AHRC takes suo motu cognisance of farmers suicide
Guwahati: Assam Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has taken suo motu cognisance of an alleged suicide by a depressed farmer in Sivasagar district after his land was acquired by the government and not compensated, and sought a report from the Deputy Commissioner within 30 days. AHRC Chairperson Dr Aftab H Saikia and member Tarun Phukan issued notice to the Sivasagar Deputy Commissioner after taking suo motu cognisance following a report in a local daily of the farmer’s alleged suicide. The Commission directed the Deputy Commissioner to conduct an inquiry into the incident and submit the report within thirty days of receipt of the notice, according to a release issued by AHRC. According to the media report, the 26-year old farmer Madhu Bora, belonging to Salaguri village in Sivasagar district took the extreme step as a result of depression after his land was acquired by Assam government in 2012 for establishing the Assam Rajiv Gandhi University of Co-operative Management at Demow Pathar near Joysagar area of the district. The state government has acquired 250 bighas of paddy land including the land of the deceased farmer for the purpose. The farmer was missing since September eight and his body was reportedly found hanging from a tree the next day. (PTI)
Mizoram govt clarifies Centre has no intention to shift NIT
Aizawl: Mizoram government on Thursday said that the Central government did not have any intention to shift out the National Institute of Technology (NIT) from the state due to non-availability of sufficient land for establishment of the NIT campus. According to an official statement the land allotted for the NIT by the state government near the lone Lengpui airport, about 40 km from Aizawl, after ground demarcation, was found to be smaller than the initial measurement. “The state Land Revenue and Settlement department issued Land Lease no DLL 58 of 2012 for an area of 164.2 acres to the NIT on October four, 2012,” the statement said, adding, however that when the IRCON International undertook ground demarcation in June this year, the allotted land was found to be only 140.16 acres. The state chief secretary was informed about the shortage and the state Land Revenue and Settlement department has been conducting detailed verification, it said. Though the Centre wanted 300 acres for the purpose, the required size could not be available in Lengpui area, the statement said. “It was unfortunate that a press release issued by some people said that the Centre intended to shift the NIT from Mizoram and it was confirmed from Joint Secretary (Technical Education) Ministry of HRD Pravin Prakash that there was no such move,” the statement added. (PTI)
297 NHM staffs meets Rijiju urging for job regularisation
Itanagar: The executive members of the National Health Mission’s Programme Management Staffs Association (NHMPMSA), Arunachal Pradesh has appealed to the Union Minister of State for Home Affairs, Kiren Rijiju for his kind intervention for regularisation of 297 programme management staffs (non-technical) working under National Health Mission in the state. A team of NHMPMSA delegation, met Rijiju at New Delhi on Wednesday and submitted a two-point memorandum, urging to influence upon the concerned authorities for the regularisation of 297 staffs who have been working in various categories at state, district and block programme management supporting units under NHM on contract basis since 2005-06, an official report here said. The memorandum further said salaries of contractual staff have not been enhanced since 2009-10 while the prices of essential commodities are increasing day by day making the life of contractual staff miserable. With implementation of the sixth Pay Commission recommendations by the govt, the pay scale of regular staff have become inequitably higher than the contractual staff working under NHM in the state, the report added. (UNI)
Three poachers arrested
Tezpur (Assam): Three poachers, allegedly involved in rhino poaching in Kaziranga National Park, have been arrested by the police and arms and ammunition recovered from them in Assam’s Sonitpur district. Acting on specific information that the poachers had taken shelter in the area, police launched an operation in Bokabil village in Koraioani area under Sootea police station Wednesday night and nabbed the trio Thursday morning, a spokesman of the Assam police said on Thursday. The poachers have been identified as Rockybul Islam, Hazarat Ali, and Mushafur Rahman. The police also recovered a .303 rifle and 11 live cartridges from the poachers. (PTI)
Campaigning for Assam bypoll ends
Guwahati: Campaigning for the bye-elections to three Assembly constituencies of Silchar, Lakhipur and Jamunamukh on September 13 ended today. All the contesting parties — Congress, AIUDF, BJP and Independents — ended their campaign at the stipulated 5 PM. Altogether 25 candidates are in the fray for the three constituencies where polling will be held from 7 AM to 5 PM, the Election Office said. Counting of votes will be on September 16. Silchar has the highest number of 12 candidates followed by Jamunamukh (eight) and Lakhipur (five). Arun Dutta Majumdar (Congress), Dilip Kumar Paul (BJP) and Nur Ahmed Barbhuyan (AIUDF) are among the prominent contestants in Silchar, while former MLA Dinesh Prasad Goala’s son Rajdeep Goala (Cong), Mukesh Pandey (AIUDF) and Sanjay Thakur (BJP) are the noted ones in Lakhipur. Jamunamukh has AIUDF president Badruddin Ajmal’s son Abdur Rahim Ajmal, Bashir Uddin Laskar (Cong) and Bilal Uddin (BJP) in the fray among others. The bye-election was necessitated following the election of Silchar MLA Sushmita Dev and Jamunamukh MLA Mohammad Sirajuddin Ajmal to the Lok Sabha during the last general elections. The death of sitting MLA Dinesh Prasad Goala necessitated bypoll in Lakhipur. (PTI)