Mizo Police Deployed After Farmers Asked To Leave Border Area

Aizawl, Jan 21 : Mizoram government has rushed a platoon of armed police to Buhchangphai area bordering Assam after some officials of the neighbouring state asked the farm workers there to leave the area, according to an official statement on Tuesday.

The statement said that Assam officials had asked farm workers in Buhchangphai area to pull down the farm huts claiming that the disputed area belonged to Assam yesterday.

Policemen, commanded by Sub Divisional Police Officer (SDPO) of Vairengte, were deployed in the area, the statement said.

Areas bordering Mizoram and Assam have witnessed several violent incidents in the past over inter-state border dispute, it said.

Local MLA warns of tit-for-tat

Mizoram’s border row with Assam has continued after a nine-month hiatus, with Mizoram’s Parliamentary Secretary K Lalrinthanga warning the state “may not refrain from entering [Assam] territory to harass [Assam] residents if Assam police and forest personnel continue to intimidate and threaten” farmers of paddy-fields at the interstate boundary.

Assam Police and Forest personnel posted in southern Hailakandi district had on Monday reportedly threatened farmers at Buhchang, a village in Mizoram’s Kolasib district, to dismantle their huts and remove themselves from their farms that Assam claims is part of its territory.

Mizoram has responded by posting armed policemen in the area, just as it had done last April when two platoons were posted there in the wake of Assam police and forest officials dismantling the same huts in the same paddy fields.

Government sources said the SPs of Hailakandi and Kolasib districts have spoken to each over the phone with respect to the latest incident at the border.

K Lalrinthanga, who is also the local MLA, visited Buhchang and nearby areas on Tuesday.

Just after last year’s incident, Mizoram Home Minister R Lalzirliana had accused Assam’s police and forest personnel of “acting like a band of dacoits” and instructed Mizoram Police “not to hesitate to use guns if necessary nor show mercy to the thieves”

DoNER To Launch ‘Make in Northeast’ Brand

New Delhi, Jan 21 : Taking a cue from Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s pet theme, the Ministry of DoNER has decided to launch a ‘Make in North-east’ campaign, while plans have been finalised to appoint a brand ambassador for the north eastern region.

Union Minister of State for Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER) Dr Jitendra Singh today announced the ‘Make in North-east’ initiative beginning with a comprehensive tourism plan for the region.

He also announced the decision to appoint a brand ambassador who, he said, could personify the heritage and identity of the Northeast and at the same time, inspire the rest of the countrymen to “look east” and “act east”.

Chairing a joint meeting of senior officers of the Ministry of DoNER and the Union Ministry of Tourism, Dr Singh said the ‘Make in North-east’ initiative, inspired by the ‘Make in India’ concept, will in the long run seek to promote exclusive North-east expertise in areas like tea processing, organic farming, food processing, exploitation of wind power through wind mills, Ayush and wellness therapies like spas among others.

A detailed brochure for investors will also be prepared and released across the country to encourage investment in the North-east, the Minister added.

In order to develop the North-east as a destination for investors, holiday seekers and tourists, mega circuit and mega destination projects of the Tourism Ministry in the area will also be pursued.

Revealing his future plans, Dr Singh said his Ministry will soon organise an event in Mumbai for interaction with representatives of the film industry in order to create awareness about the vast potential for location shooting in North-east, which can be done with much greater ease and cost effectiveness without travelling abroad.

It was strange, he observed, that the only filmmaker from Mumbai who had, with commitment, focused on depicting the North-east through cinema was the Late Dev Anand.

One of the important objectives of the ‘Make in North-east’ initiative, will be not only to generate revenue for the region, but also to create job opportunities to prevent the exodus of youths from the region to the rest of the country, which is presently taking place, Dr Singh said.

Govt Proposes 18 new FM channels for Northeast

Mumbai, Jan 21 : The government has approved 18 new FM radio channels in the eight North-Eastern states. Announcing the move, Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) of the Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region, MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances & Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, Dr Jitendra Singh hailed it as a New Year gift for the border states of and North-East.

In North-East, three channels each will be launched in the six towns of Haflong and Dhubri in Assam, Jowai in Meghalaya, Lunglei in Mizoram, Mokukchung in Nagaland and Belonia in Tripura.

This is in addition to the existing 12 FM channels which are already functional in the North-East region. Singh said, “The new channels are being launched with the special objective of extending the reach and impact of radio to the border areas, where other means of telecast or broadcast are not available.

Radio is still the most easily available and convenient medium of broadcast even in such peripheral areas where television telecast is not accessible and the added advantage is that radio broadcast can be tuned even without electricity.”

The government has a special consideration for these states, he said, and added that this is evident from the fact that the cut-off population required for introducing an FM channel has been drastically reduced in case of these border areas. Elaborating further, he said that while in Phase II, the cut-off population was minimum 3 lakh, in Phase III it is proposed to be one lakh.

Hailing this decision as an outcome of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s special emphasis and concern for these regions, Singh thanked Union Finance Minister and Minister for Information and Broadcasting Arun Jaitley for having taken a liberal view of the proposal and helped in the process of Phase III FM channels.

Singh urged upon the concerned Ministries to install these proposed channels with a higher frequency compared to the already existing channels so that they can better broadcast services in the border areas.

These channels may however, not be permitted to put out their own news broadcasts and in case the news has to be broadcast, it will be taken from the All India Radio as per the policy guidelines.

More incentives to Airlines, Bollywood for Promoting Northeast India

The Centre will provide special incentives to airlines for increasing air connectivity to the Northeast and to Bollywood for films shooting in the region.



The Centre will provide special incentives to airlines for increasing air connectivity to the Northeast and to Bollywood for films shooting in the region.

Minister for Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER) Jitendra Singh said the government is trying to woo industries to the eight Northeastern states so that enough jobs are created for the youths of the region.

"The issue of connectivity in the Northeastern states is a matter of major concern for us. The road and rail network is not there due to difficult terrain.

"A lot of dependence is on air travel. That is why we are requesting airlines to increase the number of aircrafts and frequency to these states. We are ready to provide more incentives to the airlines," Singh told PTI in an interview.

He said the DoNER is discussing the issue of providing air connectivity with the civil aviation ministry also. Singh said road and rail network is also being given the top priority for the region and efforts are being made in this regard at the fast pace.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been emphasising on ensuring social and economic inclusion of Northeast with other parts of the country. It is only after the Prime Minister's directive that now the government has decided to send at least one Union Minister to visit any of the eight Northeastern states -- Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Sikkim, Mizoram, Manipur, Nagaland, Meghalaya and Tripura -- every fortnight.

"There is a lot of scenic beauty in the Northeastern states. It is like going to any other foreign destination. We will ask Bollywood to make films in these states. They are bestowed with picturesque locations," the DoNER minister said.

Stolen From Cops And Seized By Cops, Only They Didn’t Know it

By Adam Halliday

Aizawl, Jan 20 : When customs officials posted near the Myanmar border in eastern Mizoram seized 257 logs of red sandalwood weighing almost six quintals last October, they had no idea the consignment had actually been stolen from their own building less than 30 km away.

Once they did find out — in the last week of November — it kick-started a multi-agency probe that has resulted in the suspension of four customs officials, four men being arrested for the theft, and several unanswered questions for investigators.

It was in the first week of December that customs officials registered an FIR with police, complaining 257 logs of red sandalwood had gone missing from a consignment of 272 logs, worth Rs 1.24 crore, which they had seized earlier and kept at the Zokhawthar Land Customs Station, just a few metres from the Myanmar border in Mizoram’s Champhai district.

A team was sent from the Customs Commissionerate in Shillong while Mizoram Police too began a probe. And what they have unearthed so far has only partly solved the whodunit.

The police probe has established that four men — two of them from Champhai town, two from Zokhawthar — hired 34 porters and a truck with a driver, and broke open the lock of the customs station at half past midnight on October 4.

The men and the porters loaded the seized logs onto the truck, fixed the main lock back with transparent sellotape and drove off towards Tlangsam, a Mizoram village about 28 km north on the hilly border road.
As it turned out, they were caught there along with the stash by the customs officials, who had no clue what they had seized.

It was only on November 26 that customs officials began to suspect the consignment they had found three weeks earlier was actually part of what they had seized more than two months before that, and which they had kept in their building.

Yet it took another three days for customs to actually establish the consignment was not there anymore. An official directed to inspect the room where the seized stash had been kept was reportedly satisfied that the lock was intact.
Once it was eventually found that the lock had merely been resealed with sellotape, customs have been cleaning themselves up. At least three inspectors and a havildar have so far been suspended by the commissionerate in Shillong for alleged dereliction of duty. A vigilance inquiry has been instituted and, according to a senior official, at least one high-ranking official could be suspended in the coming few days by headquarters in New Delhi.

Police have in the meantime arrested four men for stealing the logs, but have so far been unable to make them confess who exactly they had connived with among those posted that night at the station. One of them arrested men has reportedly told police investigators that one among them had simply told the others just before the theft that those on duty at the station had been “taken care of”, but police have been unable to find out who that meant.

And neither senior customs nor police officials are sure how no one heard all the noise that must have come about while 39 men were loading 5.8 quintals wood on a truck.

China Snubs Japan For Calling Arunachal Part of India

By Saibal Dasgupta

India-China border in Arunachal Pradesh.

Beijing, Jan 20 : China has snubbed Japan's Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida for his statement acknowledging Arunachal Pradesh as part of India.

The Chinese foreign ministry spokesman slammed Japan, asking it to mind its own business instead of interfering in India-China relationship. The Chinese reaction came after Kishida said that Japan was ready to invest in infrastructure projects in India's landlocked north-east, but it would not invest in Arunachal Pradesh, although it did see the state as part of India.

Reacting to Japanese minister's statement, Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Hong Lei said, "We are seriously concerned about this and have lodged serious representation with the Japanese side. We hope Japan can fully understand the sensitivity of China-India border issues and respect the efforts that both sides have taken to resolve the disputes through negotiations."

Hong said that Japan should be "prudent in its words and actions" and added that China and India are trying to resolve the boundary question in a manner that is fair, reasonable and acceptable to both sides.

The spokesman pointed out that Japan had earlier said that it holds no position and it will not intervene in the boundary dispute between China and India. He said Japan should now clarify on the recent statement and 'remove the negative implications' arising from it.

Pointing out that China claims ownership of Arunachal, Hong said the state includes "three areas in Tibet Autonomous Region - Monyul, Loyul and Lower Tsayul - currently under Indian illegal occupation".

China regards the Mcmahon Line as illegal and claims areas in north-east along the line as Chinese territory.

Dog-Bite Toll Rises in Manipur

By Khelen Thokchom

Imphal, Jan 20 : The dog-bite death toll in Churachandpur district increased to 13 as the fear of rabies spread to Imphal East and Thoubal too with similar cases being reported from these districts.

Andro MLA Th. Shyamkumar Singh said a 13-year-old boy, Ahongsangbam Angousana of his constituency which covers Imphal East district, died yesterday after being bitten by a dog some days ago.

Shyamkumar said the boy's death had triggered the fear of rabies in Imphal East and urged the authorities to take precautionary measures in the district as well.

The Churachandpur district monitoring cell of the medical directorate today said a six-year-old boy, Pauzakham, who was bitten by a dog some days ago died yesterday after four days of treatment at the district hospital.

The monitoring cell also received delayed information of the death of a 10-year-old boy, Letminthang Haokip, on January 9. He was bitten by a dog in October last year.

According to the cell, seven dog bite victims died last year while four died this month.

Dog-bite victims continued to pour into the district hospital of Churachandpur, official sources said.

The state government sent blood samples of two of the dog-bite victims to a Mumbai-based laboratory on Saturday for confirmation of rabies. The result is yet to come.

Official sources said four stray dogs have been caught since October last year by the Churachandpur district administration.

The total number of people given anti-rabies shot has been put at 304 since October last year. More than 3,400 dogs have been vaccinated.

Manipur health director O. Ibomcha Singh today toured Thoubal district following reports of dog bites to check preparedness of health centres in the district.

Official sources said 15 cases of dog bite were reported in Thoubal district.

Vehicles Damaged During Bandh in Manipur

Imphal, Jan 20 : Bandh supporters damaged several vehicles in Hatta area in Imphal East Monday during the 24-hour state wide strike call given by the joint action committee (JAC) demanding justice in the death of Md Firoz Khan.

But the strike that began from 6 am was called off following an agreement between the JAC and Agriculture minister Md Abdul Nasir.Traffic movement along Checkon-Hatta road in Imphal East was seriously disrupted due to the strike. A large number of bandh supporters damaged several vehicles while enforcing the strike along the Hatta road. Norma life in Hatta, was paralysed due to the strike.

Police used tear gas and fired rubber bullets at hundreds of demonstrators in Hatta area.

Earlier, the JAC called a 24-hour bandh along Imphal-Moreh road over the death of Md Firoz. In Lilong area in Thoubal district, strike supporters blocked the National- Highway-2 section since morning. The road blockade was supported by the Manipur Muslim Council (MMC).

Md Firoz, a father of four, was found death on the night of January 15 at Khangabok Keithel in Thoubal district.
The JAC has been insisting that Md Firoz was brutally murdered. It has demanded a CBI probe into the killing.

Newmai News Network