Prez to visit Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland from today
New Delhi: President Pranab Mukherjee will embark on a three-day visit to Arunachal Pradesh and Nagaland from Friday. It will be his first visit to Arunachal Pradesh after becoming the President. The northeastern state holds much importance for India as it shares borders with China, Bhutan and Myanmar. The President will address the members of Arunachal Pradesh Legislative Assembly at Itanagar on Friday. He will also attend the XII Convocation of the Rajiv Gandhi University at Doimukh on November 30, a press release issued on Thursday by Rashtrapati Bhavan said. In Nagaland, the President will inaugurate the state’s golden jubilee year celebrations and Hornbill Festival on December 1. Nagaland got statehood on December 1, 1963. Hornbill (name of a bird) Festival, considered one of the biggest events in the state, showcases the rich tradition and cultural heritage of the Naga people. Nagaland, which is situated at the north eastern end of the country, shares international boundary with Myanmar. The President will also lay a wreath at Kohima War Memorial on Sunday, the release said. (PTI)
Bridge linking Manipur-Assam damaged in IED explosion
Imphal: A bridge on National Highway 37, used by trucks for transporting essential items to Manipur from Assam, has been damaged in an IED explosion in Cachar district of Assam, officials said here on Thursday. A major portion of Chirpur bridge, built over a river on the Imphal-Jiribam-Silchar highway, was damaged on Wednesday evening when IED kept along the bridge exploded in Fulartol area in Cachar, the sources said. “It will take about three months to repair the damage, during which no heavy vehicles would be allowed to ply,” Commanding officer of the 765 Border Road Task Force (BRTF) battalion, Col Binoy Bal, whose battalion maintains the bridge, said. The impact of the blast was so much that glass windows and doors of nearby houses were damaged, the sources said. The bridge is located 10 km from the Manipur border town of Jiribam and about 222 km from here. Most of the Manipur-bound trucks from Assam, carrying essential items, were using the bridge for reaching Imphal since the last few months as the trucks were facing extortion demand from militant outfits on NH 2 (Imphal-Dimapur- Guwahati), the sources said. Manipur is linked with Assam and Nagaland by NH 37 and NH 2. (PTI)
Police fire in the air to disperse mob in Arunachal
Itanagar: Police fired in the air to disperse a mob which clashed with policemen demanding that an accused arrested in connection with the murder of a girl be handed over to them in Tirap district, police sources said on Thursday. A man named Ngamwang Wangsa was arrested by police on Wednesday in connection with the murder of a 12-year-old girl of Kaimai village whose body was found in the bushes near a stream in NCI colony on Tuesday, the sources said. The girl was missing since Monday evening. Suspecting foul play, her parents had lodged a complaint at the Deomali police station. On Wednesday evening a crowd gathered at the Deomali police station and demanded that Wangsa be handed over to them. A clash broke out between police and the crowd after police refused to hand over the accused. The mob also vandalized the police station, sources disclosed. To disperse the mob the police opened fire in the air and later prohibitory orders under section 144 CrPC was promulgated, they said. (PTI)
Illegal tablets worth Rs 20 crore seized in Manipur, five held
Imphal: Illegal tablets, including Pseudoephedrine, worth Rs 20 crore in the internatonal market have been seized from a place in interior Thoubal district, official sources said on Thursday. Five persons were arrested in this connection, the sources said. The tablets, meant to be smuggled to neighbouring Myanmar, were seized from two vehicles at Chaobok Leikai area on Tuesday. Five persons, including a sweeper of Manipur Rifles, were arrested while transfering the packets containing the tablets from one vehicle to another, the sources said. While two of the arrested persons were residents of Moreh town bordering Myanmar, the rest were from Imphal, the sources said. (PTI)
Nagaland Congress begins stir to remove minister
Kohima: Nagaland Pradesh Congress Committee (NPCC) has launched its first phase of agitation– poster campaign, demanding the removal of the Minister of Health and Family Welfare Imkong L Imchen. According to NPCC sources, the posters which read ‘caught with red handed, with Rs 1.10 crore’, ‘illegal weapons and liquor, caught red handed’, ‘resign resign’, ‘demand for resignation of tainted Medical Minister’ and ‘dismissal of the DAN Government’, ‘down down Medical Minister’, ‘corrupt DAN leaders flock together’, ‘Imkong L. Imchen lost all moral authority to remain in office-step down’ , were pasted on Wednesday outside Civil Secretariat Office, town areas and in all the constituencies of Kohima district. NPCC would also be holding a dharna on Friday outside the Civil Secretariat, Kohima. It may be mentioned that NPCC had earlier on November 13 submitted separate representations to the State Governor and Chief Minister demanding the removal of Medical Minister Imkong L Imchen from the Council of Ministers. (UNI)
Visakhapatnam, Tripura zoos to exchange rare animals
Agartala: Visakhapatnam’s Indira Gandhi Zoological Park (IGZP) and Tripura’s Sepahijala Zoo will soon exchange rare animals, officials said here on Thursday. “Visakhapatnam’s IGZP would provide seven endangered animals to Sepahijala Zoo. These include two white royal Bengal tigers, two slow loris bears and three four-horned deer,” said Krishna Gopal Roy, director of the Sepahijala Zoo, which was set up in 1972 in west Tripura. The zoo is now home to 655 animals belonging to 53 different species. Speaking to reporters, Roy said both zoos have got the necessary approvals for the animal exchange programme from the union ministry of environment and forests. The Central Zoo Authority of India has categorised the Sepahijala Zoo, 25 km south of the state capital, as one of India’s 22 large zoos. (IANS)