Urban Affairs Minister Paul Lyngdoh on Saturday said Power Minister Dr Mukul Sangma would also attend the meeting "since any review of the earlier Cabinet decision should be carried out in the presence of the Power Minister."

Mr Lyngdoh, who met Chief Minister DD Lapang on Friday, stressed on the need to review the Cabinet decision in view of the protests from various quarters.

It may be mentioned here that KSU on Thursday announced a three-day stir, including blockade and bandh, from January 7 in protest against the State Government's inaction towards the Union's December-31 deadline to scrap the Cabinet decision.

"During the meeting with Mr Lapang, I voiced my protest against the manner in which the Cabinet was misguided to hand over the power projects, especially Kynshi and Umngot projects, to private parties", Mr Lyngdoh said.

The minister admitted that the Cabinet had overlooked the fact that as per the State Power Policy, any power project worth over 100 MW should be handed over to private firms through international competitive bidding.

"On December 7, the Cabinet took this decision in the absence of majority of the ministers," Mr Lyngdoh said, adding meeting was called without giving prior notice to the ministers.

He also said the December-3 Cabinet meeting approved amendments to the power policy without even giving time to study them and another Cabinet meeting was hurriedly called just four days later to decide handing over of the power projects to private companies.

He revealed that a clause, which was more favourable to private companies, was inserted in the amended power policy at the last moment without any discussion on it.

Mr Lyngdoh, who is also the president of KHNAM, flayed the remarks of MPCC president OL Nongtdu that the regional parties were politicising the issue.

"We are not politicising the matter. We are raising the issue for the sake of the public and for welfare of the State," he said and added that Congress ministers RG Lyngdoh and Prestone Tynsong were also signatories to the letter of protest.

SHILLONG: KHADC chief HS Shylla has stuck to his stand that Nongkrem Congress candidate Waibha K Kyndiah has violated the Khasi Lineage Act by taking the surname of his father, saying there is no need to take the matter to the court as suggested by the MPCC president.

MPCC president OL Nongtdu on Friday asked both Mr Kyndiah and Mr Shylla to go to the court to settle the issue. "The Khasi Lineage Act needs interpretation by the court," Mr Nongtdu said .

Talking to The Shillong Times on Saturday, Mr Shylla said he had raised the issue of Mr Kyndiah's tribal status only to "wake up those individuals who take the surnames of their fathers as it is an insult to the traditional practice of matrilineal system."

"(However,) before taking any further step I would discuss the matter first with MPCC president Mr Nongtdu as he is the one who has directed us to settle the matter in the court," he said.

Mr Shylla on Friday formally lodged a complaint with Mr Nongtdu and Chief Minister DD Lapang, questioning Mr Kyndiah's eligibility to contest elections from Nongkrem Assembly constituency which is reserved for ST candidates.

As per the Khasi Lineage Act, the "Congress nominee" ceases to be a Khasi as he takes the surname of his father "breaching the traditional norm and codified rules of Khasis," the KHADC CEM pointed out.

The MPCC president has already ruled out any change in the party list. "The names have been finalised by the AICC and it is all clear that there will be no alteration," he said recently.

Incidentally, Waibha K Kyndiah is the son of Union Tribal Affairs Minister PR Kyndiah.

The device of LBS, introduced recently, is aimed at tracking movement of any mobile phone user and finding out where he is.

Besides police and other security forces, LBS will help employers keep a close watch on movement of their employees, especially those in private companies or sectors.

Addressing the Press here on Saturday, Chief General Manager of BSNL's NE Telecom Circle I, AK Gupta said when crime-related incidents and accidents take place, Police Department could use LBS to promptly track down its personnel and direct them to reach the place of occurrence at once.

"In view of large-scale car thefts in the North-East, the device can be installed in taxis," Mr Gupta said, adding movement of ambulances and trucks could also be tracked with the aid of the system.

According to the top BSNL official, the only defect of the system is that people using cell phones cannot be traced physically. Only their mobile phones can be tracked. If mobile phones are exchanged with others, hunting out the actual users of the phones will be impossible.

Mr Gupta said Internet dating and chatting would also come under the scrutiny of LBS.

However, a company and its staff have to agree to installation of the device to avoid incidents of harassment.

He said BSNL was giving presentations in this regard to various departments of Meghalaya Government, including police and health officials.

As applications of the system need to be explained properly, we are going to some organisations to give practical examples of the use of the device, he said.

Mr Gupta further said some new cars will have inbuilt LBS so that they can be traced if stolen, adding lost mobiles could also be traced through the device.

Union government launched a tourist promotion plan-"bed and breakfast" scheme during the current financial year in Sohra area but the local residents have failed to respond to the project that can bring about a boost to their economy.

Under the scheme, the government has proposed a financial package to a tune of Rs. one crore for residents of Sohra to refurbish their respective housing infrastructure to provide tourist a comfortable stay and breakfast before venturing out to the wettest place on the Earth.

This scheme has however failed to take off for lack of interest and initiative from the local villagers. And unfortunately, for tourists, wishing for a homely stay in the world wettest place, have to take a longer wait.

With inadequate accommodation at Sohra, many tourists have been left with no alternative but to opt for shuttling from and to Shillong. At present, Sohra has only two hotels and a government circuit house.

In fact, the lackadaisical response to the centrally sponsored project from 12 villages falling under Sohra area has baffled all and sundry-which otherwise the scheme holds a lucrative prospect for the local populace.

Speaking to this correspondent, the Syiem of Sohra FS Syiem has admitted that the scheme failed to take off for want of interest from the local people. He cited no reason for tepid response from the area though.

Syiem further said, "We are now looking for NGOs to take the initiative to reap the benefits of the scheme." However, he was quick to add that steps were being taken to ensure the scheme does not slip away.

Interestingly, tourists in thousands not only from neighbouring northeastern states but also from far off states like Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal throng the picturesque Sohra-also known for enchanting waterfalls-all round the year.

Some of the local people also felt the state tourism department has not gone about in an aggressive way to promote the scheme because it will surely affect the hotel industry in Shillong.

The state, also known as Scotland of the East, is fast coming on the global map with top rock groups coming and performing thus attracting thousands of tourists there.

If the government does not take appropriate steps to build suitable infrastructure either on their own or with private help it can only attract negative publicity. What can be more negative than the incomplete Crowbrow hotel right in the middle of Shillong city. This is a reminder to the visitors about the seriousness of the state government in achieving the same.

Addressing a conference here on Saturday, Chief General Manager, BSNL, NE-I AK Gupta said that the North Eastern-1 Telecom Circle has commissioned the state-of-art 10-seater call centre called the 'CALL NE-I' with effect from January 1. The call centre will be operational 24x7 (on all days including Sundays and other holidays).

The service, which is toll free, can be accessed by dialing 1500 from any BSNL landline and WLL phones in Meghalaya, Mizoram and Tripura, Gupta said.

The call centre will provide information on services, products, commercial, tariff and bill related inquiries.

The subscribers can also register for settlement of long pending grievances, and also to get standard application forms like new telephone connections and Internet services.

The BSNL official said the CALL NE-I booths are also being opened in all customer services centres and all BSNL offices to make queries to the call centre.

As these booths will be hotline booths, which means a customer desiring to make queries would be automatically connected to the call centre once the phone receiver is lifted.

The BSNL also launched 'Call Now Cards' with reduced local, STD and ISD call rates on the occasion.

On the expansion of mobile network to border areas in Meghalaya, Gupta said there has been mobile connectivity in the areas within 500 metres of the international border. He said mobile connectivity has been started in Shella, Mahendraganj, Dawki, Baghmara and Dalu.

Gupta said as Bangladesh is pumping the signals from their mobile network on Indian border areas, there is access to their Gramin phones on the Indian border.

"We can also pump our signals inside Bangladesh to enable the people in that country living in the border areas to use the BSNL mobile network," Gupta said.

However, due to the security reasons, India cannot adopt this method, he added.

A meeting held at Tympang Club Hall, Jowai on Friday, attended by more than 200 local residents of Iawmusiang (Tympang Club), expressed concern over the action of the DSP, who was allegedly in an inebriated condition, when he along with four of his security men, assaulted Kambhah Khyriem and Leki Shylla, both residents of Tympang Club, Jowai.

Speaking to The Shillong Times after the meeting, the secretary and chairman of the club D Pale and E Khyriem respectively informed that besides demand for removal of the police officer from the district, the meeting also demanded a judicial inquiry into the incident.

A series of protests have been chalked out, starting from Monday, including a black flag protest, they said.

Failure on the part of the Government to respond, a locality would be called on January 14, they said.

Meanwhile, a meeting convened by the Deputy Commissioner, Jaintia Hills on Friday to discuss the incident, was postpone till next week as the DC was not in good health.

Mr Narendra Modi has surpassed even the most optimistic forecasts made for the Bharatiya Janata Party's performance in the Gujarat elections to win 117 of the Assembly's 182 seats and put the party in power for the fourth time. Although the tally is 10 seats lower than the BJP's 2002 score, the emphatic and convincing character of its victory is beyond doubt.

The percentage of votes polled by the BJP is estimated to have increased, albeit marginally. It swept three of the four regions of Gujarat. It's only in central Gujarat, which had witnessed the worst violence during the pogrom of 2002-and where the BJP had won 38 of 43 seats-that the party suffered major losses (20 seats). The BJP's win is the more impressive because "normal" electoral arithmetic, based on caste, class, ethnic group and region-related factors, was loaded against it.

The BJP's victory under Mr Modi's authoritarian leadership is a triumph of the forces of intolerance, illiberalism, religious bigotry, rank communalism, dangerous hypernationalism, and ruthless regimentation of society based upon hatred of the underprivileged and celebration of the despotism of the powerful. It represents a setback for democracy, public decency and Constitutional values. But it cannot invest the BJP's politics with legitimacy or respectability.

Mr Modi has proved a successful but diabolically crafty demagogue, who can descend to any level of spreading hatred to win votes. His victory is clearly his own and not quite that of his party or the Sangh Parivar. Indeed, he defied the Parivar. Neither the RSS nor the Vishwa Hindu Parishad campaigned for him. And he ignored dissidence within the BJP, and refused to give tickets to 47 sitting MLAs. Eventually, 33 of his hand-picked nominees won.

Even more important, Mr Modi set the entire ideological and political agenda for the election, and ran a warlike, no-holds-barred, hate-filled campaign, eclipsing all other BJP leaders, including Mr LK Advani, who couldn't attract even a fraction of the audience that he did. The extensive use of the Modi mask by his followers only visually underscored the nature of the election as a referendum on Mr Modi. He won the referendum unambiguously.

One of the greatest myths being propagated about the election is that it was fought on the agenda of "development". In fact, Mr Modi played the communal card right from the beginning, when he agitated the Ram Setu issue, and time and again highlighted "terrorism"-no more than shorthand for Islam and Muslims.

The tone of the communal campaign became especially shrill when Mr Modi shamelessly justified the cold-blooded killing of Sohrabuddin Shaikh in a fake encounter. But Hindutva shadowed the campaign all the way through. Mr Modi's very persona concentrates vicious communalism within itself and exudes it.

The Congress didn't mount a half-way credible challenge to Mr Modi either on issues of governance, or on his politics of hatred. The Congress did its utmost to duck issues pertaining to the violence of 2002, whose victims continue to be excluded, discriminated against and re-victimised. In fact, it carefully avoided any reference to the pogrom, to the state's culpability in planning and executing it, and to the BJP's failure to deliver even a modicum of justice to the victims. Right since it came to power nationally, the Congress didn't utter the "G word". It did virtually nothing for the victims.

The Congress refused to take a clear stand against aggressive Hindutva and the brazenly communal political mobilisation strategy that Mr Modi employed. It adopted a "soft Hindutva" posture, and competed with Mr Modi on his own terrain, pointing out that he had failed to protect the lives of Hindus-when the real victims of violence were Muslims. Each time Mr Modi cited Godhra, the Congress would invoke the Akshardham temple attack.

Even worse, the Congress recruited into its campaign anti-Modi rebels from the BJP, many of whom had been deeply implicated in the 2002 carnage, such as former junior Home Minister Goverdhan Zadaphia. It give tickets to several of them, thus damaging its own credibility and undermining the possibility of projecting itself as a secular force. Its choice of candidates was equally determined by "soft Hindutva".

It's only in the very last leg of the campaign, after the first phase of polling, that the Congress took a spirited stand on the issue of communal violence. Ms Sonia Gandhi deplored the "merchants of death and fear" (maut ke saudagar) and Mr Digvijay Singh assailed the forces of Hindutva extremism. But this came far too late and was unrelated to the party's basic strategy and the way it ran most of its campaign.

There's some speculation on whether the maut ke saudagar remark cost the Congress loss of support. This exaggerates Mr Modi's ability to exploit all adversity in his favour. The loss was at best marginal. In any case, the remark was apt. But Mr Modi mounted a disgracefully dishonest defence of his violation of the electoral code of conduct and refused to tone down his murderous rhetoric even after the Election Commission mildly reprimanded him-and in an unconvincing show of evenhandedness, also snubbed Ms Gandhi, and more strongly, Mr Digvijay Singh.

The Congress also completely failed to take on Mr Modi on human development, poverty, minimum needs, income and regional disparities, and other livelihood questions. Gujarat has undoubtedly recorded high GDP growth. But this hasn't helped it abolish poverty or mass deprivation. Gross malnutrition affects 74 percent of its women and 46 percent of its children.

Gujarat's society remains hideously iniquitous, with wages among India's lowest. Agriculture is thriving, but child labour is rampant in the cotton fields. Hazardous industries flourish as nowhere else. Coercion drives industrial growth through crony-capitalist schemes like Special Economic Zones and private ports, which involve forced land acquisition.

However, the Congress had absolutely no alternative to offer to such maldevelopment or to Mr Modi's celebration of greed and elitism, leave alone his politics of hatred. It wasted a precious opportunity to build on the gains it made in the 2004 Lok Sabha elections, when it won in 91 Assembly segments against the BJP's 89. In fact, it squandered them.

The only silver lining for the Congress is that it recovered its traditional base amongst the Adivasis, and won a majority of the seats reserved for them. It did better where it distanced itself from BJP rebels, as in central Gujarat.

Its too-clever-by-half strategy of trying to win Leuva Patel support through the pro-Keshubhai Sardar Patel Utkarsh Samiti rebels came a cropper in Saurashtra-Kutch, where the BJP improved its tally from 39 to 43 seats (of 58). Only one of the "rebels" won. Similarly, so did only one of the 10 Kolis whom the Congress fielded to capitalise on resentment in that community.

Ultimately, Mr Modi won because he projected, like a true demagogue, an appeal based on militant Hindutva, Gujarati hubris, and a despotic personality that respects no democratic values or norms of decency, but is admired for its strong will, determination and decisiveness.

Mr Modi is the man who "gets things done" by means fair or foul so long as they feed the perverse values he believes in. If Bt-cotton is to be promoted to please Big Business, it'll be rammed down the throats of peasants-no matter that 500 farmers have committed suicide. If fertile agricultural land is to be procured for a toxic chemicals plant in Ankleshwar or Baroda, it will be acquired no matter how reluctant the owner to sell it. If labour unions resist non-enforcement of the minimum wage, they must be smashed.

The admiration this decisiveness and ruthlessness evokes among the middle classes is similar to the spell that Hitler and Mussolini cast because under them, the "trains ran on time". This speaks to an unprecedented cult of personality, and of a quasi-fascist personality at that. What else can explain the fact that thousands upon thousands of Modi supporters chose to suppress their own identities by wearing masks moulded after his face? Or that the bulk of the Hindu middle class doesn't feel even an iota of remorse for what happened in 2002?

All this speaks of a deep social pathology in a state that has graduated from a Hindutva laboratory into a large-scale Hindutva factory under the longest spell of BJP rule anywhere. Communalism serves many functions in Gujarat: disenfranchising Muslims, consolidating upper-caste domination, and enforcing oppressive social regimentation against the underprivileged and the labouring poor. Gujarat is one state where the upper-caste elite has successfully-and violently-suppressed any Dalit or OBC self-assertion since the 1980s.

At any rate, Mr Modi will now seek a larger national-level role for himself. The Parivar, always a worshipper of power, will find it hard to contain him. That task has fallen to all those who believe in secularism, freedom and inclusive growth. We must not fail these ideals. (IPA Service)

Terror struck once more in UP with deadly vengeance --- this time at the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) Group Centre in Rampur, on a cold wintry Sunday night. Leaving eight policemen dead, the jihadis again sent a chilling reminder that they mean business. Clearly, the terrorist had done their homework, given the fact that the Rampur CRPF hub serves as the logistical and administrative backbone to five battalions posted in Jammu & Kashmir and the North-East. This attack, the seventh since 2000, comes two years after the failed attack on the Ram Janamabhoomi complex in July 2005 and exposes the unprepardness of the security forces in dealing with terrorism. UP Chief Minister Mayawati promptly tried to wash her hands of the dastardly attack by accusing the Central forces of laxity as these had already been warned. But she herself has been accused by the Congress of being "soft on terrorists."

The State has been on the fiyadeen’s radar for the last 14 years. In fact, after Jammu & Kashmir, UP has been the worst affected terror-afflicted State. Borne out by the fact that in the last three years alone, 80 terror modules have been neutralized by the security forces. Interestingly, these modules, off-shoots of the dreaded Harkut-ul-Ansar, had made western UP their base after inheriting the infrastructure from it in 1993. Shockingly, the State security forces which are wholly dependent on the Central forces, have been unable to make a dent in the jihadis network, which has grown many-fold in the last five years.

Bihar’s Chief Minister, Nitish Kumar, has special reason to rejoice. He has won hands down a virtual "referendum" against the RJD Supremo, Lalu Prasad, in the Bikramganj Lok Sabha byelection, which his JD (U) candidate bagged by over 31,000 votes. Remember, Nitish has won all byelections since he came to power two years ago. The outcome dashes all hopes of Lalu derailing Nitish, his bete noire in his home State in the near future. Needless to say, this poll should serve as an eye-opener for Lalu to realize the extent he has lost ground in Bihar, over which he lorded for 15 years. Specially as the by poll was a contest between him and Nitish Kumar with Lalu banking on the Yadav-Khushwaha-Muslim alignment. True the margin of victory was slim. But that was thanks to a low voter turnout. A visibly happy Chief Minister appropriately chides his arch rival: "Now people will only vote for development. Voting on cast lines is getting passé!"

In neighbouring UP, it was double heartbreak for Chief Minister Mayawati in the byelection for the Ballia Lok Sabha poll. One, her BSP candidate had to eat the humble pie by over 1.31 lakh votes. Two, he was defeated by her arch rival Mulayam Singh’s Samajwadi Party, which had fielded former Prime Minister Chandrashekhar’s son Neeraj. Mayawati and her ministerial colleagues had made the poll a prestige fight and put up Vinay Shankar Tewari, son of Gorakhpur’s dreaded mafia don, Hari Shankar Tiwari. Nevertheless, this is BSP’s first defeat in the State since Mayawati came to power. Last year, it won all the three previous Lok Sabha bypolls. The result has also dashed the hopes of the BJP riding the crest of its Gujarat and Himachal victories in the Hindu heartland as also the Congress’ expectations of reviving itself in the State. Shamefully, the candidates of both the national parties forfeited their deposits.

Traditional supporters of the CPM in West Bengal have clearly warned the party not to take their support for granted. Borne out by the decreased victory margin of nearly 8,000 votes for its candidate in the Balagarh Assembly seat in Hooghly. This is less than half the margin in the last election. Exposing that Singur and Nandigram have had a ripple effect all over the State, including the CPM’s rural strongholds. Coupled with the CPM’s pro-farmer posturing which took a beating. Most farmers continue to be fearful of losing their land. Spiraling prices also caused strong reaction, forcing loyalist cadres to go in for a serious rethink of what is best for them. In fact, had the Opposition combined to take on the CPM, it could have snatched the seat from the Red party. The total of the Trinamool (51,691) and the BJP (8,833) a former ally of Mamata Banerjee’s party, together polled more votes than CPM’s 60,101. The CPM is clearly in trouble.

Goa’s Governor, S.C. Jamir, former Chief Minister of Nagaland, has blazed a new trail: playing the role of an elder statesman and candidly sharing his thoughts about the State, its people and their future. Goa, he lamented in Panaji, had become oversensitive and, in the bargain, Goans had developed a negative mindset. "Everything is being politicized and, as a result, nothing moves." Goa, he added, should be helped to develop "a balanced mindset" and a polity that was stable and a people and politicians committed to an ideology. Jamir also blew the bugle against the prevalent electoral practices, wherein candidates "bribed their voters with drinks and money" to get elected. Such candidates, he warned, would not make good leaders. Jamir said much else that was of interest, including his opposition to SEZs in the State. Importantly, he urged the Government to give up thoughts of making Goa another Hong Kong or Dubai and let it remain what it is --- Goa!

The Centre has decided to impose President’s rule in Nagaland on second thoughts. Notwithstanding, that the Assembly poll is just a month away. New Delhi was forced to rethink when 30 Congress MLAs called on President Pratibha Patil and claimed that they had won the no-confidence motion against the Neiphu Rio-led Democratic Alliance of Nagaland by 31-23 votes in the 60-member Assembly with an effective strength of 55 members. Recall, the Speaker had surprisingly barred nine MLAs from voting and declared the motion lost. Expectedly, Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio and his colleagues are livid. They have denounced the Centre’s decision as "murder of democracy."

Incredible India. And now incredible Ladakh. An anti-corruption drive in picturesque Ladakh has got an icy response from the local community. Six months, 18 raids in which 31 Ladakh residents, including 14 shopkeepers, were held by the J&K police investigating large-scale theft of supplies meant for Indian troops on the Siachen Glacier has led to strong protests. Specially as the pilfered supplies are seen as subsidies, not as corruption. Each winter, when night temperatures drop below -250 Celsius, local residents are forced to depend upon fuel and food filtered from the Army since transportation costs of normal supplies are prohibitively high. (INFA)

Sir,

The reformation movement had made a positive impact in Europe many years ago wherein development, progress and social responsibility created new changes. As in the case of Meghalaya can we expect a reformation? Patricia Mukhim in her recent article has correctly highlighted the plight of Meghalaya's bureaucracy not to be left behind are our politicians. Mahatma Gandhi had beautifully described the success of a developed state and I quote "A state is not measured in terms of its wealth but by the purity of the minds and heart of its leaders". Could we expect some example from our leaders?

Yours etc.,
Dominic S.Wankhar
Shillong.
Via e-mail

Sir,

Recently it was reported that an ISI agent had been nabbed in Guwahati who had come from Bangladesh through Garo Hills. This shows the negligence on the part of administration and security agencies of Meghalaya. Why are they allowing such dangerous terrorist to infiltrate into the state? If these anti-social elements are allowed to infiltrate then the days are not far when Meghalaya will become another Afghanistan!

It is really surprising to know that most parts of the West Garo Hills are occupied by refugees. Influx of refugees from Bangladesh and other states is taking place every day. Beware of these invaders! Like in some other northeastern states, the system of issuing Inner Line Permit should be implemented to check the influx.

Yours etc.,
Earningstone S.
Shillong.
Via e-mail

Sir,

It is commonly seen that the residents of some areas like Mawlai, Barik Point, Dhanketi, Civil hospital, Police Bazaar etc. illegally take water from pipes which are neither covered by earth nor cemented and remains exposed. Precious water is wasted in the process. End of the pipes are kept open. Further there is also chance of epidemic like gastroentritis and other waterborne diseases affecting the public as the pipes are dangerously kept close to dirty drains and are liable to be contaminated at many places. The concerned authorities are requested to act without much delay. Alternately the government can set up public taps with tanks under the charge of the local municipal authority as done in other cities so that the practice of tapping water illegally is eliminated.

Yours etc.,
Ananth Nipani
Shillong
Via e-mail

"Some of our friends (party leaders) in Delhi are consulting legal experts whether the Centre's decision should go for a judicial review in appropriate courts," Rio said here after meeting the Governor K Shankaranarayanan following imposition of President's rule on Thursday.

Defending the Nagaland Speaker's decision to debar nine NPF MLAs and three Independents during the voting on no-trust motion on December 13 under the provisions of anti-defection laws, Rio asked why same yardsticks were not applied in case states like Goa and Meghalaya where the respective presiding officers saved the ruling governments under the same laws.

He exuded confidence that the DAN coalition would come back to power in the coming assembly elections in the state. (PTI)

The surrendered militant included seven from the ULFA, including two female cadres.

The Army had also been sent back after it was engaged in maintaining law and order following the incident.

Mr Borah said the last rites of all the deceased was completed peacefully and there was no flare up in any part in the entire district. The Army, which had assisted police in the aftermath of Wednesday's incident, had been de-requisitioned on Saturday, the SP added. Police had opened fire on supporters of the Non-Rabha Coordination Committee on Wednesday in Lakhipur twice within a few hours when the latter had burnt vehicles and also tried to attack the police station to enforce a blockade.

They were protesting the postponement of Panchayat polls in the Rabha Hasong Autonomous Council area with the Panchayat election subsequently postponed in the entire district following the violence. The State Government had already ordered a judicial probe and announced Rs three lakh to the next to kin of each of the deceased. (UNI)

ULFA spokesman, Raju Baruah, in a statement, stated that extremely tragic end befell on those who had approached the 'colonial India security forces' and come over ground.

The ULFA alleged that the 'Indian forces', in sharp violation of international war laws, often resorted to converting these vulnerable youth to "double agents" to work for the "Indian forces" from within the ULFA ranks.

The ULFA statement alleged that 'Indian forces' instead of allowing these youth to surrender, forced them back to the ULFA ranks to work as spy, and in some instances, "to extort money from innocent people in the name of the ULFA, trigger bomb blast and carry out killing to defame the ULFA".

"When these gullible youth, who had strayed from the path of 'revolution', become unable to comply with the designs of the Indian forces, they are then eliminated in fake encounters and presented as ULFA members," the ULFA alleged.

The ULFA cautioned its cadres who have strayed from the path of revolution, against falling into the trap of 'Indian occupational forces' to avoid such tragic end to its life.

The ULFA stated that such design of the 'colonial Indian forces' belied the much publicised stand of the "Indian colonial state" and its politicians and a section of intellectuals who opine that the ULFA problem should be viewed as a political one and it should be tackled politically.

The talks began following instruction from the Congress High Command. Five senior leaders of TPCC and similar number of INPT leaders had meetings in Tripura Bhavan in Delhi on Friday but no decision was taken in the meeting, said INPT general secretary Rabindra Debbarma.

He said that the talks would continue to give a final shape to the proposed electoral alliance.

Side by side, resentment is brewing among leaders of Pradesh Congress ST Department over the ongoing talks between Congress and INPT in this regard.

In a letter addressed to Prithviraj Chavan, Union Minister and general secretary of AICC, Pradesh Congress ST department chief, Bhrigu Ram Reang, on Friday said that earlier, tribal people had been given due representation by the Pradesh Congress. "Unfortunately, it has not been the case this time. As a matter of fact, we have serious doubt as to whether at all the tribal people has been consulted or not. Moreover, we are sorry to inform you that none of the tribal leaders had been called for discussion in Delhi along with other party leaders," he said.

In another letter addressed to Chavan, Dinesh Debbarma, general secretary of party's tribal wing on Friday said that leaders of ST department has been struggling hard in tribal belts to bring downtrodden indigenous people into the mainstream of Congress.

The director who had 14 films, over 170 documentaries and three telefilms to his credit was considered to have introduced commercial modern cinema in the State. (PTI)