Speaking to The Shillong Times, Mr Rymbai said, "sympathy of NCP is appreciated, but the leadership issue is an internal matter of the party."

Mr Rymbai also said that he would meet a few Congress legislators on Friday afternoon to discuss the issue. He also said that it was too early to predict anything on the outcome of the CLP meeting scheduled for January 17.

Meanwhile, efforts were on to woo the fence sitters in Lapang camp to Rymbai camp. Informed sources said that Mukul loyalists -- former Deputy Chief Minister Mrs Deborah Marak and Clement Marak may switch their allegiance to Rymbai camp.

Commenting on the development, the MPCC chief OL Nongtdu, who was also present during the meeting with the AICC leaders in Delhi, said that former Deputy Chief Minister Dr Mukul Sangma had persuaded the AICC to name a leader, but the AICC suggested to convene the CLP. He said that though the intention of the state leaders was to settle the matter in Delhi, the AICC wanted the matter to be discussed in the CLP and make a decision once and for all.

Mr Nongtdu also recalled that both Mr Rymbai and Mr Lapang had earlier issued a written undertaking that they would abide by any decision taken by the Congress president Mrs Sonia Gandhi on the issue of leadership. "Since the AICC wanted that the matter should be resolved in CLP, we favoured the idea", Mr Nongtdu added.

Earlier, troops from the Gorkha Regiment based at Lakhipur in Asom shot dead a fifty-year-old man in a case of mistaken identity in Tikrikilla area on Sunday night.

Speaking to The Shillong Times on Thursday, Chief Secretary Mr SK Tewari informed that a team of three engineers would stay in Tura from January 15 to prepare the estimates for the project, adding that only after the preparation of the estimates, tender would be called.

It may be mentioned that the team of engineers include a nodal officer from Umroi Airport and the two engineers from Guwahati.

"With the completion of the preparation of the estimates, the State government would further seek fund from the ministry of DONER for this purpose," he said.

SHILLONG: The MDA Cabinet on Thursday adopted a bamboo policy for the State with an aim to develop bamboo plantations and ensure sale of finished products. Informing this after the Cabinet meeting, Chief Secretary Mr SK Tewari said that the bamboo policy was aimed at improving bamboo production.

At present the bamboo production in Meghalaya is two tonnes per hectare and the first step of the government will be to increase its production to 10 tonnes.

Other features of the bamboo policy include bamboo enterprise development section, developing bamboo products to be used as substitute for timber, charcoal made of bamboo and other byproducts.

"The government is also contemplating to set up a bamboo development agency," Mr Tewari added.

The Cabinet also decided to implement the second phase of golden handshake scheme for the employees of MECOFED. In all, 44 employees will be offered the scheme and the total financial involvement for the purpose is Rs 2.27 crore. The Cabinet also discussed the arrangements for Meghalaya Day and the Republic Day celebrations.

The four persons, who posed themselves as Enforcement officials, have been identified as Jwai Sari, Skil Suna, Baski Sari and Nong Rymbai. An amount of Rs 1730 were recovered from them.

The deceased was coming from Jowai in his official vehicle (Mahindra Marshall) when the truck coming form the opposite direction hit the vehicle. Challam, who was driving the vehicle, died on the spot. Police said the truck was later recovered from Sohryngkham. The police arrested both the driver and handyman of the truck.

SHILLONG:The HNYF has opposed the frequent change of leadership in the State saying that it would hamper the speedy implementation of schemes and projects.

Political Secretary of HNYF central body Mr SS Blah said that with the State facing election next year, the possible change of leadership now is likely to hinder the development process. The HNYF also criticised Congress president Mrs Sonia Gandhi for suggesting the election of new leader through secret ballot.

"This will encourage corruption as any leader can use money to buy the MLAs and ask them to vote," Mr Blah said.

The HNYF also said that the present MLAs in the MDA have tarnished the image of the State by asking for frequent change of leadership. The NGO also blamed the regional parties for maintaining silence over the matter.

SHILLONG: The Assistant General Manager, Operations, MTC, A Pariat on Thursday sought the intervention of the Chief General Manager BSNL, Northeast Circle I over random disconnection of cell services.

In a letter to the CGM BSNL, Mr Parait said that the Cellone subscribers face frequent harassment as the BSNL "randomly disconnects the mobile phone services on the pretext of non-payment of bills."

Mr Pariat pointed out that such random disconnections have dislocated the MTC operations including the helicopter service. Citing an example, Mr Pariat said that he received a message on Janury 3 stating that his bill was Rs 2,570 to be paid within January 4 to avoid late fee.

As he had paid the previous bill dated November 10, 2006 amounting to Rs 1,396 at the SBI Shillong branch on December 4, Mr Pariat ignored the message. On January 3 evening, his calls were barred before the due date of the next bill - January 4.

On contacting the customer service with regard to the calls being barred, Mr Pariat found out that there was a communication gap between the bank and the BSNL. They also regretted the inconvenience caused. Despite having promised to restore their service on the same day, the service provider failed to do so and restored the service the next evening - January 5.

Fearing further harassment, Mr Pariat cleared the December bill amounting to Rs 1,154 but the service was again disconnected on January 9 afternoon.

It may be mentioned that another subscriber had even written to the Union Communication Minister D Maran regarding the problems faced by the customer. Subscribers in some areas of Garo Hills have also been facing problems like charging for service without any network for the past many months.

"In every age there comes a time when leadership must come forth to meet the needs of the hour. Therefore there is no potential leader who does not find his time. Tragically there are times when no leader arises for that hour"… John C Maxwell, leadership Guru.

Considering that our leaders are busy people, this week, I shall give excerpts from the lives of some of the great leaders of the world so our own leaders can reflect if they truly deserve to be called leaders.

At no time in its history is Meghalaya so bereft of leaders as it is today. John Maxwell in his book, "Be a people Person", wonders why there should ever be a time when there is a leadership crisis? And if there are not enough leaders to meet the demand, what can be done about it, he asks. Maxwell, believes that every leader begins his life in a family. Hence leaders have to be carefully identified and diligently cultivated in families, schools, colleges and universities. Few leaders are born. All leaders are made through trials and tests of character and courage. Fred Smith, an outstanding American leader says," Leadership is influence". That is simple but profound; a person may have a position of leadership, but if he is not affecting the thoughts and actions of others, he is not a leader. Maxwell says his favourite leadership proverb goes like this, "He who thinks he leads but has no one following him is only taking a walk".

So often, and especially in these trying times when politics and governance are floundering, people wonder why Meghalaya has stopped producing leaders of consequence. Winston Churchill, one of the great leaders of our times, has a series of POAs (plans of action) that leaders are to scrupulously follow. Firstly, he says, since leadership is the task of managing a large number of people, a leader has to first manage himself. Self management at the top requires the setting of sensible priorities. Doing so requires tremendous discipline, he says. Leaders must have high energy levels otherwise they cannot lead. This means that geriatrics who are due for retirement, are already senile, partially deaf and low on energy have no business to be leaders. Since leadership for us means winning an election, political parties must weed out the geriatrics ( aged 65 plus and above). They should not be allowed to contest elections. In any case only mad, selfish people will elect such a person. Let's see how many mad constituencies Meghalaya produces in 2008.

It is Churchill's observation that leaders should be capable of operating on many fronts simultaneously. To do so a leader must know his facts. If he asks his subordinates, it is only out of politeness and to test whether they know their facts better than himself and are giving him the whole picture. What does this tell us? That, a minister, as the leader of his department, should not depend on a bureaucrat to provide him with basic information. If the bureaucrat gives wrong information and the minister acts on that, he is answerable to the legislature for the failure of his department. It is the minister's duty to collect information by using all resources at his command. That way he will not be misled.

Leaders move with the times. This is the age of computers. So leaders have to be computer savvy. The internet should be used to provide about the outside world. Every minister should be able to use the computer provided to him. The computer in his room is not meant to be a showpiece of modern technology. Those who cannot use the computer in the 21st century do not deserve to be elected next term.

Leaders delegate but do not rely entirely on others. They maintain a deadline for every activity and ask subordinates to report back within 3 days; latest within a week. A politician is not a file pusher, he is an innovator of ideas. Today most ideas come from bureaucrats, many of whom do not move out of their comfortable cubby holes and therefore do not know the ground realities. Naturally, their advice is completely out of sync and very often idealistic. Leaders concentrate on 2 or 3 things that matter most at any given moment and give each one the time and attention they merit. To do so they need to stick to a method and a ruthless time table. The secret, Churchill says is to proceed by design through a crisis to a solution.

A leader who cannot communicate is like a gun without a bullet. Churchill says, "Of all the talents bestowed on men, none is so precious as the gift of oratory. Abandoned by his party, betrayed by his friends, stripped of his offices, whoever can command this power is still formidable". Communication skills do not fall like manna from heaven. They come from diligent study, practice and hard work. When Churchill had to give a speech he would spend days preparing it himself. He did not depend on speech writers because he would not know exactly where to intone. People can make out the difference between a well prepared, thought-provoking speech and an impromptu collection of thoughts, politely called pedantry, that make sense only to the speaker. Though Churchill had an astonishing memory he never gave a speech from memory for the simple reason that he would not know which words and sentences to stress on. Are our leaders listening? How many times have we sat through their boring speech-making exercise?

Churchill was his own best critic. He says criticism in the body politic is like pain in the human body. It is not pleasant, but where would the body be without it. Leaders must have time to introspect on a daily basis whether they have spent their time meaningfully or wasted their energy. Churchill says, "Every night I try myself by court martial to see if I have done anything effective during the day. I don't mean just pawing the ground; anyone can go through the motions, but something really effective". This sums up why he was a successful statesman during the most crucial period of the world's history.

Frederick the Great another great leader of men says, "Sensible men focus on the essentials. While taking a broad view of any problem they concentrate on the central point and chew on it until a solution presents itself. Great leaders are those who do not link seniority with more wisdom. They tap the best brains in the organization without letting anyone know and without creating heartburns within that organization. Seniority kills merit and without merit an organization is as good as dead. One of the reasons why Meghalaya is losing out its brightest officers and retaining the mediocre is simply because merit has no place here.

In Meghalaya the rule has been to give importance to grey hair and past experience. Thi is to signal that there is no room for fresh ideas. Do we wonder then why retired bureaucrats return to join politics or look for a post retirement placement in just about any Committee/Commission. Look at the Secretary of the State Law Commission. The man took voluntary retirement on health grounds some years ago but has been re-appointed again and again like a bad coin. Sadly, those who speak against re-employment of retired bureaucrats have very selective memories. Why can't retired bureaucrats take up social service work, pro-bono, instead of looking for profit all the time and beyond their service careers? If the same bureaucrat was effective during his service things would not be so dismal in Meghalaya. So what makes him different after retirement.

The reason why these retired seniors have been able to return is because our politicians shun new ideas like the plague. Only a good leader can identify the best brains and will not feel threatened if he is pitted against the best. The insecure will usually encourage only those who are less efficient and meritorious than themselves. Insecure leaders thrive on constant pampering even if that ultimately kills them. That is why they can never succeed. Their only progression is towards the dumps. There is no place else they can go.

Let me end with yet another quote from H Ross Perot. He says, "Eagles don't flock - you have to find them one at a time". Unlike most birds, eagles don't fly in flocks. They simply don't fit in. They don't conform to the activities of their own kind. You cannot find them in huge clusters. They fly alone, ahead of and higher than the other birds. Leaders are like eagles. A man who wants to lead the orchestra must turn his back on the crowd.

Meghalaya has plenty of people to go and bury the dead; to sit for hours at senseless fashion shows and to attend every wedding in town. It has no need for such people. What it needs are law makers and statesmen who work well beyond the call of duty. Meghalaya needs men and women who are astute, good organizers and who aspire for excellence in all they attempt.

Above all this State needs leaders who can stand up to all the pressure groups and the hundred and one NGOs. We want leaders with courage who can have an eyeball to eyeball contact with all kinds of interest groups and the guts to tell them to go and fight elections if they are interested in dictating policies. The State is asking for leaders who can take on all those who are impediments to development. Leaders are not dictated to. They dictate policies and ensure that those are implemented. But such policies must have been thoroughly debated and discussed and their pros and cons well considered. Leaders listen to voices of reason and sanity, not to populist harangue.

Last but not least, leaders are selfless men and women. They do not say, 'what's in it for me', but, 'what's in it for my people'.

Do we have such leaders in the present government and legislature? From the way Meghalaya is hobbling, it is doubtful that we have the leaders we need. The search and training for good leaders must begin NOW.

Sir,

There are two Civil Courts in Shillong to try the civil dispute cases namely, (i) Munsiff Court which is empowered to try the Civil Suits where the Suit value is below Rs 5,OOO and (ii) Asstt. District Judge's Court, which is empowered to try the Civil Suits where the Suit value is above Rs. 5,OOO. The Court of Asstt. District Judge has become non-functional since January, 2006 consequent upon the retirement of the Judge. The matter was taken up with the Government of Meghalaya by the Shillong Bar Association and other authorities for appointment of new Asstt. District Judge, but it is surprising that the Government has not taken any steps so far in this regard. In view of the above situation, a large number of law-abiding people have to suffer irreparable loss as some unscrupulous persons are taking advantage of the situation, and indulging in illegal activities in respect of Civil Suits. How long will the Government allow such a situation to continue?

Yours etc.,
John Luther Kama,
Shillong.

Sir,

Heartiest congratulations to the efforts of the MTDF in making the New Year's Eve celebration at Police Bazar held on the 31st December, 2006 a resounding success. The success of the show lies perhaps in the ability of the organisers in bringing together cross-section of the society, including the tourists, in the ideal place in the city, Khyndai Lad Square. Braving the biting cold, a crowd of not less than 20 to 30 thousand people gathered there, and not a single untoward incident was heard of or reported. Perhaps the people of Shillong are learning what celebrations actually are. The bands from Shillong and Kolkata were equally good, and the crowd dancing to the tune of their music even better. It was just amazing to be one of those standing to witness the event. I was actually viewing the show with some friends from the premises of the old Assembly building facing the Hotel Centre Point. Out of curiosity (because I was there for the same show last year), I asked a person standing next to me about what happened to all the decorative lights, including the banyan tree, etc., that were put all over the premises of the Assembly last year.

Yours etc.,
Kynmawlang Laloo & others,
Shillong-14.

Troops had fanned out into the forests of Arunachal Pradesh and areas near the frontier with Myanmar where the ULFA is suspected to have camps, said Maj Gen N C Marwah, commander of the army's 2 Mountain Division and in-charge of operations in violence-ravaged Upper Asom.

The 3,000 Army and paramilitary personnel deployed for the operatons had achieved "a fair amount of success" and were in hot pursuit of the ULFA. Helicopters had been kept ready to ferry soldiers to remote areas, he said.

Minister of State for Defence M M Pallam Raju said in Bhubaneswar that the operation against the militants "will continue indefinitely until they are flushed out".

"No timeframe has been fixed for this," he told reporters. If required, the Indian Air Force's help will be taken to deal with the rebels, he said.

Army chief Gen J J Singh told NDTV that the ULFA was "able to regroup and consolidated" itself during a six-week truce last year. He said the army would put "so much pressure on them (ULFA) that they come to the negotiating table for unconditional talks".

The Centre has convened a meeting of army, paramilitary and Asom officials in Delhi tomorrow to discuss ways to intensify operations against the ULFA. A representative of the sports ministry and the Indian Olympic Association's Secretary General will also be present in view of the National Games to be held in Guwahati next month.

CRPF units in Tinsukia, Dibrugarh, Sibsagar districts have been asked to increase "area domination" during the night and to synergise operations with other security forces engaged in the counter-insurgency operations, officials said. 

Col Jaspal Singh, commander of 11 Guards and heading operations in Dibrugarh, said troops were on alert in ULFA- dominated areas of Chabua, including Tengakhat, Tilloi and Jeraigaon, the home of ULFA chief Paresh Baruah. The Centre has asked paramilitary forces and the army to take extra precautions in areas having sizeable minority and Hindi-speaking populations and steps have also been taken to prevent a backlash against the Assamese.

Army sources said troops in Arunchal Pradesh would demolish ULFA camps and seal off escape routes to Myanmar. Patrolling in rivers along the border with Bangladesh has been intensified to prevent ULFA cadres from sneaking in and out of the neighbouring country where the banned group has major bases, they said.

Meanwhile, the situation gradually limped back to normal in Dibrugarh and Tinsukia, where ULFA carried out a string of attacks against Hindi-speaking migrants. There were no reports of fresh violence in these areas, officials said.

The indefinite curfew in worst-hit Tinsukia district was relaxed between eight am and five pm. In Dibrugarh, 3,155 Hindi-speaking people had taken shelter in relief camps. (PTI)

Addressing a press conference here, Mr Antony said the AFSPA ''is necessary in states like Manipur and Asom.''

He cited the example of the recent carnage by ULFA in Asom, and said Army operations were needed to flush out these ''terrorists''.

However, most of the Northeastern states have been demanding the repell of AFSPA from the region since long, sources said. (UNI)

Government spokesman and Health Minister Dr Himanta Bishwa Sharma informed that vigil was tightened by the state police and paramilitary forces to prevent further ULFA attacks on vulnerable floating population of Hind-speaking workers in the state and claimed that there was no fresh report of exodus from any parts of the state.

"Over 6500 vulnerable Hindi-speaking people have been given shelter in 50 odd camps set up in violence affected districts of Tinsukia, Dibrugarh, Sivasagar, Golaghat and Dhemaji. These camps are guarded by police personnel round the clock," he said.

Meanwhile, there is no report of any atrocities people of Assam living or traveling outside the state as reaction to mindless ULFA attacks on Bihari workers and other Hindi-speaking people in the state.

"We are very grateful to prompt intervention from the Central government asking other state governments to take all possible action to protect people from Assam living in other states. We particularly appreciate the prompt measures taken by Bihar government to protect people from Assam staying and traveling through that state," Dr Sharma said.

Meanwhile, President of Assam state unit of Samajwadi Party, Prof Muzibur Rahman and an adviser of the party, Bhubaneswar Barman today quit the party to join the ruling Congress protesting what the party’s national general secretary Mr Amar Singh said against Congress president Mrs Sonia Gandhi, Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh and Assam chief minister Mr Tarun Gogoi during his brief visit to violence-hit Tinsukia and Dibrugarh districts of the State on Wednesday.

In press communiqué the state SP leaders criticized Mr Amar Singh’s comment that killings of Hindi-speaking people were due to a ‘tacit understanding’ between the ruling Congress and the banned ULFA.

The state SP leaders flayed Mr Singh for launching attack on Congress president Mrs Gandhi over her failure to visit Assam at this hour of crisis. They termed Mr Singh’s caustic comments against Congress and Mrs Gandhi as gimmick aimed at gaining mileage in the forthcoming Uttar Pradesh election.

Talking to media at Dibrugarh the SP leader who was in the company of Mrs Jaya Bachchan, said, "Mrs Sonia Gandhi visits only those places where elections are round the corner." Meanwhile, Assam government on Thursday clarified that Mrs Gandhi and Prime Minister Dr Singh had been advised by the state government to postpone their visits to violence-hit areas till normalcy was restored.

During the the two-day hearing, the Commission heard the Asom side on the first day and Nagaland on the second. Nagaland dismissed Asom's stand of 'constitutional boundary' based on the 1925 border demarcation, the sources said.

Talking to newpersons here, Nagaland Commissioner TN Mannen said the Commission should further look into the issue from the historical point of view and examine the extent of Naga territory.

Mr Mannen said Nagaland would not go by the constitutional boundary as claimed by Asom. He said districts of Asom like North Cachar Hills and Sivsagar should be returned to Nagaland. (UNI)

Addressing an assembly of students of Bhubaneswar Sainik School here, Mr Raju said defence forces must be equipped with latest information technologies to have an edge over others since information technology has been playing a major role in every aspects of life. The Minister said India's defence forces need to be more modernised to meet the challenges and at the same time require young talented people who could help in developing modern war weapons. (UNI)

Aizawl: The Mizoram Congress on Thursday accused the ruling Mizo National Front (MNF) government of encouraging militancy in the State.

MPCC president Lal Thanhawla alleged that a new militant oufit is being formed in Tripura with refugees from Mizoram and another insurgent groups. He said the new outfit, Bru Liberation Army (BLA), had started collecting arms from other outfits of the northeast, based in Tripura refugee camps.

He said, '' Mizoram government has offered a rehabilitation package of Rs 80,000 to each Bru insurgent in October 2006 when 809 Bru militants surrendered, which is a good reason for Bru youths to go undergound''.

''Bru's have not given up their dream of making a homeland out of western parts of Mizoram and eastern parts of Tripura and prefer to remain in Tripura and make money through insurgency,'' Mr Lal Thanhawla said. (UNI)

Captain Jasper was said to be the "quarter master" of the Hebron's GHQ of NSCN (I-M).

The incident occured at around 5 pm when two NSCN (I-M) cadre members, who came in a Mahindra Pickup (NL-0-2C-1102), were pouring petrol in their vehicle from a petrol pump. The sources said the attackers numbering four fired from point blank range. (NNN)

Imphal: The Communist Party of India has announced the first list of candidates for next month's Assembly elections in Manipur. CPI leader B Sharma issued a list having the names of 23 candidates, including those of two women. He said another list will be issued within the next few days. The party had five MLAs in the outgoing Assembly and plans to nearly double the number, Agriculture minister and senior CPI leader Ph Parijat said. 

Besides him, the list includes the names of N Mangi, M Nara, Th Tomba, M Nabadwip. Former MP, Miss Kim Gangte will contest from Henglep constituency.

Mr Sharma said the party was against the policy of giving tickets to rich contractors or businessmen. ''Only people who worked for the society were selected,'' he said. He further said the party could have fielded candidates in large number of seats in the 60-member Assembly but it was decided to restrict to those constituencies where the CPI had good base.

The CPI will go alone in the elections though it was part of the ruling Secular Progressive Front, Mr Sharma said. The Congress and the CPI, both allies of the ruling front, had reached an understanding to fight the elections on their own, he said. (UNI)

AGARTALA: Left Front government in Tripura has inked an MoU with NBCC to prepare detailed project reports (DPRs) to secure maximum allocation under three Centrally-sponsored schemes for building urban infrastructures and development of urban poor. The Centrally sponsored schemes include JNNURM and UIDSSMT.

According to the MoU, the NBCC has been given contract to prepare DPRs for Agartala Municipal Council (AMC) and 12 Nagar Panchayats by March 2007 in the State.

"The NBCC authorities were urged to prepare maximum number of DPRs to pave the way for maximum benefit from three schemes", said Urban Development Minister Manik Dey soon after meeting with NBCC CMD Arup Roy Choudhury on Wednesday.

Roychoudhury who arrived here on a two-day visit on Thursday told reporters that the Ministry of Urban Development Ministry has allocated Rs. 50,000 crore for development of urban facilities across the country.

The State Public Works Department (PWD) has developed Tripura Road Information System (TRIS) to provide information to the larger sections of road users including the common people. This web-based system has developed by the State PWD with technical help from Shillong-based North East Space Application Centre (NESAC). This will be uploaded in the official website of the PWD soon.

Experts said the system would help know contestation on a particular road in the capital town when TRIS comes into operation in the State. The TRIS would also help monitor development of road network in the State.

The online accessibility of road information system will also be a help to various disaster management organizations, traffic police, rescue team and fire service department during any eventuality.