After inspecting traffic movement on the stretch of NH-44 from Nongthymmai to Sohryngkham along with DSP (Traffic) Dr Sacheng R Marak on Saturday, Nongkrem legislator and Meghalaya Mineral Development Corporation (MMDC) chairman Ardent Basaiawmoit told reporters that reckless parking of trucks on both sides of the highway was one of the major causes of traffic congestion in the city.

"To solve this problem, we have decided to ensure parking of trucks on one side of the road. Anyone found violating this instruction would be strongly dealt with," Mr Basaiawmoit said.

He said there was a need to put up hoardings at important intersections to control speed limit of vehicles and ensure their parking at proper places.

"During the inspection we identified the need for putting up hoardings with messages like 'no parking', 'no overtaking,' etc at certain important junctions," he said.

The MLA said he and Dr Marak would write to the PWD to erect hoardings at the junctions identified by Traffic Police.

Stating that volunteers from Village Defence Party (VDP) would be engaged to help proper implementation of traffic rules, Mr Basaiawmoit said he would take up the issue of shortage of manpower in Traffic Police Department with the Home Minister and seek deployment of Home Guards personnel to assist Traffic Police.

Meanwhile, DSP Dr Marak, who also accompanied the MLA during inspection of traffic situation on NH-44, has urged Mr Basaiawmoit to consider construction of a temporary bypass from Laitkor to San Mer, Upper Shillong to ease traffic snarls caused mostly by trucks.

According to the DSP, the 15- km bypass starting at Laitkor will pass through Pomlakrai village and Shillong Peak before ending at San Mer.

Responding to Dr Marak's suggestion, Mr Basaiawmoit said he would personally request Chief Minister Dr Donkupar Roy to consider the matter.

On Saturday, traffic jams had hit commuters the hardest in the city in recent times.

SHILLONG: The proposed Dry Port at Dawki may be shifted to Gasmapara in Garo Hills.

State Chief Secretary Ranjan Chatterjee on Saturday said the State Government could consider an alternative site soon for the Dry Port due to the problem of acquisition of land for the project at Dawki.

Construction of the port at Dawki has remained suspended since fling of a case in the Shillong Bench of Gauhati High Court by the owner of the land for the project Min Gayang.

Mr Chatterjee indicated that the government could shift the Dry Port to a new site in Gasmapara, Garo Hills in case land was not available for the project at Dawki.

Mr Chatterjee, along with officials of Central Warehousing Construction (CWC) and police, visited the site of the Dry Port at Dawki on Saturday.

CWC will be the implementing agency for the Rs-20 crore port.

During his visit to the State in September last year, Union Minister of State for Commerce Jairam Ramesh had asked the Meghalaya Government to speed up construction of the Dry Port at Dawki.

SHILLONG: KHADC chief CB Syiem has denied having any connection with one Prem Kumar Das who was arrested on Saturday for his involvement in domestic violence against his wife.

Mr Das, along with another person Linda Kongwang, was arrested from Railway Guest House, Laban in the city on the basis of an FIR lodged by his wife Renu Das on March 22.

Mr Das, who failed to get anticipatory bail, was absconding before being arrested.

He reportedly came to Shillong in 2000 as a direct marketing salesman from his village in Bhagalpur district of Bihar.

Police seized 100 Aircel SIM cards, 34 of them issued in the name of Mr Syiem, and two blue-film CDs from the possession of Mr Das.

Reacting to the incident, Mr Syiem on Sunday said he came into contact with Mr Das as sales manager of a certain company.

He said Mr Das used to visit the district council office for selling decorative items for houses and vehicle spare parts, adding, "Not only me, many MDCs have bought goods from Mr Das."

The KHADC CEM admitted that he had accepted through Mr Das a special offer of a handset with free Aircel mobile connection by paying Rs 1500.

"After a few days, Mr Das came to give me 40 more handsets. He also gave a few handsets to Chief Minister DD Lapang," he said.

Mr Syiem said, "I am shocked to know that some of the SIM cards seized by police from Mr Das belong to me. This is not possible because he had given me all the SIM cards earlier."

The Meghalaya Pensioners' Association has thanked the authorities of State Bank of India for opening up a separate branch for pensioners at the Laitumkhrah branch of the bank here.

The Association also hoped that more such branches are opened up in various areas of the State for the benefit of the senior citizens.

Shillong: The West Khasi People's Front (WKPF) has urged the MPA Government to pick up from where the previous Lapang-led MDA Government has left with regard to Kynshi Hydel Electric Power Project. In a statement issued here recently, the organisation said handing over of the project to private companies through joint venture would largely benefit the people West Khasi Hills.

While registering its strong disapproval with the Warsan Lyngdoh Youth Awakening Federation, which has been spearheading the protest against handing over of Kynshi Hydel Power Project (State I and Stage II) to two private companies from Delhi - the Athena Private Limited and Jay Pee Power Venture - through the joint venture system, the WKPF alleged that "the Warsan Lyngdoh Youth Awakening Federation comprises only the so-called land owners, who were functioning as per the dictates of the tribal association of NEEPCO employees".

The federation of land owners has been demanding scrapping of the shady deal and handing over of the same to either the NEEPCO or the MeSEB.

The statement issued by S Rynshiang, president, also claimed that the two companies from Delhi had promised to undertake social welfare programmes such as construction of schools, hospitals, generate employment among the locals among many others, to uplift the welfare of the people who will be affected and displaced by the project.

Shillong: A group of ad-hoc teachers of various lower primary schools of Dadenggiri, West Garo Hills has demanded regularisation of their services.

In a letter to the Chief Minister Donkupar Roy, who is also incharge of Elementary and Mass Education Department, the ad hoc teachers said for many years they had served in various schools on deputation whenever vacancies arise while pointing out that majority of the teachers have crossed the prescribed aged limit to get another job in government service.

They further said that majority of the teachers have essential qualifications besides experiences in teaching to be considered for regularisation besides taking into consideration of the age limitations.

Running a routine administration bogged down in red tapeism and running an administration in sincere pursuance of a dream surely are two things that stand qualitatively a world apart. Viewed in this context, the expressed desire of Sri Manash Choudhury, our Minister i/c of Higher and Technical Education to overhaul the state's entire educational setup with an emphasis to transform Shillong as a 'knowledge city' deserves praise and, if one may like to add, is indeed pregnant with immense hope and possibilities. One sincerely wishes that his dream desire becomes a reality as early as possible. To send out signals that things indeed can happen and shall be given a serious try in itself is a great assurance and deserves active support from all concerned quarters. In the fitness of things, it would, however, be proper on our part to appreciate that making Shillong a knowledge city certainly is not a one man or one office affair. There remains a host of players who are required to make an all out contribution in this process. The government of course has to play a key role in this prospective transformation but the role that is required to be played by the university, the colleges and above all the citizens of the city can hardly be overlooked. In fact, making this city of our love a knowledge city demands that we sincerely seek a significant change in our approach and style of functioning.

Shillong, our quaint hill city, at least for the past 60/70 years has remained in the reckoning as far as the prospect of becoming a knowledge city is concerned. Meghalaya emerged as a full-fledged state in 1971. But even before the emergence of the state of Meghalaya, its capital city Shillong, for many has practically been the educational hub of the entire north eastern region. Uniquely placed in a city of serene beauty and by virtue of being highly quality conscious, the premiere institutes of Shillong used to attract aspirant learners not only from all over the north east but also from beyond. It was, therefore, only natural that after a full fledged statehood came into being, the aspiration of its people to shape its destiny in an ever better manner through further consolidation and diversification of its already existing assets in the field of education would get a strong fillip. The establishment of North Eastern Hill University, the first ever Central University of the region, in 1973 with its head quarter located at Shillong, for the people of the state, was an invitation to make a head start. Today, when our own brighter students opt to leave the state seeking quality higher education elsewhere in the country at an exorbitant cost, will it make any sense for us to attempt a review in retrospect to find out whether we actually have performed to our capacity or not.

A frank attempt to review our performances, one feels disturbed to say, would reveal that an unimaginative starting response coupled to a considerable degree of insensitivity of the people at the helm of affairs has left us saddled in a setup that is far too inadequate to meet the challenges of a highly demanding present. Potentially, the city certainly had a great prospect. In reality, the prospect had grossly been squandered away through a series of unwarranted compromises on various aspects including quality considerations that eventually had substantiated them as counterproductive measures. Today as at all other times lived and would be lived; the role of a university shall never remain limited to awarding degrees on successful completion of a course offered by it. A university setup, as leading repository of latest world knowledge and trends, needs to play a role far beyond its routine responsibilities by attempting to build an academic culture that can see through and suggest alternatives rather than remaining steeped in memory taxing exercises. The competency of a system entrusted with responsibility of nourishing the young minds needs to be measured in its ability to generate in them the vibrancy that dares to ask odd questions and can afford to act as forbearers of change. It hardly takes a great effort to appreciate that thirty-five years of active engagement in spreading the light of knowledge notwithstanding, such livewire products from our university setup, by and large, remain a rare commodity. Generating unlimited and at times unreasonable aspirations rather than abounding competence can hardly qualify as hallmark of achievement of any university setup. It goes without saying that without an overbearing presence of the university the products of which can ignite minds and reset the social agenda, the city housing that university can hardly afford the dream of transforming itself to a 'knowledge city'.

Barring the university which is a centrally funded establishment earmarked by the University Grants Commission as a university with potential for excellence, education, in particular the collegiate education in our state, by and large, continues to be a private effort so much so that even after thirty-seven years of the state's coming into being, the state capital still does not have any government college to its credit. The colleges in the city that cater to the largest segment of the students' community pursuing their collegiate education in the state (approximately 65% of the net enrolment) are all private managed and can broadly be classified as purely private and private-aided colleges. The private-aided colleges in the state are financially supported by the government to run their activities through the various available grants-in-aid schemes of the state government. The purely private colleges usually receive nothing from the government and have to manage their affairs totally from their own revenue resources. It is therefore imperative that when it comes to the question of making ends meet, quality considerations often gets relegated to the second order. It may also not be overlooked that even in case of the private-aided colleges that receives financial support from the government, the extent of financial support received by these aided institutes generally are only non-plan supports utilised only towards payment of salaries of the staff employed by it. As such, development assistance towards infrastructure building, additional faculty creation and such other needs of a modern day educational requirements remain practically non-existent. Even the allocations of administered grants-in-aid to institutions have not always been based on performance, competence, need and quality considerations. Political considerations and anticipated probable mileage available against such considerations have often played a big role in dictating the quantum and nature of grants made available to an institute. It may also be pertinent to recall here that since running technical colleges involves huge capital investment for infrastructure building besides heavy fiscal commitment for running its day to day affairs and since involvement of industrial houses, in view of their near total absence in the state set up, remains a far too distant dream, private effort towards building technical institutes continues to be unrealistic.

Yet, everything expressed herein above notwithstanding, the city colleges may not exactly have fared very badly. All the nine colleges in the state that so far stand accredited by the National Assessment and Accreditation Council, an autonomous wing created by the University Grants Commission for the purpose of assessing and accrediting universities and colleges in the country, are located at Shillong and its periphery. It also goes to the credit of the city's collegiate educational set up that daunting the various odds that beset these learning setups all our accredited colleges have been awarded fairly good grade with institutional scores standing at around at least 70% or above. It is easily a matter of pride for the city that St. Anthony's College, the first ever institute in the region to be accredited with a five star status belongs to it. As of now, it happens to be the only college in the state and perhaps in the entire region to be accorded the status of a college with potential for excellence by the UGC. It also adds considerable glory to the city's educational achievement when St. Edmund's College, another city college and in fact the pioneer institute in the field of collegiate education in the state tops the list of accredited institutes in the entire eastern region with its institutional score card standing at 87. 5%. It is a statement that institutes in this part of the state do try to keep pace with latest developments in the field of education. It may not therefore be totally a case of building castles in the sky if one dares to visualise the city as a knowledge city sometime in a not to distant future.

Of course, this much desired journey from its apparently perplexing present to a knowledge city of our dream demands that a lot more have to be done. We need to appreciate that since in the recent past technology and their upgrades have made great strides and also since all advanced technologies in order to be harnessed to their full potential calls for enhanced skill generation, our higher education sector obviously would have to play a predominantly proactive role. Sadly, however, the prevailing educational setup in the state in general and the city in particular, hardly have any ready establishment to negotiate with this challenge. In the absence of any worthwhile corporate support available towards creation of such institutes of technical learning, the government has to come forward in a big way to meet the existing shortfall in this priority area for no other agency actually can afford to support such a venture in terms of finance as also other related niceties in a meaningful manner. In this context, one may also not lose sight of the fact that education in itself is not an employment sector. It can best serve only as human resource generating sector that in turn, subject to adequate entrepreneurial support being made available, can open up new vistas in the job market. Treating education as a job giving sector can only be to our peril for such a thing can generally be achieved through a substantial compromise on quality and competence. In today's highly competitive world creating quality rather than compromising it on flimsy and untenable ground must have to be our priority. It is only when we realise this as an inescapable fact of life, we shall be ready for a meaningful beginning of our journey towards the destiny of our dream. Obviously, such a beginning calls for a substantial change in our mindset. The government of the day, going by the statement of our hon'ble Minister i/c of Higher and Technical education, seems ready and willing to take the call. Are we too prepared to take the challenge confronting us?

The old colonial scene of a restive people opposing a repressive regime is again being enacted in Tibet. There are other similarities as well. For instance, there is a charismatic figure symbolising the "struggle". The emphasis on non-violence also recalls Mahatma Gandhi. Like the Mahatma, the Dalai Lama does not bear any ill will towards the putative oppressors. The Tibetan spiritual leader only wants China to grant full autonomy to his country.

The Nobel laureate has even threatened to "retire" if his followers indulged in any violence, much like the Mahatma after Chauri Chaura. In 1922, Gandhi withdrew his non-cooperation movement against the British when a police station in Chauri Chaura in Uttar Pradesh was burnt down by protestors, killing 23 policemen.

But these are not the only points of resemblance between what happened during the Indian independence movement and the current events on the Roof of the World with their wide impact on the outside world.

Like the British in the earlier period, the Chinese are probably nonplussed about an uprising by groups of unarmed people which is giving Beijing so much adverse publicity.

It is evident that all of China's military and economic clout is not enough to put a lid on the unrest and make the rest of the world accept its case.

Beijing is aware that a Tiananmen Square-type crackdown will only exacerbate the situation, arousing storms of protest round the world which will make it nearly impossible to hold the Olympic Games.Yet, it is unthinkable for a totalitarian country to let an agitation continue without check lest the upheaval expose its feet of clay and encourage other disgruntled elements, like the Muslims of Uighur, to come to the fore.

The British did not face this dilemma because of their more open system. It was possible, therefore, for the viceroy to "parley on equal terms", as Winston Churchill said in dismay, with a "half-naked fakir".Although another viceroy, Lord Wavell, regarded Gandhi as "exceedingly shrewd, obstinate, domineering, double-tongued ... (with) little true saintliness in him", the diatribe was not as vicious as the Chinese description of the Dalai Lama as "a wolf in monk's robes, a devil with a human face but the heart of a beast".

Because of their democratic tradition, going back to the Magna Carta of 1215, the British were aware that even a subjugated people had their rights. The Chinese lack such an accommodative tradition, having passed directly from the regime of emperors and warlords to the equally authoritarian communist rule.

In such a society, an opponent has to be crushed, whether he is someone who was once a part of the ruling group, like Liu Shao-chi, or an outsider, like the Tibetan pontiff. There was no question of negotiating with him in a spirit of give and take.

A comparison with South Africa under apartheid is more appropriate. As Nelson Mandela says in his autobiography, "Long Walk to Freedom", Gandhian tactics were not possible with the racist regime.

"In India", he writes, "Gandhi had been dealing with a foreign power that ultimately was more realistic and far-sighted. That was not the case with the Afrikaners in South Africa. Non-violent passive resistance is effective as long as your opposition adheres to the same rules as you do. But if peaceful protest is met with violence, its efficacy is at an end. For me, non-violence was not a moral principle, but a strategy; there is no moral goodness in using an ineffective weapon".

For the Dalai Lama, however, non-violence remains a moral principle, which he is unwilling to abjure even if some of his young and impatient followers are not keen on doing so.

For the Chinese, it must be highly disconcerting to realise that the morality of a lone adversary can be so powerful. They have never dealt with any such event in their long history, which is replete with battles within the country, including with the Tibetans, and with invaders.

It is a classic case of the Yogi and the Commissar, or David and Goliath, where the former with his belief in the rightness of his cause can put the crude strength of an adversary at a disadvantage.

What has compounded the problem for China is that unlike at the time of the Tiananmen Square massacre two decades ago, it has taken pride in opening up the country to demonstrate its spectacular economic progress, which was to be showcased in the Olympics.

The lifting of what was once described as the bamboo curtain has meant not only inviting investors but also tourists and journalists. But now Beijing is learning how a closed political system is at odds with an open economy in the age of the worldwide web.

If the Olympics are to be a success, it has to allow tourists and journalists. And if they come into the country, they cannot be kept away from Tibet. (Amulya Ganguli is a writer on current events. He can be reached at aganguli@mail.com)

Madam,

The recent article on "Education too exorbitant now" (ST, April 4) by Ms. Patricia Mukhim was an eye opener on the system prevailing in our society. Each time I read her articles, I can not stop myself from admiring such priceless qualities of her - A true Padmashree awardee indeed! During 2006 I had the opportunity to meet her during the "Desktop on RTI Act, 2005" organized by the Mait Sharpharang. It was from there that I come to know about the Act, its procedures and merits. Following those valuable suggestions and due to the sincere efforts of the RTI. Commission of Meghalaya, today I am on the verge of flashing out the malpractices adopted by the school authorities of Shillong based Government- aided schools particularly in the financial matters. Therefore I like to offer my sincere thanks to each and every member of the Mait Sharpharang movement.

Coming to the subject on Education System that we have or so to say we have developed I like to highlight the following points and request the Government Department and the educationists to make a kind note of it.

(I) That economically, the teaching community of the State in general and the School teachers working under the improved and Adhoc categories in particular are the great sufferers since long. The last time a large number of Adhoc schools were brought under the deficit system (that gave relief to a large number of teachers) was several years ago when the State Government was headed by Mr P A Sangma. Since then several Governments came to power but significantly none took the pain of redressing their (the teacher community's) grievances. The recent announcement - hike in Adhoc - school teachers salary from Rs.3000 to Rs.5000 was a positive step demonstrated by the present MPA Government and therefore deserves appreciation. It may be hoped that the teachers of the other categories as well (especially the improved category) would also be benefited soon by bringing them under the deficit pattern. And also the matters related to the social security of teachers such as pension scheme, medical reimbursement etc would be taken care of.

(II) The Government needs to pass strong orders on the school authorities particularly regarding the disbursement of salaries to the teachers of the Adhoc categories. In many cases the teachers are not paid according to the instructions laid down by the Government. Any objection on the part of the teachers leads to their removal from service. After being removed, when the poor teacher knocks the doors of the concerned Government department - the reply most often received is - "The managing committee is the appointing authority of Adhoc school teachers and therefore the department cannot interfere." Either way the managing committee as well as the concerned departments are safe and the sufferer is the poor teacher. My point is that the Government must be serious enough to formulate policies such that the liberties of the managing committee and the rights of the teacher should be in such a proportion that none is able to encroach upon the other.

(III) It is a matter of great embarrassment on the part of the Govt. and we as a citizen that even after 36 years of statehood do not have a proper Education Policy. As a matter of common experience we all would agree that for any work to be successful what is required is proper planning and therefore for a larger system to work in a proper direction there is need for a proper 'policy'. The policy should not be merely a policy on paper. Rather it should be applied from the grassroots level. Regarding the draft education policy I as a school teacher after going through it submitted my suggestions to the department during December 2007. I hope the policy under formulation would not be a policy of the kind such as "The Directive Principles of State Policy" of the Indian Constitution wherein one of the policy states that "the Government shall see that equal wages are paid for equal work" and in yet another states that "the state shall try to give to the people free and compulsory primary education to children below 14 years of age (Article 45)". Even after several decades these policies though being of fundamental importance have not been successfully implemented. Perhaps the reason is because these policies remained on paper only and were never applied practically. Further since these directives are not justifiable in the court of law, therefore there is no pressure on the Government, Departments, officials etc to implement it from the grassroots level in order to achieve its objectives- hence it is a failure. My point of contention is that the Education Policy to be formulated should be within a certain time frame within which its objectives must be achieved. That would put pressure on the Government, Departments, Bureaucrats, officials etc for its proper implementation.

(IV) The need of the hour is also to give topmost priority to the education of the girl child and their education (right from their elementary education upto the higher education) and various schemes for their benefit must be implemented. The physically handicapped and the mentally retarded children are also to be given topmost priority by the Government.

Well, as the saying goes - "First impression is the last impression", the government by increasing the salary of Adhoc teachers has already set its first impression and it may be hoped that such impression would continue to last for a long period to come. The present Education Minister (Manas Chaudhuri) had himself once raised the question of social security (for the teachers) in the Assembly. Personally I feel that it is to the advantage of all in general and the teacher-student community in particular that such a concerned personality is heading the Education Department. Let us hope for a tremendous educational development in the next five years which would automatically bring all round development for our society.

Yours etc.,
C.S. Singh
Shillong-2

Interacting with the media here on Sunday on the occasion of the beginning of Assamese New Year, Mr Mahanta advocated for unification of all regional political parties in Assam to keep Congress out of power virtually lending support to what his former party, Asom Gana Pasrishad (AGP) is doing.

"The Congress wouldn't have come back to power in Assam in 2006 Assembly polls had the regional parties fought the election unitedly. There is scope for unification of regional forces and it depends on positive attitude among all regional groups," Mr Mahanta said.

Mr Mahanta's political fortunes took a severe beating after the AGP was made to bite the dust in 2001 Assembly polls by Congress. The party blamed the defeat squarely on the failed leadership of Mr Mahanta paving the way for isolation of the former Chief Minister in the party that he had founded in 1985.

In subsequent related developments, Mr Mahanta was stripped off the presidentship of the party and expelled from the party by the new leadership on charges of "anti-party activities".

Mr Mahanta then floated the Asom Gana Parishad (Progressive) with his loyalists before 2006 Assembly election.

However, the fractionation into two groups did not augur well for both the AGP and AGP (Progressive) in 2006 polls where they managed to win only 24 seats in the 126-member Assembly while AGP (Progressive) won only one seat, that too by its leader Mr Mahanta. The Congress stormed back to power after the polls with Bodoland People's Political Front (BPPF) as its ally.

Apparently learning a lesson from its past mistake of ousting Mr Mahanta from the party before 2006 election, the AGP has now decided to vie for unification of regional parties before the next round of general election. The party has constituted an 11-member committee to formulate strategy for unification virtually paving the way for merger of the AGP (Progressive) led by Mr Mahanta and other like-minded regional parties in the State.

Imphal: The police have netted a man suspected to be involved in the killing of a young widow, Laishram Ongbi Shantibala alias Inaotombi after raping her at Lousipat in Thoubal district on April 10 last while another surrendered to the police on Saturday, according to an official source.

The man arrested by the police has been identified as Chongtham Nitai (40) of Tekcham Mayai Leikai in Thoubal district while the man who surrendered to the police has been identified as Nongthombam Ibomcha alias Raju, a militant who is on bail, of Wangbal Laipham in Thoubal district.

The two men are said to have relation with the deceased woman, Shantibala, according to an official source.

It may be mentioned that a young widow of twenty-four years old, Laimayum Ongbi Shantibala alias Inaothoi, wife of Late Rojen of Tentha Tuwabam in Thoubal district, was found dead in a semi-nude condition in a potato field on Thursday morning under Kakching police station in Thoubal district.

Following the death of the young widow, around 200 women and youth from the locality led by the Joint Action Committee (JAC) against the killing took a protest rally in Imphal on Friday afternoon and submitted a memorandum to the State Chief Minister demanding the booking of the culprits and payment of ex-gratia to family members of the deceased.

Chief Minister Ibobi Singh assured the JAC on Friday to book the culprits involved in the killing of the widow before April 14 as per the demand of the JAC. Ibobi is also said to have assured the JAC for payment of Rs one lakh to the deceased family members as ex-gratia. (NNN)

Kamrup (metro) district administration sources said that a huge chunk of earth fell on the hut where the women, her child and her husband were sleeping at about 2.45 am.

The landslide took place after heavy rain and hailstorm that lashed the city last night.

The two died on the spot while the husband was admitted to the Guwahati Medical College Hospital in a serious condition. The district administration has sanctioned Rs 10,000 to the family of the deceased. (PTI)

Around 600 chicks and ducks, which were kept concealed during a four-day culling operation, were culled in the entire Kamalpur subdivision on Saturday and personnel of Rapid Response Team started carrying out search to find out remaining poultry products, said AK Mangotra, Principal Secretary of ARDD.

Altogether, over 38,000 birds have been culled in Kamalpur subdivision since the outbreak of the flu that was confirmed on April 7 last.

As part of precautionary measures, poultry farming had been completely banned in Kamalpur subdivision for the next three months in the wake of the bird flu.

Three-drop gates were set up to prevent movement of birds to other parts of the State.

Though there is no report of fresh outbreak of avian flu, the Department is taking no chance to contain the spread of the virus to other sub-divisions. As part of advance preparation, a team of ARDD headed by Mangotra visited Dharmangar on Sunday.

The team held a high-level meeting with officials of North district on how to tackle the situation in case of outbreak of bird flu amidst report of death of birds at Panisagar in North Tripura district.

Official sources said, a team of ARD rushed to Panisagar to collect blood sample for testing.

In Khowai sub-division, officials of ARDD confirmed that a few chicks died due to fluctuating temperature. "So there is nothing to be worried about," they said exhorting people to have chicken after boiling it properly.

Ms Payal, an aspiring model outshone 23 other contestants in the mega model category while Karan, a freelance graphic designer bested 20 others in the manhunt category at the contest held on Saturday.

In the mega model category, the first runner-up was Sasha Gonsalves from Mumbai while the second runner-up spot went to Bianca Pereira from Goa.

In the manhunt category, Sagar Mantoo from Kashmir won the first runner-up spot and Karan Rao won the second runner-up place. (UNI)

Kamrup (metro) district administration sources said that a huge chunk of earth fell on the hut where the women, her child and her husband were sleeping at about 2.45 am.

The landslide took place after heavy rain and hailstorm that lashed the city last night.

The two died on the spot while the husband was admitted to the Guwahati Medical College Hospital in a serious condition. The district administration has sanctioned Rs 10,000 to the family of the deceased. (PTI)

In a release here, NUTA president Rosemary Dzuvichu said the decision to this effect was taken following positive response of the Ministry of Human Resources Development (MHRD) towards their demands.

He said the ministry has agreed to replace, former Secretary of the UGC, Dr T Kem, as a member of the Fact Finding Committee. The release stated that the ministry has also agreed to reconstitute a new fact finding committee within a month, which will come to the University and conduct an inquiry into the issues raised for investigation. (UNI)