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                         Vol.4, No.25 [*] April 23, 1999
                         -------------------------------

                   Reverence for the past is important,
                     but so is regard for the future.
                           - Annettee Funicello
   -------------------------------------------------------------------
    
1  CRUDE LEAKAGE FROM NRL, PROPERTY AND CROPS DAMAGED
   --------------------------------------------------
   GOLAGHAT:  Barely ten days  of  its  operation,  leakage  from  the
   Numaligarh  Refinery,  near  Golaghat  has  caused  heavy damage to
   standing crops and several houses were damaged in a fire that broke
   out due to leakage of inflammable fluid from  the  refinery.    The
   fire  had  gutted one house and damaged several others in a village
   on the outskirts of the refinery complex.
   
   The inflammable crude that flowed through the waste-disposal  drain
   had caused  the fire.  The crude oil also spilled over to the paddy
   fields and damaged standing crops of `Ahu' in an area of  about  60
   bigha (1 bigha = 14,400 sq ft).  Investigation and inquiry into the
   incident by the district authorities is going on.

2  FIVE MULTA ACTIVISTS NABBED AT NAGAON                 [S:21-APR-99]
   -------------------------------------
   NAGAON: In an operation on April  21,  Nagaon  police  nabbed  five
   activists  of  Muslim  United  Liberation  Tigers of Assam (MULTA),
   including the outfit's Nagaon district secretary Matiur Rahman  and
   the  district  commander  Sahar  Ali from near Bordown, after a hot
   pursuit following the kidnapping of a  businessman,  Kashinath  Das
   from Teliapatti on April 20.

3  EXTORTION ATTEMPT BY HOMEGUARD PROVES FATAL           [S:22-APR-99]
   -------------------------------------------
   GUWAHATI: In a bizarre incident, one homeguard  personnel  on  duty
   was  run  over  by  a  speeding  truck on the national highway near
   Jalukbari Chariali in Guwahati at around 3:45 am on April  21.  The
   homeguard  was  trying  to  stop the truck to extort money, sources
   said. The deceased has been identified as Bhagwan Das.
   
4  PREVENTIVE MEASURES AGAINST OUTBREAK OF GASTRO        [S:20-APR-99]
   ----------------------------------------------
   GUWAHATI:   To  prevent  possible  outbreak  of  gastroenteritis in
   epidemic  form  in  the  tea  garden  areas,  the  public   analyst
   laboratory under the Health and Family Welfare Department has taken
   extra caution this year by undertaking testing of drinking water in
   the  gardens  through  its  laboratories at Dhubri, Tezpur, Jorhat,
   Dibrugarh and Silchar.
   
   Public analyst Dr K.L.Chakravarty told newsmen in Guwahati on April
   19 that mobile laboratories had already started  work  in  the  tea
   gardens and  other  towns.  He said, the Assam Branch of Indian Tea
   Association (ABITA) an the  Tea  Association  of  India  (TAI)  are
   lending active  cooperation to the drive.

5  PRESCRIPTIONS IN BANGLA BURNT AT BARPETA              [S:20-APR-99]
   ----------------------------------------
   BARPETA: Aggrieved at the Barpeta Civil Hospital authority's use of
   doctor's prescription forms  printed  in  Bangla,  members  of  the
   Barpeta  Anchalik  Students'  Union set ablaze all the prescription
   forms in stock bringing them out  from  the  hospital's  stationery
   store.  The  students complained that instead of using the official
   Assamese  language,  Bangla  has  been  used.  The  students   also
   threatened  the  hospital superintendent of a mass movement if such
   prescriptions are used in future in the hospital.
   
6  BHL CASE: BHUYAN COMPELLED AZIZ TO SIGN CONFESSION    [S:21-APR-99]
   --------------------------------------------------
   GUWAHATI:  Reacting to news reports regarding  his  involvement  in
   fraudulent  manipulation  of large sums of money of the Brahmaputra
   Hospitals Limited (BHL), Mr K.S.Abdul Aziz, the executive  director
   of  BHL,  revealed that it was Mr Biraj Kumar Bhuyan, a nonresident
   Assamese and the former chairman of  the  BHL  board  had  actually
   forced  Mr Aziz to sign a confession letter to the bank authorities
   on the matter.
   
   Mr Aziz claimed that the former chairman had  threatened  him  with
   dire consequences.    `I was threatened quite a number of times for
   not succumbing to his evil designs, but later I had to',  he  said.
   Mr Bhuyan during his tenure as chairman had never given any written
   instructions  to me and the whole case involving Rs.4.1 million was
   planted against me, Mr Aziz said in a press conference in  Guwahati
   on April 20.

7  UNCERTAINTY OVER EXAMINING OF MATRIC ANSWER SCRIPTS   [S:22-APR-99]
   ----------------------------------------------------
   GUWAHATI:   Uncertainty  over  the examining of High School Leaving
   Certificate (HSLC) examination scripts looms  large  following  the
   inconclusive  meeting  of  the  teachers  and employees association
   (ASKSS) with the State Education Minister Thaneswar Boro and senior
   officials of the board of secondary education (SEBA).  The  meeting
   failed  to  arrive  at  an agreement between the two parties as the
   Assam Government had not fulfilled its earlier assurances of paying
   pending salaries to the teachers, including arrear pay etc.
   
8  ASSAM'S MUGA FABRIC IN FASHION MAP                    [S:22-APR-99]
   ----------------------------------
   GUWAHATI: The April 8 fashion show  in  the  lawns  of  the  United
   States Ambassador's residence in New Delhi, where ten top models of
   India  had  displayed  dresses  made of muga and eri silk fabric of
   Assam  designed  by  Raghabendra   Rathore,   received   tremendous
   response.  The  show virtually put the muga and eri fabric of Assam
   in the fashion map of India.
   
   US  Ambassador's  wife,  Ms  J.Lundquist,  Raghabendra  Rathore and
   Rakhee Seth, an Assamese women were instrumental in the  successful
   mission.   At  a  time  when  talks  on  encouraging handicraft and
   handloom products  from  Northeast was going on, Ms Seth  took  the
   initiative and approached the SIDBI and the NEDFi for assistance to
   organize  the  function,  which  was  readily  accepted  by the two
   organizations.
   
9  POWER SUPPLY TO STADIUM, GUEST HOUSE DISCONNECTED     [S:23-APR-99]
   -------------------------------------------------
   GUWAHATI:  The Assam State  Electricity  Board  (ASEB)  authorities
   disconnected the power supply to the R.G.Baruah Guest House and the
   Nehru Stadium in Guwahati following nonpayment of electricity bills
   to the  tune  of  Rs.2.6  million.  The entire complex of the guest
   house and the stadium wears a ghostly look at night since the power
   supply disconnection on April 8.  The complex is looked  after  the
   State Board of Sports.
   
______________________________[Mozz-BG]_________________________________
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