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                        Vol.4, No.13  [*] March 1, 1999
                        -------------------------------

                            Everybody's hustlin' 
                           For a buck and a dime.
                           I'll scratch your back
                             and you knife mine.
                               - John Lennon
   -------------------------------------------------------------------

1  NRL RECEIVES FIRST BATCH OF CRUDE OIL                  [S:1-MAR-99]
   -------------------------------------
   GUWAHATI:  The Numaligarh Refinery has started receiving  the  fist
   batch  of  crude oil which marks the beginning of the commissioning
   process of this prestigious refinery.  The crude was pumped by  Oil
   India  Limited  through  a  newly  constructed  extension  from its
   existing pipeline from Badulipara on  February  26.  Allocation  of
   50,000  metric  tonne of crude for 1998-99 has been made by the Oil
   Coordination Committee for the refinery.
   
   The Numaligarh Refinery Marketing Terminal is also expected  to  be
   commissioned by  April,  1999.    The  infrastructure  for  product
   evacuation  both  by  rail  and  road  are  in  advanced  stage  of
   completion.  Railways have already completed broad gauge conversion
   of  loop  line from Furkating to Mariani from where a 10 km line is
   drawn to Numaligarh Refinery Marketing Terminal.
   
   The Numaligarh Refinery is being set up as a grass-root refinery at
   Numaligarh in Golaghat district in fulfillment  of  the  commitment
   made by the Government of India in the historic Assam Accord signed
   on  August  15,  1985  for  providing  the  required thrust towards
   industrial development of Assam. 
   
   The refinery  was  incorporated  on April 22, 1993.  The company is
   promoted by BPCL, IBP and  the  Government  of  Assam  with  equity
   participation of  32, 19 and 10 per cent respectively.  The balance
   39 per cent will be raised through a public  issue  at  a  suitable
   time, depending on the state of capital market.

2  DEADLOCK ON GAS CRACKER PROJECT AT TENGAKHAT OVER      [S:1-MAR-99]
   -------------------------------------------------
   GUWAHATI:   All  obstacles  lying  in  the  way  of  executing  the
   Rs.36-billion  gas  cracker  project  at  Tengakhat  in   Dibrugarh
   district,  which  has been hanging fire for nearly two decades, had
   been removed following an assurance  by  the  Union  Petroleum  and
   Natural  Gas Ministry to the Mumbai-based Reliance India Limited of
   uninterrupted supply of natural gas.
   
   As per the Government of India decision,  the  supply  of  gas  for
   Assam  Gas Cracker Project has to be met by Oil India Limited (OIL)
   and Oil and Natural Gas Company Limited  (ONGCL)  to  the  Reliance
   Assam Petrochemicals Limited, to achieve the targeted production of
   200,000 tonne of ethylene annually.
   
3  FOUR ARRESTED ULFA ACTIVIST BEING GRILLED             [S:27-FEB-99]
   -----------------------------------------
   KARIMGANJ:  Karimganj police, which arrested  four  hard-core  ULFA
   leaders,  Raj  Baruah  alias Mujibur Rahman (22), son of Haricharan
   Baruah of Chandmari, Guwahati; Sarubhai Baishya alias Diganta (25),
   son of Puleswar Baishya of Beltola, Guwahati; Naren Sarma (23), son
   of Harishran Sarma of Rupnagar, Guwahati and Jitu Sarkar (25) alias
   Prashanta Kumar Roy of Golokgonj, Dhubri district, from  Raj  Hotel
   in Karimganj on February 25, are interrogating them.
   
   Police  seized   currency   notes   of   Bangladesh   and   several
   incriminating documents  from  them.  They had finalized their plan
   to sneak in to Bangladesh and finally to Dhaka.  Sources said  that
   they  have  revealed  many sensational information about the latest
   plans of the ULFA.  Their primary mission was to secure the release
   of ULFA general secretary Anup Chetia, who in  now  serving  a  six
   year term in Dhaka jail.
   
4  ONGCL WORKS IN DHANSIRI VALLEY PROJECT PARALYSED    [UNI:28-FEB-99]
   ------------------------------------------------
   SIBSAGAR:  ONGCL works in the  Dhansiri  Valley  Project  in  upper
   Assam  has  been paralysed from February 28 following an indefinite
   bandh  called  by  Borholla  Oil  Field  Sangram  Samiti   (BOFSS).
   According  to  a BOFSS spokesman the bandh had been called as ONGCL
   had not paid compensation to the cultivators for  pollution  caused
   to the cultivable land by ONGCL operation.
   
5  LIQUOR TRAGEDY TOLL AT GOLAGHAT RISES TO EIGHT        [S:28-FEB-99]
   ----------------------------------------------
   GOLAGHAT:  The death toll in the  Saringia-Betioni  liquor  tragedy
   has  risen  to  eight  following  the  deaths of three more persons
   including a woman at Assam Medical College, Dibrugarh  on  February
   27.  So far, 400 people including three women have been affected by
   the spurious liquor,
   
   The  tragedy  has  gripped whole of the area, which is evident from
   the fact that the corpse of a victim, Suryakanta Rajkonwar, who had
   died on February 26, was not cremated even after a day as  most  of
   the  male  members  are either sick or away in attending their kith
   and kin, hit by the tragedy.  
   
   Meanwhile,  at  the  instance  of  the AASU local unit, all country
   liquor factories in the area has been destroyed.   According  to  a
   source,  the  incident occurred because the liquor was contaminated
   with pesticide when it  was  carried  in  a  plastic jerrycan which
   contained  pesticide  for  tea gardens. Rontu Bora in whose factory
   the spurious liquor was said to have been prepared, is absconding.

6  GUWAHATI CITY TO HAVE RICKSHAWS IN FOUR COLOURS       [S:26-FEB-99]
   -----------------------------------------------
   GUWAHATI:  Organizing special traffic courses on traffic rules  for
   policemen  deployed  for  maintaining  traffic  in  Guwahati  city,
   dividing the city into separate zones for rickshaws, arranging  for
   automatic  traffic signals and disciplining the city buses are some
   of the immediate steps the city's traffic police  have  decided  to
   undertake soon.
   
   A  meeting  of  the police and the municipal authorities decided to
   divide the city into four zones -- Dispur, Chandmari, Panbazar  and
   Jalukbari  --  where rickshaws earmarked for a particular zone will
   only ply. The rickshaw will have  separate  colours  for  the  four
   zones. No rickshaw of one division will ply in other divisions.
   
7  REFUGEES SENT BACK TO REFUGEE CAMPS                   [S:27-FEB-99]
   -----------------------------------
   LANKA:   Six  refugees  traced by Lumding police in Lumding area on
   February 24, along  with  26  Muslim  refugees  traced  near  Lanka
   railway  station  gate  No.1 on February 23, have been sent back to
   their respective refugee camps in Kokrajhar  district  on  February
   25, police sources said.
   
8  ECHO IN PARLIAMENT ABOUT DEPREDATION BY WILD ANIMALS  [S:28-FEB-99]
   ----------------------------------------------------
   SIBSAGAR:  The depredation, death and  injury  to  human  lives  by
   herds  of  wild  animals  in many parts of Assam including Sibsagar
   district had its echo in the Parliament  on  February  26  when  Mr
   Bijoy  Krishna  Handique  said  that the people in villages and tea
   estates near jungles and forests had been  living  in  great  panic
   because of danger caused by depredation of wild elephants leaving a
   trial  of  injury,  death of human beings and widespread damages of
   crops, houses and properties.
   
   The Congress MP from Assam pointed out that the situation  posed  a
   serious concern for all concerned including those who are committed
   to protect  wild  life.  If the situation is allowed to remain in a
   drift, the problem in  near  future  will  be  quite  unmanageable.
   Although  the situation is ascribed to encroachment of the habitats
   of wild animals by human beings, it had  been  high  time  for  the
   Government to formulate an action plan to check depredation of wild
   elephants.
   
9  BRAHMAPUTRA HOSPITAL OFFER FREE SERVICE TO SURABALA    [S:1-MAR-99]
   ---------------------------------------------------
   GUWAHATI:   Brahmaputra Hospitals Limited, Guwahati, an NRI project
   aiming to provide excellence in health care service to  the  people
   of  the  Northeast has offered its diagnostic services free of cost
   to 83-year-old Ms Surabala Bordoloi, wife of freedom  fighter  late
   Lokapriya Gopinath  Bordoloi, for whole of her life.  It was a very
   small gesture on the hospital's part keeping in  mind  the  immense
   sacrifice  that  both of them made for the country, a press release
   from the hospital said.

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