Aizawl, Sep 15 : Three people who were not even on the list of suspects in the theft of 11 bags of seized pangolin scales from a government godown in Mizoram have applied for anticipatory bail after a person known to them was arrested and questioned.
The trio have subsequently been summoned for interrogation in the high-profile theft that occurred 86 kms away, that too in a different district from where they live, Aizawl.
The May-end theft of the seized pangolin scales (weighing 262 kgs with a total value of Rs 1.7 lakhs) from a godown belonging to the forest department had prompted the state Forest Minister Lalrinmawia Ralte to issue a public statement.
Police investigating the theft at Kolasib town had arrested and questioned a man named Lalrinchhana, suspected to be the driver of a vehicle thought to have ferried the stolen pangolin scales from the godown to traffickers further afield.
Police sources said he refused to divulge his alleged accomplices, and had only said he helped deliver the consignment to a woman in Aizawl. The woman has since absconded, with her house locked from outside. Lalrinchhana’s remand has since expired.
Meanwhile, three people — Lalthlamuana (Lalrinchhana’s elder brother), P C Lianzuala and Lalfakzuali — approached a local court in Aizawl and applied for anticipatory bail in the case.
As their bail hearing continued, police got wind of the development and immediately suspected their involvement and were summoned for questioning.
But they have not presented themselves before investigators, and in the meantime secured anticipatory bail from the court, which observed that “there is no copy of summons showing that the petitioners had received the summons”.
Additional Sessions Judge Vanlalenmawia has however laid down strict conditions for their bail, including the suspect’s cooperation with police and orders for them not to leave the state without the consent of the top magistrate at Kolasib.
Aizawl, Sep 15 : The tripartite meeting between the Union Home Ministry and the state governments of Mizoram and Tripura held in Delhi today on the issue of repatriation of Brus from six relief camps in Tripura was inconclusive, a senior state government official on Monday said.
Mizoram Chief Secretary Lalmalsawma, who led the state government delegation told PTI over phone the meeting agreed that the Union Home Ministry officials should hold talks with the Bru leaders before holding another meeting.
"Home Ministry officials will hold talks with the Mizoram Bru Displaced People's Forum (MBDPF) led by A Sawibunga and Bru Coordination Committee (BCC) led by Elvis Chorkhy," Lalmalsawma said adding, the two Bru organisations were reported to have differences of opinion on the repatriation issue.
While the Tripura government officials insisted that all Brus should return to Mizoram, the Mizoram officials explained that not a single Bru appeared before the officials for identification for repatriation and the state government was trying to implement the Road Map-IV for Bru repatriation between June 2 and August 17 last.
Aizawl, Sep 14 : The youth wing of the Zoram Nationalist Party (ZNP), a political party of Mizoram, has alleged that villagers of Lailapur in Assam's Cachar district have encroached into the neighbouring state.
The president of ZNP youth wing, Lalmuanpuia Punte, told this correspondent today that the Lalilapur gaon panchayat in contravention to the agreement had allowed a few villagers to cultivate land inside Mizoram territory. "The villagers from Assam also built farm huts on the land, which belongs to Mizoram. Everything was done under the supervision of the Lailapur gaon panchayat," he alleged.
A delegation of the ZNP youth wing yesterday visited the Assam-Mizoram border and took stock of the boundary demarcation between Lailapur and Vairengte in Mizoram's Kolasib district.
Punte said they met Cachar deputy commissioner S. Viswanathan last evening and discussed with him the prevailing condition on the border and briefed him about the reasons behind the frequent inter-state border conflicts. The delegation also met the liaison officer of Mizoram House here.
The ZNP youth wing submitted a memorandum to Viswanathan and urged him to take necessary steps to prevent the violation of the agreement. The memorandum said Cachar and Kolasib deputy commissioners some years back had signed an agreement according to which no activities are to be carried out on the disputed land.
Sources said tension flared up on Wednesday when the Mizoram environment and forest range officer visited the interstate border and destroyed the farm huts built inside Mizoram territory in Vairengte.
The same day the forest range officer of Dholai in Cachar district also paid a visit to the border.
Later, they held a meeting in which the Assam forest officials said they were not aware of the cultivation being done by the villagers inside Mizoram territory.
Aizawl, Sep 14 : At least 75 people committed suicide in Mizoram since January, chairman of the Aizawl-based New Life Charitable Society Zawmsanga Sailo today said.
Corroborating the high suicide rate in the state, Police CID (Crime) unit officials said that 72 people had committed suicide since January 1 till July 31, as against 41 during the corresponding period last year.
Sailo told PTI that suicide was on the rise in Mizoram, which has barely a population of 10 lakh due to increase in the incidence of depression and other mental problems among youths.
Both police officials and social workers described the increase in suicidal death as alarming in a small state like Mizoram.
Aizawl, Sep 10 : Mizo, Zomi, Hmar and Thado-Kuki students assembled in front
of the Raj Bhawan in Aizawl to express solidarity with Manipur tribals
and demanded a separate administration for the community.
In a memorandum addressed to the President and submitted to the
Mizoram Governor’s office, student groups of the four communities
demanded the deputation of “central observers to Manipur to assess the
situation”, “separate political administration for the tribals of
Manipur” and the direct monitoring by the PMO of “all talks on political
issues of the tribals of Manipur.”
“We… are seriously concerned with the situation of Manipur … as we
are culturally one and same with people living in the hill areas who may
be commonly addressed as Zo ethnic tribes though they are often called
by different names,” said the memorandum signed by leaders of the Mizo
Students’ Union, Siamsinpawlpi, Hmar Students’ Association and
Thado-Kuki Students’ Union.
Meanwhile, rights-group Amnesty International (India) called upon the
Manipur government for “prompt, full and independent investigations
into all allegations of human rights abuses related to protests in the
state in the past few months, including the excessive use of police
force”.
“Authorities in Manipur must demonstrate their commitment to human
rights and the rule of law.
They must ensure that they respect the right
to freedom of expression and peaceful protest while maintaining public
order and safety,” said Aakar Patel, the group’s Executive Director,
adding “Incidents of violence and vandalism by protestors also need to
be effectively investigated, and those suspected of human rights abuses
brought to trial.”
“Excessive police force cannot be an answer to violent protests. The
police must distinguish between persons engaging in violence and
peaceful demonstrators or bystanders. Firearms should be used only as a
last resort when less extreme means have failed, and intentional lethal
force should be used only when strictly unavoidable to protect life,”
Patel was quoted as saying by a statement issued on the group’s website.
Based
on a decision made in the Mizo Hmeichhe Insuihkhawm Pawl’s (MHIP) 20th
General Assembly, the Mizoram government has sent a notice to its female
employees to wear the traditional dress Puan, at least twice in a week.
Government circular. (Photo: The Quint)
MHIP is a voluntary organisation run engaged in social welfare work.
The move came as an effort to revive the traditional Mizo attire of a wrap around skirt, according to the notice.
Puan – Mizoram’s traditional attires – are a colorful set of clothes.
The men, however, do not have to follow any such rule.
According to the MHIP website, there are five kinds of Puan:
Puanchei: a wrap around skirt.
Kawrechi: the blouse generally made of cotton.
Ngotekherh: a wrap around originally meant for men but now worn by men and women alike. Hmar am : A small hand woven cloth of hand-spun cotton and indigo dye. Cyhna Hno: An embroidered silk cloth of the native inhabitants of Mizoram, Mara’s.
According
to an enquiry by the ACB, Liansanga benefited the most from the alleged
scam and pocketed almost the entire amount of Rs 107 lakhs while
Lianchungnunga is accused of pocketing a little over Rs 42,000.
Aizawl, Sep 10 :
Mizoram’s Anti-Corruption Bureau has registered criminal and
corruption cases in a special anti-corruption court against two top PWD
engineers and an accountant for allegedly embezzling Rs 107.67 lakhs
from a road improvement project in the state’s northern region.
Liansanga (a retired engineer who was the Engineer-in-Chief of the
PWD), Lianchungnunga (PHE and Minor Irrigation Secretary and former
Chief Engineer of the PWD’s highways division) and Lalthanpuia, a PWD
accountant, have been charged under four sections of the Indian Penal
Code and three sections of the Prevention of Corruption Act.
These include criminal conspiracy, cheating, forgery and misappropriation.
If found guilty, the trio face up to seven years behind bars.
According to an enquiry by the ACB, Liansanga benefited the most from
the alleged scam and pocketed almost the entire amount of Rs 107 lakhs
while Lianchungnunga is accused of pocketing a little over Rs 42,000.
The accountant has been charged with fabricating documents, forging
another official’s signature and cheating a colleague to help cover up
the scam.
Liansanga has also been accused of abusing his position to allocate
less than two-thirds of Rs 696 lakhs meant for various PWD projects by
the state government, which received the money from the 12th Finance
Commission.
The retired engineer is also accused of fabricating records to show
75 kms of a road from from Serkhan village in Mizoram’s Kolasib district
to Bagha in south Assam’s Cachar district was re-surfaced while in
reality only 19.3 kms was actually re-surfaced.
It was because of the condition of this road despite the improvement
works that a complaint was submitted to the ACB by a student union
leader named Vanlaltlana back in 2011. The complaint led to an
investigation and subsequently resulted in the current cases for the
trio.
Liansanga also faces a separate graft case in which he and 15 other
government engineers are accused of having swindled more than Rs 900
lakhs while building two mini-hydel projects more than a decade and half
ago.
- See more at:
http://indianexpress.com/article/india/india-others/mizoram-retired-pwd-engineer-secretary-in-dock-for-rs-107-lakh-scam/#sthash.n8x2kaAz.dpuf
Eight people were
killed and dozens others were injured last week in clashes between the
police and protesters over tribal rights laws in the restive
north-eastern Indian state of Manipur. Subir Bhaumik explains why the
state is in turmoil.
For the past few months, the majority Hindu
Meitei community in Manipur have been holding protests, demanding
promulgation of the Inner Line Permit (ILP) in the state.
The ILP -
a system introduced by India's former British rulers and already
existent in three north-eastern states of Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram and
Nagaland - protects tribespeople by preventing "outsiders" from buying
land or settling in their area.
The Meitei community wanted the
the system to be introduced in Manipur to prevent unrestricted entry of
"outsiders" - settlers from other Indian states or neighbouring
countries like Bangladesh and Myanmar - whose numbers have sharply risen
between the 2001 and 2011 Census and who now make up a fourth of
Manipur's population of 2.8 million.
Upset tribes
During
the Meitei agitation, schools were shut for weeks, prices of essential
commodities skyrocketed and violence often erupted on the streets.
Then
in late August, the Manipur state assembly passed three bills aimed at
giving more rights to indigenous groups who accuse "outsiders" of taking
land and jobs.
That assuaged the Meiteis, but upset the Nagas and Kukis, the other dominant tribes in the state.
On
31 August, three student organisations representing the Naga and Kuki
tribes called a general strike across Manipur, demanding withdrawal of
the bills.
Eight people were killed in violence over two days in the Kuki-dominated Churachandpur district.
Homes
of Kuki lawmakers and one Kuki minister were burnt down by angry mobs
who felt they had not protected "tribal interest" by supporting the
bills. Additional security forces were deployed and an indefinite curfew
was imposed in Churachandpur.
The tribal student groups claimed
the new bills, when made law, would allow Meiteis to buy land in the
hill districts of Manipur where the Nagas and Kukis live - something
that is not possible now.
Pressures over land
But
Manipur human rights activist Babloo Loitongbam says the bills have
"nothing against the security or interest of the tribes people".
"Rather, the process of buying land by outsiders in the state has been made more stringent by the new laws," he said.
He blamed the violence on the state government's
failure to take the Nagas and Kukis into confidence and explain to them
the new proposed laws.
"The government should have explained the
content in greater detail as the relationship between the tribals in the
hills and the Meiteis in the Imphal valley has always been sensitive,"
Mr Loitongbam said.
"Earlier the permission to buy land had to be
sought from a section or subsidiary of the local cabinet, but now the
entire cabinet needs to approve land-buying by an outsider. The tribal
areas remain protected and are not disturbed under the new amendments,"
Mr Loitongbam told the BBC.
The Nagas and Kukis have concerns
over a clause setting 1951 as the base year for classing residents as
indigenous, with those settling in the state before then given land
rights - the groups fear that those who have moved into the state after
that date would stand to lose.
Women activist Binalaxmi Nephram
blamed the federal government for taking no interest in tackling the
unrest - first the Meitei agitation and now the tribal unrest against
the bills.
She blamed the violence on the pressures over land.
"About 60% of Manipur's population lives on 10% of its land in the plains. So land is a sensitive issue."
Manipur
is not new to conflict - Meitei, Naga and Kuki separatists have run
long armed campaigns, often targeting Indian armed forces, protesting
against controversial anti-insurgent laws like the Armed Forces Special
Powers Act (AFSPA) which gives the security forces the powers of search
and seizure.
But Meiteis, Naga and Kuki militias have also fought one another in the 1990s over conflicting homeland demands.
Now Meiteis, upset with demographic changes, are targeting "outsiders" much as they all continue to fight against the AFSPA.
Unless
the authorities take quick steps to defuse the situation, these several
layers of conflict could explode into huge violence in Manipur.
