Availability of funds will determine condition of roads: Azo
Kohima: Accepting the deplorable road conditions in Nagaland, state minister for Roads and Bridges Kuzholuzo Azo Nienu has said availability of funds will determine the condition of roads in the state. He however asserted that within the next three to four years, road conditions would improve in Nagaland. On allegations of BJP that the quality of roads was bad, he said “We never compromise with quality and the ongoing construction is done keeping in mind the quality work.” Azo asserted that in order to oversee the quality of works, he himself has been supervising road constructions. On improving the condition of National Highway 29, he said it was under the BRO and not the state government. Stating that the state Roads and Bridges department and the BRO were cooperating with each other, he said “Since the BRO has not received funds for repairing NH-29, they are unable to take up fresh constructions now. Once they receive funds, it will be done without delay.” (PTI)
Need-based policy urged for border areas in Arunachal
Itanagar: BJP on Tuesday urged the Arunachal Pradesh government to frame a need-based policy to improve the living condition of people residing along the Indo-China border. People living at Gelling in Upper Siang district and at Malni in Dibang Valley district have been facing hardship due to lack proper health care facility, education, power, surface as well as tele-communications, party spokesman Techi Necha said in a statement here. A team of the party had recently visited Gelling and Malni to review the ground reality of border areas of the state. (PTI)
KVK introduces two HYV of rice
Itanagar: The Krishi Vigyan Kendra (KVK) in Arunachal Pradesh has introduced two new high yielding varieties of rice for Lohit district.The varieties — ‘Naveen’ and ‘Abhishek’ — were found suitable having very good yield potentials, official sources said here on Tuesday. While Naveen produced a yield of 5775 kg per hectare, Abhishek 5500 kg per hectare in the farmers field of Juna-IV village, Dr Debasish Borah of KVK said. (PTI)
Two NLFT insurgents pushed back from B’desh after serving term
Agartala: Two insurgents of the banned National Liberation Front of Tripura (NLFT) were pushed back by the Bangladesh Border Guards through the Belonia Check Post in South Tripura district after their 13 years’ imprisonment was over in that country, police on Tuesday said. The ultras, Bidya Debbarma (42) and Budhila Jamatiya (48), were picked up the Bangladeshi police from Louhagarh in Chittagong in 2001 for carrying live cartridges and presented before a court there. After trial, a Bangladesh court awarded them 13 years of rigorous imprisonment. The ultras were handed over yesterday to the Belonia police station in South Tripura after they were pushed back by Bangladesh Border Guards through the check post. Officer-in-charge (OC) of Belonia police station Swapan Sarkar told reporters that the ultras were engaged in extortion for the insurgent group in several areas of the South Tripura district. (PTI)
Bharatiya Mahila Bank to open four branches in northeast
Agartala: The Bharatiya Mahila Bank (BMB) will open four more branches in four capital cities of the northeastern states, officials said here Tuesday. “Four branches of BMB would be set up in Agartala (Tripura), Shillong (Meghalaya), Gangtok (Sikkim) and Itanagar (Arunachal Pradesh) within the current fiscal (2013-14),” a senior official of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) told IANS. He said that the BMB would open 16 more branches, including four in northeastern states, taking the total to 25 by the end of March next year. Besides the four northeastern capital cities, new branches of BMB would be set up during 2013-14 in Hyderabad, Chandigarh, Shimla, Bhubaneswar, Jaipur, Dehradun, Patna, Naya Raipur, Panaji, Srinagar, Thiruvananthapuram and Ranchi. Aiming to economically empower women, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and United Progressive Alliance (UPA) chairperson Sonia Gandhi inaugurated the BMB Nov 19 simultaneously opening seven branches of the bank. The bank’s nine branches, one each in Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Ahmedabad, Indore, Bangalore, Guwahati and Lucknow, are all operational. (IANS)
Orange festival held in Manipur’s Tamenglong District
Tamenglong: Tamenglong District is often referred to as the orange bowl of Manipur, and it recently hosted the 10th Annual Orange Festival. More than 231 orange cultivators exhibited different varieties of oranges at the festival that attracted large crowds, not just from Manipur, but also from nearby states. Manipur Governor Dr. Ashwani Kumar inaugurated the event. One of the aims of organizing the festival was to encourage the orange farmers to grow more oranges. “ The orange festival is organized to encourage the people. We have been organizing it for the past ten years, and we feel that it will encourage the orange grower. So, from the government side and horticulture department side, we are trying our best to encourage them to grow more oranges,” said L Dinakumar Singh, Horticulture Development Officer. Folk dance troupes from different parts of the state performed during the event. During the event, cash prizes were given to orange growers. Asina G received the cash prize of Rupees 1.5 Lakhs as the first prize winner. “I am so happy to receive the first prize, now I am planning to grow more oranges with this money,” said Asina G. “It is very good to promote one of the best orange produce in our country. The quality has been tasted it has proven that Tamenglong produces one of the best orange and this festival is one of the best way to tell the people not only within the sate but the rest of the country that we have the best orange and secondly it’s important to know what are the plights faced by the farmers and to solve their problems,” said Armstrong Panmei, IAS officer. The climatic conditions in Tamenglong are extremely favorable for orange cultivation. Such festivals help farmers increase production and reach out to a bigger market. (ANI)