangka  Saikia,
   Kalindra  Gogoi, Dhiraj Hazarika and Prasanne Saikia secured first
   divisions in  the  training  camp.    The  athletes   successfully
   participated  in  river  rafting  adventure  in  Sutlej  river  in
   Himachal from Selap to Bilaspur, covering a distance of 70 km.
   
______________________________[Mozz-RG]_________________________________
Compiled from newspaper and agency reports for private circulation only.
      [S=Sentinel, AT=Assam Tribune, Agencies = UNI, PTI, PIB]
           Comments and Feedback to: mozz@cyberspace.org
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