Laon amount increases to Rs 30 lakh between 2003 and 2010

Laon amount increases to Rs 30 lakh between 2003 and 2010

Staff Correspondent

Dibrugarh: March 27: The Dibrugarh Development Authority (DDA) sealed 50 shops at its market complex at Chowkidinghi on charges of non payment of house rents to them since its construction in 2003. The market houses 70 business establishments, of which, only 30 shop owners have been regularly paying rent.

HUDCO, the financier of the market, served several notices to DDA on various occasions, warning them that they would acquire the entire market along with the buildings if the DDA failed to repay their loan of Rs 60 lakh along with the interest soon.

AXX demands Assamese as State language

AXX demands Assamese as State language

From our Correspondent

JORHAT, March 13: The Axam Xahitya Xabha yesterday demanded the government to use Assamese as State language in all the government offices, financial establishments, schools, colleges and other non government institutions. They have also sent a memorandum addressed to the Chief Minister to take immediate steps in this regard and warned the government that they will come to the streets with strong agitation failing to fulfil their demand.

Coming down heavily on the government, the biggest literary body of the State alleged that the government has been ignoring the matter since long in spite of repeated demands from various quarters in this regard. The organization questioned that if the Governments of Punjab and Tamil Nadu can make the use of the mother tongue as mandatory one and the violation of this rule can be regarded as an illegal one than as to why the Assam Government has failed to make it so. What prevents the government from doing such a remarkable step for the greater interest of the people living here? They questioned pointing out the implementation of State Language Act in 1960, the organization further alleged that the government has shamefully failed to implement Assamese as State language after passing more than five decades of the implementation of the said Act. THE SENTINEL

Irregularities by secretary alleged

Irregularities by secretary alleged

From our Staff Correspondent

DIBRUGARH, March 6: The office-bearers of Duliajan unit of Asom Natya Sanmmilan (ANS) have pointed out number of irregularities committed by their chief general secretary, Karun Jyoti Saikia. The Duliajan ANS members alleged that the Mancha Moitri Nat Samaroh (MMNS), which is being held at Duliajan since 2005 in joint sponsorship with Oil India Limited (OIL), was not held in 2008 and 2009 for mysterious reasons. They also stated that the general secretary of ANS without consulting any members of the Duliajan unit ANS had announced that next samaroh would be held in the first week of April this year.

An emergent meeting of ANS, Duliajan unit that was held at the Zaloni Middle English Primary School recently with Pradip Senapati in the chair had criticized the ANS secretary, Saikia for unilateral announcement of samaroh’s date.

“Without specific directives of the central ANS committee regarding holding of samaroh at Duliajan, we shall not take part in it,” the members stated.

The meeting observed that the ANS secretary Karun Jyoti Saikia failed to submit the account of rupees four lakh which was donated by OIL for holding MMNS in 2007.

The meeting further clarified that Duliajan unit of ANS would not take responsibility for holding samaroh until ANS secretary, Saikia submit the accounts of MMNS, 2007.

A number of resolutions were adopted at the meeting and it was decided to send all the resolutions to the central committee of ANS for necessary action. THE SENTINEL

Speaker forced to act after Himanta threat to Mahanta

Speaker forced to act after Himanta threat to Mahanta

By our Staff Reporter

GUWAHATI, March 5: In an unprecedented incident in the history of the Assam Legislative Assembly, the entire Opposition of the House today gheraoed the Speaker in his chamber for an hour and raised serious questions on his impartiality. The Opposition compelled the Speaker to adjourn the House and invite the Opposition leaders for a detailed discussion on their grievances. The Opposition withdrew their gherao programme and came to the Assembly only after the Speaker assured them of ensuring security in the Assembly. All of this was in the aftermath of the threat to former Chief Minister Prafulla Kumar Mahanta by Health and Family Welfare Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma yesterday. The Speaker also assured the Opposition of adherence to the rules and procedures of the House by all of its members and non-interference by other members when a member would deliver his speech.

Tamarhat police busts human trafficking racket

Tamarhat police busts human trafficking racket

From a Correspondent

TAMARHAT, March 3: Acting on a tip off, Tamarhat Police rescued 12 teen-aged girls and six boys from Kokrajhar district during a the last few months. Tamarhat Police launched a massive search operation at Barundanga Village in Dhubri district and arrested two people involved in human trafficking. Among the apprehended people, one is a woman Mala Baske (38) of Barsnapur village and other has been identified as Mostafa SK (35) of Barundnaga village. It was reported that the human trafficking racket has been luring young girls and boys under the age group of 16-20 years promising them with job opportunities and later reportedly send them to brothels and hotels in Delhi, Haryana, Gujrat and Bihar. THE SENTINEL

Pranab briefs party MPs on fuel price hike

Pranab briefs party MPs on fuel price hike

NEW DELHI, March 3: Ahead of the stormy session in both houses of parliament, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee Wednesday briefed Congress MPs on the reasons behind the fuel price hike.He explained that a roll back on the hike, as being demanded by various political parties, would put the government in difficulty, party insiders said. The minister also said the government would discuss the matter with its allies. An MP who attended the meeting said no MP asked for the hike to be rolled back. The decision, he added, would come up for discussion in the Congress Parliamentary Party (CPP) meeting on Thursday. Congress president Sonia Gandhi will address the CPP.(IANS)

Why ONGC and UCIL mum on ‘uranium reserve’ at Borhola?

Why ONGC and UCIL mum on ‘uranium reserve’ at Borhola?

From our Correspondent

JORHAT, March 1: What prevents Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) and Uranium Corporation of India Ltd (UCIL) from making a formal announcement about the reported discovery of a uranium reserve at Borhola along the Assam-Nagaland border in November 2009? Speculations from various quarters are diverse, but the move on the part of the Centre to separate the Assam Assets from ONGC has made the matter more mysterious. Many quarters in the State want to say that ONGC and UCIL have been maintaining a silence on the “discovery” of uranium in Assam just to get the Assam Assets separated from ONGC without any hassle. This speculation holds much water as one of the reasons for the government’s move to bifurcate Assam Assets from ONGC is loss, and it may turned out to be a much dividend-paying entity if the report of discovery of uranium becomes a real one. If this speculation is true, it is an anti-Assam conspiracy.

Indications of presence of a uranium pit at Borhola, one of ONGC’s oldest oil fields in the North-east, was found in a survey conducted jointly by ONGC and UCIL in November last year. ONGC had once said that there was a high probability of uranium in the oil field following the detection of radio active properties in the contents of the oil well.

ONGC officials have been maintaining a mysterious silence on the issue. When contacted, Basin Manager of Assam-Arrakan Basin Satyajit Choudhury said: “I know nothing about the reported discovery of uranium at Borhola.”

ONGC has invested Rs 500 crore for research and development of renewable and alternative energy, including uranium mining.

It may be mentioned here that the Centre and the UCIL have been facing tough times in Meghalaya over uranium-mining, in the face of stiff resistance by several organizations. The Government, once bitten in Meghalaya, seems to be twice shy in Assam, which also explains why ONGC and UCIL are maintaining an eerie silence over the alleged uranium find in Assam. THE SENTINEL