Dear Reader,

Old issues of Assam Almanac and Assam Online are re-posted since
it did not reach many of the subscribers due to a glitch in the
Assam Online mailing list, which was fixed yesterday.

Please excuse the inconvenience caused to those who have already 
received four of the back issues posted today.

We are thankful to all who responded and sent their comments to
continue the publication of AOL.

Thank you all once again.

Tasiruddin Ahmed (mozz@cyberspace.org)
Jugal Kalita  (kalita@pikespeak.uccs.edu)
for AOL team
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                       Vol.2, No.1 * January 13, 1999
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1  ALLEGED BANGLADESHIS ARE INDIANS: VHP LOCAL LEADER     [S:1-JAN-99]
   --------------------------------------------------
   NAGAON:  Citing the  case  of  14  Bangladeshi  nationals  recently
   arrested  by  the  Samaguri  police  in Nagaon, Mr Durlov Hazarika,
   ex-president  of  the  Kaliabor  Block  Mandal  Committee  of   the
   Bharatiya  Janata Party (BJP) and an important office-bearer of the
   district Vishwa Hindu Parishad  (VHP)  informed  newsmen  that  the
   persons alleged to be Bangladeshis are in fact of Indian origin.
   
   Though  Mr  Hazarika  could  not  produce  documentary  evidence in
   support of all the 14 persons, he showed  all  supporting  evidence
   favouring one  Kutum  Das.  
   
   Mr  Hazarika  and  a  local prominent BJP member, Mr Paresh Debnath
   alleged that one of the police official in Samaguri police  station
   is  causing  harassment  to  a section of innocent villagers in the
   name of detection of foreign nationals.   They  also  alleged  that
   failure to comply with the demands of the officials has only led to
   inclusion of the name in the list of arrested Bangladeshis.

2  SCHEME FOR SUPPLY OF PIPED GAS IN JORHAT, GOLAGHAT     [S:7-JAN-99]
   --------------------------------------------------
   JORHAT:  The  State  Planning  Board  has  taken  up  a  scheme for
   supplying piped gas in the districts of Jorhat and Golaghat  and  a
   discussion  in  this regard has already been held with the Managing
   Director of the Assam Gas  Company,  Mr  Prabodh  Kumar,  the  vice
   chairman of the State Planning Board, Mr Dev Kumar Bora said.
   
   It  may  be  mentioned that although such schemes had been taken up
   for  upper  Assam  districts  on  an  earlier  occasion,   it   was
   implemented only in Dibrugarh, Tinsukia and Sibsagar districts.
   
3  NO PRINCIPAL AT MADHABPUR HIGHER SECONDARY SCHOOL     [S:10-JAN-99]
   -------------------------------------------------
   TITABAR: The day-to-day functioning of a higher secondary school at
   Madhabpur in Jorhat district has been badly  affected  due  to  the
   absence of the principal and the vice-principal in the school.
   
   The vice-principal, who acted as principal, following suspension of
   the original principal  due  to  marrying  of  one  lower  division
   assistant  working  at  the school's office, retired on December 17
   and the  authorities  reinstated  the  original  principal  in  his
   previous   post.   The   students   of   the   school  opposed  the
   reinstatement, pushing the authorities in a fix.

4  RICKSHAW PULLERS STAGE DEMO IN GUWAHATI               [S:10-JAN-99]
   ---------------------------------------
   GUWAHATI:   Several thousand rickshaw pullers took out a procession
   from the bank of the Dighalipukhuri to the Last Gate area of Dispur
   on January 7 to  place  their  demands  to  the  Government.    The
   procession  was  organized under All Assam Rickshaw Pullers' Union.
   The congregation was addressed by the Assam Flood Control  Minister
   Promode Gogoi who is also the president of the AITUC.
   
   A memorandum addressed to the Chief Minister was handed over to the
   Municipal Administration Minister Biraj Sharma, by a delegation led
   by Upen Talukdar  and  Vinode Yadav.  The major demands are:  issue
   of licenses to all rickshaw pullers, providing rickshaw  stands  in
   the  city,  limit  the  no  entries reasonably, revise the rickshaw
   fares, stop police atrocities on rickshaw pullers, issue  of  green
   cards for ration at concessional rates.

5  THEFT IN MASS OFFICE: DTP SYSTEM STOLEN                [S:5-JAN-99]
   ---------------------------------------
   GUWAHATI:  In  a  second incident of theft at the central office of
   Manab Adhikar Sangram Samiti (MASS), a human  rights  organization,
   miscreants  broke  open  the  lock and stole the desktop publishing
   (DTP) computer system, the  printer,  keyboard  and  the  modem  on
   January 1. Earlier, the monitor of the DTP had been stolen from the
   office.
   
   Chandmari  police  in the city launched a vigorous search operation
   to nab the culprits and placed the dog squad in service  but  could
   not recover  the  stolen  items.   The fingerprint specialists also
   have been engaged in the operation, which is  still  being  carried
   on.
   
6  ELECTRICAL POWER TRANSMISSION LINE STOLEN              [S:5-JAN-99]
   -----------------------------------------
   TINSUKIA:   Suspected  miscreants  on  January  1 night stole 1,500
   metres of 132 kilovolt high-tension  transmission  line  at  Tiprai
   Forest reserve affecting electricity supply to Ledo, Margherita and
   some parts  of  Arunachal Pradesh.  The miscreants also pulled down
   four massive power supply towers.  The cost of restoring the stolen
   transmission line will be around Rs.10 million, sources said.

7  RESENTMENT OVER IOC REFUSAL TO ALLOT LAND FOR STATUE   [S:8-JAN-99]
   ----------------------------------------------------
   DIGBOI:  A statue of Laxminath Bezbarua, known  as  the  father  of
   modern Assamese literature, which has been procured by the Tinsukia
   Xahitya  Xabha  for  installation at the oil town of Digboi, remain
   useless, following the refusal by the Assam  Oil  Division  of  the
   Indian  Oil Corporation (IOC) to allot land for installation of the
   statue.  It may be mentioned that a major portion of  the  land  in
   Digboi is owned by the IOC alone.
   
   Angered by the IOC(AOD) attitude, Dr Nagen Saikia, president of the
   Axom Xahitya Xabha, speaking  at  a  conference  of  the  Xabha  on
   January  3, lashed out at the IOC(AOD) authorities and said that it
   is a dishonour to the  great  litterateur  of  the  State,  thereby
   humiliating  the  Assamese  society  as a whole and added that such
   narrow attitude of the authorities would only antagonize the youths
   of the State indirectly.

______________________________[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
________________________________________________________________________