Delhi scanner on 2 projects

Delhi scanner on 2 projects- PM to meet Gogoi on Jewel attacks
OUR BUREAU

Guwahati/Silchar, June 17: With just a week left for the expiry of the unilateral ceasefire by the Jewel Gorlosa faction of the DHD, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has convened a meeting to take stock of the situation in the insurgency-hit North Cachar Hills district vis-a-vis “national projects” like the East West Corridor and the gauge conversion work between Lumding and Silchar.

The two projects have been severely affected by militant strikes, the last one leading to suspension of railway services.

A locomotive driver and 10 truckers were killed in two separate incidents on May 15.
Fearing further attacks, the Northeast Frontier Railway withdrew its services on the 185-km stretch between Lumding and Badarpur.

Singh’s meeting with chief minister Tarun Gogoi slated for Thursday evening has been officially convened to review the implementation of the two national projects at Singh’s Race Course Road residence.

Sources here, however, said the ceasefire offered by the outfit would come up for discussion along with immediate solutions to various problems, including the impediments blocking major schemes in south Assam that are to benefit the neighbouring states of Tripura and Mizoram.

Singh’s intervention to put the derailed national projects back on track assumes importance because he will be holding such a meeting with Gogoi for the first time, and that too, after at least three review meetings on the projects convened by the Prime Minister’s Office and the ministry of home affairs in the past month.

Among those who are expected to attend this meeting are railway minister Lalu Prasad and Union minister for heavy industries and MP from South Assam Sontosh Mohan Dev.

“The discussions will take stock of the overall situation After all, there cannot be progress if the DHD (J) continues its sporadic attacks crippling train services. There is also pressure from the railways and the surface transport ministry to put the projects on track,” a source said.

The outfit announced the ceasefire on March 25 for three months but picked up the gun again last month after the army allegedly gunned down a dozen of its members.

The outfit returned to the ceasefire mode on May 15 but Dispur is yet to respond to its truce overtures.

Neither has it made it clear if it wants the militants to lay down arms.

Gogoi will be leaving for Delhi tomorrow amid allegations by the chairman of the parliamentary standing committee on railways, Basudev Acharya, who has blamed the Centre and the Assam government for failing to provide adequate security to workers of the gauge conversion project.
Acharya met the NF Railway top brass this afternoon to know about the projects’ progress.
The CPM Lok Sabha MP also met Gogoi in the evening.

4 petrol pumps in Cachar sealed

4 petrol pumps in Cachar sealed

SILCHAR, June 15 – Four petrol pumps, two of them of Silchar town, were sealed by a vigilance team recently.The two petrol pumps from Silchar town are Crosier Petrol Pump situated at Tarapur and Club Road. The other petrol pumps are SP and SR Filling Station at Katigorah and M/s Sharma Petrol Pump at Kalain. The vigilance team, which has been deployed by the Petroleum Ministry, sealed these petrol pumps due to adulteration of petrol and diesel.The vigilance agency, named AGS Private Agency, visited some petrol pumps in Cachar district. The team also served notices to four petrol pumps for adulteration.Meanwhile, the Barak Valley Petroleum Dealers’ Association approached the Deputy Commissioner of Cachar in this concern. The members said that pol items received by them often passed through several stages, hence the anomalies in consistent quality. Source: assam tribune

No compromise on Silchar seat: Rajnath Singh (BJP president)

No compromise on Silchar seat: Rajnath Singh (BJP president)

AGP-BJP alliance depends on key seats NEW DELHI, June 14: AGP and BJP have taken a step forward towards an understanding in the coming Lok Sabha election. AGP Legislature Party (AGPLP) leader Chandra Mohan Patowary and Gunin Hazarika had an informal meeting with BJP’s national president Rajnath Singh at the latter’s residence in New Delhi today. BJP leader Sushma Swaraj was also present at the meeting.After an hour-long meeting that began at 10.30 am, the two AGP leaders told newsmen waiting outside that the meeting was cordial. Patowary said: “We came to New Delhi following an invitation from the national president of the BJP. The alliance between the two parties has not been finalized as yet. We need to meet more to sort out the issues.”The BJP president, on the other hand, said: “We have initiated preliminary talks for poll tie-up. We need to sit more. We want a pre-poll understanding with the AGP so as to oust the Congress.”According BJP sources, the two AGP leaders set somepreconditions. “However, Rajnath Singh has made them clear in no uncertain term that the BJP won’t compromise on Silchar, Karimganj, Guwahati, Nagaon and Tezpur Lok Sabha seats. The other seats in the State are, however, open for negotiation,” the sources said......more Source: sentinel assam http://borakvalley.blogspot.com/

Power in Cachar villages by 2009

Power in Cachar villages by 2009

OUR CORRESPONDENT TELEGRAPH INDIA
Times to change

June 11: By March 2009, all villages in Cachar will have electricity and for a change, the administration is not making empty promises. It has already embarked on the project with all its might. Till May-end, 104 villages of the district have been electrified while 168 more villages will be wired by July.

The Power Grid Corporation has been given the charge of implementing the scheme.
Initially, 890 villages were selected to be electrified in the first phase, said the zonal executive director (Northeast) of Power Grid Corporation, P.C. Pankaj. The Centre has released Rs 65 crore for the job.

He said the scheme has now been modified and the target revised, and an additional Rs 59 crore will be sanctioned. The target now is to light up houses of 110,476 underprivileged families out of the 1,66,410 identified as living below the poverty line.

Three 33KV sub-stations will be set up in Borkhala, Sonai and Banskandi of Cachar district. Three will be extended in Kalain, Kabuganj and Pailapool. Not only Cachar, but the benefits of electrification have spilled on to the two other Barak Valley districts as well.

While Rs 44 crore has been sanctioned for rural electrification in Karimganj district, Hailakandi will receive Rs 25 crore for the same. Work of rural electrification will soon start in both the districts.

Water scarcity parches ward

Water scarcity parches ward
OUR CORRESPONDENT
Hailakandi
June 3: The public health engineering department of Hailakandi has admitted its failure to supply water to a number of wards for shortage of electricity.
Gaurangapally area under ward number one of Hailakandi town has been deprived of clean drinking water for the past few years.
The residents have been paying Rs 50 every month to the local municipal board as water tax but don’t receive a drop in return.
Residents said they are forced to buy drinking water from nearby localities and use dirty water from the ponds for household chores.
They met the chairman of the municipal board several times, but that did not help matters much.
The residents of the area are also annoyed with the ward commissioner.
“This is not happening in a rural area but in a town where the basic facilities should be made available to the people,” a resident said. The ward commissioner, Shivani Paul, when contacted, refused to comment.
If scarcity of water was not bad enough, the people of the area have alleged that the municipality does not clear the drains.
Garbage and gutter water inundates the houses after every shower. The Hailakandi unit of All Assam Students’ Union (AASU) have also alleged that the PHE is supplying the dirty and impure water in other parts of the town too. Source: Telegraph India