News

AGARTALA, March 31— Banned militant organisation NLFT is facing serious crisis following a fierce clash between two groups in Bangladesh camp. A surrendered militant Sunday divulged that at least 13 armed rebels had already left the camp and entered Amarendranagar area in South Tripura in an attempt to surrender before the security forces.

Malendra Reang, a hardcore NLFT militant who fled from Bangladesh camp separately with two more armed cadres, arrived at a Tripura State Rifles camp in Takarjala area in West District Saturday night. Acting on his tip-off the TSR personnel recovered on SLR...

JAKHAMA (Nagaland), March 31 — After the introduction of “Nagaland Environment Protection and Economic Development through People’s Action (NEPED)” in 1995, the forest coverage in Nagaland has increased remarkably. NEPED is an agroforestry project funded by the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) through the Indo-Canada Environment Facility (ICEF). It can be mentioned here that the agroforestry system is an alternative to jhum cultivation.

The benefits of agroforestry are to increase the land productivity, including biomass and food, increasing the arable land, promoting farmers...

Guwahati, March 31: The abduction of Meghalaya-based customs inspector Deepak Mahanta and six others by the National Democratic Front of Boroland (NDFB) has led intelligence agencies to suspect that the outfit is “desperate” for funds to sustain a massive recruitment drive along the Indo-Bangladesh border.

The focus of the NDFB’s new recruitment drive is Haluaghat in Mymensing district, an area that is home to a sizeable population of Bodos, Rabhas and Garos. Intelligence sources said the outfit was extorting money from people on either side of the border in a bid to collect enough funds to...

AIZAWL, March 31— On the seventh sitting of the Mizoram Assembly recently, Health Minister F. Malsawma told the House that the central government had some reservations against the proposed Referral Hospital as a result of which the centre had asked the state government to start the hospital with 50 beds.

Answering a question by ruling MLA, Dr. Lalzama, the Minister said the Department of Development of North Eastern Region (DONER) had advised the state government to implement a 50 bedded interim hospital at the State Referral Hospital and that about 57.07% of the construction had been...

JORHAT, March 30 — “Three ULFA militants, namely Mridul Hazarika, Anjan Barthakur and Phatik Hatimuria, who have since been named as co-accused in the murder of AVARDNE general secretary Sanjoy Ghosh at Majuli river island on July 4, 1997, are still sheltered at camps run by the organisation in Myanmar”, claimed five disillusioned cadres, including a sister-in-arms, who surrendered before police, paramilitary and high-ranking district administration officials at the Sadar police station here today.

Admitting that the ULFA was presently running five training camps with 1,200 youths in the...