Day: September 21, 2012

31 Assam Rifles recovered 240 cases of illegal liquor being smuggled into Nagaland at Tuli – Merangkong Rd. It was smuggled in TATA DI AS 04 AC 3075 coming from Assam to Nagaland. Mr Mulung Ba, resident of Klingman Village, Mr Sosang Be resident of Klingman Village and Mr Nur Mohamed driver of the vehicle, resident of Gadigao (Sibsagar) were also detained alongwith the vehicle. Later all apprehended along with recovered illegal liquor and the vehicle were handed over to Tuli Police Station.

Read more / Original news source: http://manipur-mail.com/240-cases-of-liquor-seized/

Mail News Service
New Delhi, Sep 21 : A delegation of the All India Trinamool Congress (AITC) led by Shri Mukul Roy, General Secretary, AITC and Chairman, AITC Parliamentary Party (Lok Sabha &Rajya Sabha) called on the President Shri Pranab Mukherjee at 4.30 p.m. today (September 21, 2012) and submitted a letter communicating withdrawal of support to UPA-II with immediate effect said a press statement issued issued by Rashtrapati Bhawan.
The tie is off . Mukul Roy however said his party did not want a trust vote to prove the Government’s majority, but wanted a vote in Parliament on the issue of Foreign Direct Investment in retail, the reason for Mamata Banerjee’s exit from the UPA.
Mamata Banerjee’s six ministers hand-delivered their resignation letters to the PM, before setting out to meet the President and formally ending their party’s partnership with the Congress-led government.
The government is not in danger after exit of 19 Lok Sabha MPs, as it has the external support of Mulayam Singh Yadav and Mayawati, who have 43 MPs . Salman Khurshid and Pawan Kumar Bansal have said with the support of Mr Yadav, there is no need for the government to face a trust vote.
In West Bengal, the Congress’ six ministers in the Mamata Banerjee government will resign tomorrow. Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav earlier said that his party would continue to lend outside support to the Congress-led government.
“Our support is clear. We will not let communal forces come to power. That is why I am supporting. I am not in UPA. But we are supporting so that communal forces do not go ahead,” he said.
UPA needs more than 272 MPs in the Lok Sabha and it has 254 now. Yadav’s support has added 22 MPs while Mayawati’s support has added 21 MPs. The ministers Mukul Roy, Sudip Bandhyopadhay, Sultan Ahmed, Saugata Roy, Sisir Adhikary and C M Jatua who resigned personally met the Prime Minister and the President.

Read more / Original news source: http://manipur-mail.com/tc-withdraws-support-yadav-becomes-saviour-of-upa-govt/

GUWAHATI, Sept 21 NNN: The Assam flood has claimed 6 lives and affected 13 districts with lakhs of people finding hardship.
Since Monday, Assam has been experiencing one of the worst floods in recent time that have affected 13 districts and claimed so far six lives.
Officials estimation regarding the figure of affected people has put at 6 lakh mark. Nearly one thousand villages have also been either submerged or affected in one way or the other due to the present flood.
Heavy downpour in the hilly neighbouring Arunachal Pradesh and Bhutan in the past one week has been the cause for the present calamity in the state.
According to disaster management officials, river Brahmaputra and its tributaries originating from Bhutan and northern Arunachal Pradesh are flowing above the danger marks. “The situation is grim and likely to worsen in the next few days if rain continues,” predicted Assam Water Resources minister Rajib Lochan Pegu.
Adding that an alert has been sounded in seven districts other than the 13 flood-affected ones, Pegu said only a handful of villages in Dhemaji district have escaped the water surge. Such has been the flood fury that ferry services have been suspended in eastern Assam.
Majuli island has been the worst hit with 125 villages flooded. Large swathes of two national parks – Dibru-Saikhowa in Tinsukia district and Kaziranga in Golaghat district – have also gone under water. Kaziranga has suffered more with 14 forest guard camps inundated.
Officials said more than 600,000 people have been affected across 950 villages in the floods, the third wave this year. Six people drowned in flash floods, two of them after a boat capsized Thursday evening.
National Disaster Response Force and State Disaster Response Force personnel have been deployed to rescue marooned people in six worst affected districts.
In Guwahati and its vicinity, people living near the Brahmaputra are gripped with panic as erosion continues along the river embankment.
The authorities are helping the people residing along the river sides from vacating from their dwellings. The water level rises steadily and the threat on the people by the river is looming large.
In Guwahati, places like Durgabari, Basbari, East Chowkidingee, Guardpara, Jibon Phukan Nagar, Lachitnagar, Gandhinagar, Naliapool, Gangapara, Graham Bazar, Amollapatty, Guardpara, Mollukabasa, Kodomoni, Ambari, Dibrujan and Seujpur have been flooded since yesterday.

Read more / Original news source: http://manipur-mail.com/six-dead-6-lakhs-affected-950-villages-flooded-in-assam/

AIZAWL, Sept 21 NNN: Accused three PWD officals – engineer-in-chief Lianchungnunga, accountant B Lalthanpuia and former engineer-in-chief Liansanga were granted regular bail yesterday by the Special Court (PC Act) after hearing their plea for it.
The Mizoram corruption watchdog PRISM announced that they would approach the High Court.
On August 18, the Anti Corruption Bureau had arrested the three officials- Lianchungnunga s/o Hranga (L) Chaltlang Dawrkawn, Liansanga s/o Suakkunga (L), Khatla and B Thanpuia s/o B Lalnghaka (L), Upper Republic following the FIR lodged against them for their alleged involvement in corruption in connection with the work of Serkhan-Bagha Road construction. ACB had arrested the three PWD officials through the Prevention of Corruption Act. Lian¬chungnunga was arrested while he was at his office, Liansanga at his residence, and B Lalthanpuia while on his building construction work.

Read more / Original news source: http://manipur-mail.com/pwd-officials-granted-bail/

AIZAWL, Sept 21 NNN: Anthurium Festival 2012 gets started at Reiek Tourist Resort in Aizawl.
The festival which will conclude on Saturday was inaugurated by Mizoram Governor Vakkom Purushothaman.
Anthurium is a popular flower all over the world and Mizoram which is blessed with the abundance of the flower has begun exporting it since few years ago.
Vakhom said Mizoram delivering a speech on the occasion appeals the Mizos to do something for attraqcting tourists. “Mizoram is a lovely state but if tourists are not attracted then it would be pointless,” said the Mizoram Governor.
Meanwhile, the Anthurium Festival has been witnessing various cultural dances from various Mizoram based cultural organisations such as the Lai Cultural Troupe, Mizoram Gorkha Youth Association, and Chakma Cultural Troupe, besides beautiful songs presented by popular Mizo artists and choirs. An open competition of air rifles shooting and climbing; and fishing competition for children less than 12 years of age are some of the features in this year’s Anthurium Festival. Traditional costume parades and fashion shows are being organised, and Mizo-made handloom and handicrafts exhibitions are also underway.
On the conclusion day of the festival i.e September 22, the organisers are preparing for the Anthurium Queen contest.
Large number of tourists from outside Mizoram are participating in the festival.
Mention may be made here that the Anthurium Festival serves the purpose of bringing togetherness among the different tribes in Mizoram and promotes their cultures and at the same time attract domestic and foreign tourists to the beauty of Mizoram. Many farmers in Himachal Pradesh, Kashmir and Darjeeling had contributed a lot to their state economy through Anthurium cultivation, taking a note of this, Mizoram government had also taking all-out efforts to promote Anthurium cultivation among the farmers. About 700 families in Mizoram are engaged in anthurium cultivation with financial assistance from the horticulture department. With hundreds of house-holds growing the flower, Aizawl district tops all other districts in anthurium cultivation.
Horticulture officials said owing to the state’s suitable geographical conditions, Mizoram’s anthurium flowers are of high quality and are in great demand in other states of India and even abroad, besides the local market. Decorated and medicated anthurium flowers have been exported in huge numbers to countries like Japan, UAE, European countries through an agency called Zo Anthurium Growers Society (ZAGS) working for marketing and others improvement of anthurium farmers in Mizoram. Besides this festival, ZAGS had organised Anthurium Exhibition-cum-Sale programmes in various places of the state to promote farmers and selling the flowers at reasonable prices to the public.

Read more / Original news source: http://manipur-mail.com/anthurium-festival-gets-underway/