Guwahati, Jan. 23: The Union tourism ministry has identified four places in Assam and Meghalaya to set up tourism and cultural hubs which will project the cultural heritage of the area and link it up with places of tourism interest.

These four places are Kamakhya, Majuli Islands, Tawang and Shillong. The ministry has identified 36 hubs throughout the country to harmonise elements of tourism and culture.

The places will be equipped with documentation centres, handicraft emporiums and similar facilities with improved infrastructure.

Officials said the hubs would help promote unique cultural...

Silchar, Jan. 23: The projected cost of converting the 204-km metre gauge rail track between this town and Lumding station into the broad gauge, estimated at Rs 608 crore the project was launched in 1996, has escalated to Rs 1,400 crore.

Expressing concern over the escalation, a senior official of the North East Frontier Railway (construction) ascribed the hike to the ?niggardly flow of funds? from the railway ministry.

He said rain and occasional attacks by militants had slowed down the project and had resulted in cost escalation.

The official, however, hoped that the construction would...

Shillong, Jan. 23: Meghalaya chief minister F.A. Khonglam?s boat appears to be sinking, as cracks in the 13-month-old People?s Forum of Meghalaya (PFM) coalition have finally began to show.

With polls drawing closer, major allies in the ruling coalition are engaged in a fair amount of mud-slinging, indicating that power was what had kept them bound. With the polls knocking, the parties are going their separate ways, caring little for the coalition?s unity.

Meghalaya power minister Martle Mukhim today slammed the Congress and the NCP for making ?others the scapegoat of their actions?.

Mukhim...

Tiloijan (Moran), Jan. 23: Hundreds of birds are dying at the Tilojan Tea Estate near here under ?mysterious circumstances?, bringing an ambitious avian conservation project of the Assam government under a cloud.

The exact cause of the death of the winged species ? which began four days ago ? will be known only after the forest department receives the reports on the post-mortem conducted on a few carcasses recovered from the garden. Environmentalists say that one of the possible causes of the deaths could be an ?overdose of pesticides? by the garden authorities. But the picture will become...

New Delhi, Jan. 23: The Naga talks today hit a rough patch on the issue of unification of contiguous Naga areas, a key demand of the NSCN (I-M), but diplomacy ensured that the crisis blew over.

With Th. Muivah and Isak Chisi Swu, the two Naga leaders, readying to leave at one point, the talks hung tantalisingly on the edge. But Mizoram chief minister Zoramthanga, called in at short notice, doused the embers of a damaging discord.

In faraway Kohima, the NSCN(I-M), however, struck an optimistic note, with the ?Government of People?s Republic of Nagaland?s home minister?, V. Sumi, allaying fears...