Page 12 - Northeast India

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Fresh clash along Assam-Meghalaya interstate border, one person injured

One person was injured in a clash at a disputed area along the Assam-Meghalaya interstate border as locals from both sides used bows and arrows and catapults to attack each other, officials said on Wednesday. The incident occurred on Tuesday in the disputed place along the boundary between the Lapangap village in Meghalaya's West Jaintia Hills district and the Tapat area under the Hamren subdivision of West Karbi Anglong district of Assam. A person from Karbi Anglong district was injured, while no one from the Meghalaya side was seriously hurt in the incident, officials said. The situation was brought under control after police teams from both states visited the spot and placated the locals. The situation remained calm but tense on Wednesday morning as a fresh clash between the villagers from both sides was reported, an official from Meghalaya said. Some huts belonging to Khasi farmers in Lapangap were also burnt down, escalating tension in the area, a senior official of West Jain

Asian Games: Indian Wushu players disappointed after Chinese visa denial

The three Indian athletes were denied entry to China to compete in the Hangzhou Asian Games last week. The absent trio - Lamgu, Wangsu and Tega - come from Arunachal Pradesh

Trai recommendations on boosting telecom infra in NE progressive: COAI

Industry body COAI on Monday said regulator TRAI's latest recommendations on boosting telecom infrastructure in northeastern states are progressive and will drive socio-economic and digital progress in the region. TRAI's recommendation on exemption of Right of Way (RoW) charges in the rural, tribal and hilly regions for a five-year period will encourage telecom operators to invest further towards network deployments in lesser populated regions, the association said in a statement. "The industry is confident that if implemented in letter and spirit, these progressive recommendations will provide further impetus to proliferation of telecom and broadband services in the northeastern region of the country, thus propelling socio-economic and digital progress...," Cellular Operators' Association of India (COAI) Director General S P Kochhar said. Telcos, including Reliance Jio, Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea, are members of COAI. On provisioning power supply for the telecom sector, TRAI

Normal life hit on 2nd day of 48-hour in Manipur's statewide shutdown

Normal life was hit across Manipur's Imphal valley districts on Wednesday, the second day of the 48-hour statewide shutdown called by Meira Paibis, a collective of Meitei women, and five local clubs, demanding unconditional release of five "village defence volunteers" arrested by police, officials said. For the second day, educational institutions, markets, banks and commercial establishments remained closed, while attendance in government offices was negligible and a few vehicles plied on the roads, they said. Across all the five districts of Imphal valley, women in large numbers blocked roads and raised slogans demanding the release of the youths. Protesters blamed the state government and police for failing to tackle the law and order in the hill areas. S Sakhi, a protester at Wangkhei in Imphal East district said, "Police continue to arrest, detain and fire tear gas shells on unarmed civilians across the five districts of Imphal valley while doing hardly anything against the ar

Seems like Cong has given Northeast to China: Assam CM Sarma slams party

A video shared by the Congress on its official handle on X, formerly Twitter, allegedly showed a distorted map of India, with the entire Northeast region missing

Mizoram facing financial constraints, Rs 3,500cr due from Centre: CM

Mizoram CM Zoramthanga on Friday said his government cannot act as it wishes due to financial constraints with funds of Rs 3,500 crore due from the Centre. Addressing the annual conference of the Mizoram Engineer Service Association (MESA) at Berawtlang in Aizawl, Zoramthanga said the Centre was unable to provide funds of Rs 3,500 crore to the state during the last three years due to the pandemic. "As we have been severely impacted by these problems and constraints, we can't do what we want to do and make new recruitment. We need your understanding as we have been impacted by several difficulties which we did not expect," he said. Zoramthanga said his government would make all efforts for the welfare of employees. He said the hardship that has befallen on the state has made him realise the need for self-dependency. Mizoram has been blessed with natural resources and a good climate, he said, urging engineers to give their best to transform the state into a land of self-reliance.

Meitei group meets Rajnath, seeks withdrawal of Assam Rifles from Manipur

Representatives of COCOMI, an umbrella body of Imphal valley-based civil society organisations, met Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and demanded the withdrawal of Assam Rifles from the state, alleging that the force was acting in a biased way. The Coordinating Committee on Manipur Integrity (COCOMI), which represents Meitei groups, said in a statement that their representatives met Singh on Thursday at his residence in Delhi and submitted a memorandum. In the memorandum, they claimed that the Kuki groups caused embarrassment to the government by approaching the United Nations for a resolution to the Manipur crisis. They also raised with Singh the issues of narco-terrorism, illegal immigrants and their identification as well as suspension of operations agreement, the statement said. On the other side, the Kuki groups have been accusing the state police of bias. Last month, 10 Kuki MLAs of the state appealed to PM Narendra Modi to not withdraw Assam Rifles from the state, maintaining

175 killed, 1108 injured in four months of Manipur violence: Police

As many as 175 people were killed, and 1,108 others injured while 32 are missing in the ethnic strife that has rocked Manipur since early May, police officers said on Thursday. Altogether 4,786 houses were set on fire and 386 religious structures vandalised. Addressing a press conference here, IGP (Operations) IK Muivah said, In this challenging time that Manipur is in, we can reassure the public that the police, central forces and the civil administration are trying round the clock to bring normalcy back." Of the weapons that have been lost, 1,359 firearms and 15,050 ammunition were recovered, Muivah said. A large number of arms and ammunition of the police have allegedly been looted by the rioters during the violence. As many as 5,172 arson cases were reported, Muivah said adding that 386 religious structures - 254 churches and 132 temples were vandalised. "Security barricades from Phougakchao Ikhai in Bishnupur district to Kangvai in Churachandpur district have been removed w

Nagaland sets up select committee to examine state's Municipal Bill 2023

The Nagaland Assembly on Thursday constituted a seven-member Select Committee headed by Deputy Chief Minister T R Zeliang to examine the Nagaland Municipal Bill, 2023. The Assembly had on Tuesday decided to refer the Bill to the Select Committee after the members deliberated on the Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) election which has not been held in the northeastern state for almost two decades. The announcement about the formation of the Select Committee was made by Speaker Sharingain Longkumer before declaring the session sine die. The detailed order on the working of the Committee will be notified by the Assembly Secretariat, but normally any such panel set up to refer to a government bill needs to submit its report within three months, Longkumer told PTI. The Bill was tabled in the House on September 12 by Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio following a deliberation of the members on matters of urgent public interest on Urban Local Bodies Elections. During its March session, the Assembly had

Himanta Biswa launches projects worth Rs 136 cr in Assam's Barak valley

Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Thursday rolled out various infrastructure projects worth Rs 136 crore in Cachar district of Barak valley. Sarma, who is on a two-day visit to the Barak valley, inaugurated two bridges and laid the foundation stone for a new building for the office of the Cachar District Commissioner here. "To decongest Silchar City, HCM Dr @himantabiswa inaugurated the Badrighat bridge over River Barak connecting Barenga and Kashipur," the Chief Minister's Office said in a post on X, formerly Twitter. Built at a cost of Rs 58 crore, this nearly "one km-long bridge along with its approach road connects the NH-37 and NH-54 on the Silchar Fulertal Road", it said. "HCM Dr @himantabiswa has inaugurated the 2nd RCC bridge in Barak Valley, today. Built at a cost of Rs 14 cr (crore), the bridge, over River Sonai, is the first bridge giving road connectivity to more than 7,000 people residing at Dungripar village in Sonai," the CMO said in a separate post. Later

Manipur violence: Protesters defy curfew, over 40 injured in backlash

More than 40 people, mostly women, were injured after security forces fired several rounds of teargas shells to disperse thousands of protesters who tried to breach security barricades at Phougakchao Ikhai in Manipur's Bishnupur district on Wednesday, officials said. The injured have been rushed to Bishnupur district hospital and Moirang public health centre for treatment, they said. Defying curfew, hundreds of locals came out of their houses at Oinam in Bishnupur district and squatted in the middle of a road around 2.30pm to block the movement of police and other central forces' personnel who were on their way to Phougakchao Ikhai from Imphal, officials said. Around 11.40 am, protesters on way to Phougakchao Ikhai were stopped by state police forces which had put a barricade at Kwakta, around 2km away. Though police fired a few rounds of teargas shells, the protesters overran the barricade and proceeded towards Phougakchao Ikhai. No one was injured in the commotion, officials ...

Manipur govt shifts last of 10 Kuki families in Imphal to Kangpokpi

The Manipur government has shifted the last of 10 Kuki families comprising 24 members from Imphal's New Lambulane area where they had been living for decades and did not move elsewhere even after the ethnic violence broke out in Manipur four months ago. These families were taken to the Kuki-dominated Kangpokpi district on the northern side of Imphal Valley early on Saturday, as they had become "vulnerable targets", an official said. The last of 10 Kuki families were provided "safe passage" to Motbung, in Kangpokpi district, some 25 km from Imphal, he said. But Kuki families alleged that they were forcibly evicted from their residences in the New Lambulane area to Motbung. S Prim Vaiphei, one of the volunteers guarding the Kuki locality in the heart of Imphal, said that a "team of uniformed armed personnel claiming to be acting under directions from the Home Department came to New Lambulane, Imphal in the intervening night of September 1 and 2 and forcibly evicted the last remaining

Assam govt to introduce bill in state assembly to ban polygamy: CM Sarma

"We will finalize the Bill in the next 45 days. I think I will be able to introduce the Bill in the assembly in December this year", said Himanta Biswa Sarma, CM, Assam

Except Assam, north-eastern states lag CMVR implementation: Dealers' body

Barring Assam, other northeastern states are "lagging" in implementing rules about paperless and online registration of vehicles, an automobile dealers' body claimed on Saturday. It urged all states in the regions to expedite the implementation of the Central Motor Vehicle Rules (CMVR) for these online services aimed at easing the procedure for customers as well as dealers. While some states like Assam are doing commendable work in implementing CMVR, others are still lagging. It should be understood that the rules are framed to make it convenient for customers as well as for dealers, Federation of Automobile Dealers' Associations CEO Saharash Damani said at a press conference here. Sharing the status of CMVR implementation in six northeastern states, he said Assam has achieved it in all six parameters, from online issues of registration marks to digitally granting trade licences to doing away with the need for vehicles to be inspected or documents to be sent to regional transport ..

NE underwent transformation to become investment destination: MoS IT

The northeastern region has undergone a "dramatic transformation" to become a competitive destination for investments, Union minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar said here. The Union Minister of State for IT, Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, in an interview with PTI on Friday, said that connectivity was an issue in the region but that has completely changed. Now, one can quickly reach any state capital in the Northeast from any other part of the country, creating a big transformation in terms of potential opportunities for the region, he said. ''Connectivity was holding back the growth of business, technology and infrastructure in the region but during the last nine years, physical and technological connectivity were addressed and now the next step is to ensure economic expansion and to grow the GSDPs to double digits as the combined GSDPs of all the northeastern states is only about 8 per cent of the country's GDP," he said. The next stage of economic growth is the creation of job

'Situation we are facing in Manipur is unprecedented': Assam Rifles DG

Director General of Assam Rifles Lt General PC Nair, while talking to ANI said that there is a need for realisation to come for the people of the state that the only way forward is peace

Mary Kom writes to Shah for protection of Kom villages in Manipur

Boxing star M C Mary Kom has sought the intervention of Union Home Minister Amit Shah to ensure "security forces prevent both warring groups from intrusion to Kom villages in Manipur." In a letter to Shah on Thursday she said the Kom community is an indigenous tribe of Manipur and one of the smallest among the minorities. "We are all dispersed between the two rivalling communities... there are always speculations and doubts against my community from both sides, and are caught in the middle of all problems... due to weak internal administration and tiny size as a community among the minority tribes, we have not been able to stand against any forces that intrude into our jurisdiction. "We seek the help of the security forces to prevent both warring groups from intrusion into Kom villages," the Padma Vibhushan awardee said. The former Rajya Sabha member requested all the deployed members of the Indian Army, Paramilitary, and state forces to be impartial in carrying out their ...

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Greenwood Group to invest Rs 500 cr for hotels in Northeast in 10 yrs

The Greenwood Hotels and Resorts Group on Tuesday announced that it will invest Rs 500 crore to roll out hospitality projects across Northeast over the next 10 years. The company has launched its latest property 'The Greenwood Guwahati' in the business segment here at an investment of Rs 100 crore. "Despite being a gateway to Northeast India and a major trade centre, Guwahati lacks sufficient international level hospitality options for business and trade requirements. We are trying to address this need gap," The Greenwood Group managing director Himanshu Kalita said in a statement. 'The Greenwood Guwahati' will contribute significantly in providing better hospitality infrastructure and subsequently bolster the economic development of the entire Northeastern region, he added. This new property is equipped with 48 luxury rooms, meeting facilities, gymnasium, spa and swimming pool. The hospitality firm also announced plans to expand its operations across the region by setting up new