News

Shillong, Feb. 6: Denied a ticket by the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), Meghalaya chief minister F.A. Khonglam today filed his nomination from the Hill State Peoples? Democratic Party (HSPDP).

Khonglam had first won the Assembly elections on an HSPDP ticket in 1983 from Sohra constituency.

The chief minister, who turned 58 today, did not regret being denied a ticket by the NCP. Instead, he warned the NCP that its dreams of making a forceful debut ?would be shattered?.

Soon after filing his nomination papers, Khonglam told reporters that he would ?gradually expose the way most legislators...

Dimapur, Feb. 6: Naga non-governmental organisations are conspicuous by their silence in the run-up to the February 26 polls, unlike the 1998 election when leading tribal NGOs had tried to convince Opposition parties in the state to ?abstain? from elections after the Centre rejected their plea to defer the polls till a definite outcome of the talks with the NSCN (Isak-Muivah).

However, secretary of the leading Naga human rights body, Naga People?s Movement for Human Rights (NPMHR), Neingulo Krome, denied that the NGOs were staying away from the electoral process.

?We are not going to give a...

Imphal, Febuary 06: The statement made by the Chief Minister O Ibobi during the peace rally of the meira paibis at Malom on February 2 in connection with the Tipaimukh Dam is against the will of the general public of Manipur particularly the Tamenglong district. The main objective of the Tipaimukh Dam is flood control in Cachar valley of Assam and power generation. Out of 1500 mega watt, Manipur will get only 12 percent mega watt. This being the case, the dam is not in the interest of the people of Manipur, The Committee Against Tipaimukh Dam said in a press release. Regarding employment...

IMPHAL, Feb 6 ? Militants freed six persons, including two government contractors, from captivity in Manipur?s Churachandpur district, official sources said on Tuesday.

The Kuki ultras, who had taken away four mechanics and two government contractors from the Khuga dam project site in Lamka area of the district on Sunday, released all the six at an interior locality of the district on Monday, the sources said here.

The sources refused to say whether any ransom money was paid to the kidnappers as demanded. The six released from captivity were ? mechanics O Joy, Kumar Singh, P K Sharma, Patwal...

Imphal, Feb. 6: Two poachers, released by court on bail recently, were punished by the banned Revolutionary Peoples? Front (RPF). The duo, caught with venison of the world?s most threatened deer species, locally known as ?sangai,? were shot in the leg late last night.

Salam Tomba and Ningthoujam Joykumar were caught killing a sangai (brow antlered deer) inside the Keibul Lamjao national park by local conservationist groups called the Environmental Social Reformation and Sangai Protection Forum.

After being handed over to the police, the duo was produced before Bishnupur district judicial...