Pasighat striving hard to be selected in Smart City initiative
Pasighat (Arunachal): Centurion town Pasighat, the headquarters of East Siang district, is striving hard to get selected in the first batch of 20 cities this year across the country under Smart City initiative of the Centre. The Union Ministry of Urban Development has selected 100 cities in the country under Smart City mission with one city each in the North Eastern states for five year (2015-2019),while 20 cities would be selected every year. “Each selected city would be provided an amount of Rs 1000 crore with 50:50 share (Centre:State) by the Centre to be developed into a smart city with all modern amenities,” Municipal Executive Officer of Pasighat Municipal Council (PMC) Deepak Shinde said here yesterday. Stating that the district administration has been making all-out effort to prepare a good smart city proposal for submission to the Centre by December 17 next, Shinde disclosed that the names of 20 cities to be taken up this year would be announced by December end this year.(PTI)
CPI(M) slams BJP over move to align with Cong in Tripura civic polls
New Delhi: CPI(M) on Tuesday slammed BJP over its reported move to align with Congress in the upcoming local body polls in Tripura, saying the NDA major’s move exposes its “political bankruptcy” and the extent it can go to ensure electoral gains. According to media reports, the state unit of BJP has proposed to Congress to not field its candidates for the December 9 municipal elections to see collective vote gains by opposition parties defeat the Left forces in the state. “This exposes BJP’s political bankruptcy. This shows they can go to any extent for their political and electoral interest. It is the same Congress which it had targeted severely. And now, if it is approaching the Congress, this shows politics has become a business for them,” CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury stated. (PTI)
AASU rally against Centre’s move
Morigaon: A large number of people under the banner of the All Assam Students Union (AASU) and 27 other ethnic students unions took out a huge protest rally at Morigaon in Assam on Tuesday against the Centre’s move to settle Hindu Bangladeshi refugees in Assam.The AASU leadership along with the students bodies of tribal groups such as Tiwa, Karbi, Bodo, Adivasi, criticised the BJP government’s move to detect illegal Bangladeshis based on religion. The protesters also staged a dharna in front of the Morigaon Deputy Commissioner’s Court and sent a memorandum to the President to detect and deport illegal Bangladeshis residing in Assam based on the Assam Accord signed on August 15, 1985 between then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi and AASU which ended the 6-year long Anti-Foreignes Assam Agitation. Talking to reporters, AASU Senior Adviser Samujjal Bhattacharya said the students body demands that illegal foreigners be detected and deported from Assam as per the provision of the Assam Accord. The Assam Accord stated that a persons be detected as a foreigner coming to Assam from Bangladesh after March 25, 1971. (PTI)
Nagaland newspapers published with blank editorial space
Kohima: Five newspapers in Nagaland were published with their editorial spaces blank to protest what they termed an effort by the Assam Rifles to suppress freedom of the media in the state. The Nagaland Press Association (NPA), a conglomerate of journalists and non-journalists, also extended support to the editors in their protest against the para-military force. English dailies Morung Express, Eastern Mirror and Nagaland Page and vernacular papers Capi Daily (in Angami dialect) and Tir Yimyim (in Ao dialect) were published with their editorial spaces blank yesterday as a mark of protest. The Nagaland Post, meanwhile, carried an editorial opposing the Assam Rifles’ diktat. They were protesting against a letter purportedly sent by the Assam Rifles to the editors of all local dailies on October 24. The letter allegedly warned newspapers against carrying statements made by militant groups, specifically the NSCN(K), reminding them that the outfit had been declared an “unlawful association” by the Union Home Ministry. “Any article which projects the demands of NSCN(K) and gives it publicity is a violation under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act 1957, and should not be published by your newspaper,” the letter had said. The NSCN(K) had abrogated the 14-year-old ceasefire with the Centre in April. (PTI)
