Three students drown in Mizoram during school picnic
Aizawl: Three school students on Tuesday drowned while swimming in a river in central Mizoram’s Serchhip district, police said. The three were students of Baktawng Higher Secondary School and they drowned in river Tuirial during a school picnic, police informed. The deceased were identified as Vanlalhruaii and Lalthanzauva, both students of class 12 and Lalthanfela, a class 11 student, he said. The bodies were brought to Baktawng village for post- mortem examination, the police officer said, adding, the funeral services will be held on Wednesday. (PTI)
Two Armymen killed, 3 others injured in accident in Assam
Tezpur: Two Armymen were killed and three others injured when their vehicle overturned in Sonitpur district on Tuesday. The incident took place at Nekerahola area in the morning when the Army personnel were going home on leave. While rushing towards Rangapara railway station, the driver lost control of the vehicle which skidded off the road and turned over, police said. The deceased were identified as Naik Dhyan Singh and Lance Naik Nasir Ahmed Bhatt. The three injured have been taken to the Tezpur Army Base Hospital here. The victims belonged to Jammu and Kashmir Light Infantry regiment. (PTI)
Elected to Lok Sabha, four Assam legislators resign
Guwahati: Four members of the Assam Legislative Assembly, including the Deputy Speaker Kripanath Mallah, on Tuesday resigned from the House as they were elected to the Lok Sabha in the polls held recently. According to an official release, Mallah, a BJP MP, resigned from the post and submitted his resignation to the Speaker Hitendra Nath Goswami. State ministers Pallab Lochan Das and Topon Kumar Gogoi, too, resigned from Assam Assembly during the day. Congress MP Abdul Khaleque also submitted his resignation to the Speaker, officials said. (PTI)
Tripura Mahila Cong worker accuses BJP of extortion
Agartala: A Mahila Congress worker from South Chandrapur village here, filed a complaint with the East Agartala Police Station on Monday saying that she has received extortion notices along with many others in the locality. “I am a Mahila Congress worker. My family and I are being constantly threatened and attacked since the results of the parliamentary elections were announced. Today, a letter was found in my house. The BJP and its workers, through the letter, demanded Rs 20,000 from my family, as extortion money,” Rupa Dey told reporters. The Mahila Congress worker said that she has been away from her home since May 23 because her family has been under threat from BJP workers. The officer-in-charge of East Agartala Police Station, Manik Debnath, confirmed that an FIR was registered on Monday. “We have received a complaint from Chandrapur area. These extortion notices were served to at least seven to eight people. We are investigating the matter,” the police officer said. Reacting to the complaint, BJP state spokesperson Nabendu Bhattacharya said, “We don’t extort money from anyone because this is beyond the ethics of our party. There are also rules for collecting subscription. We have information that many people are posing as BJP workers to extort money.” Tripura Chief Minister and BJP state president Biplab Kumar Deb on several occasions earlier had said that police would take stern action in such cases. (PTI)
NFR to complete electrification of 3,165 km tracks by 2020
Guwahati: The Northeast Frontier Railway has taken up a daunting task of electrifying more than 50 per cent of the total 6,242 km of railway lines by March 2020, officials said on Tuesday. A total of 534 km of railway lines has already been electrified and an additional 2,631 km of railway lines will be electrified by March 2020, the spokesperson of NF Railway, P J Sharma, said. A total of 219 kmof railway tracks under the jurisdiction of Katihar Division of NF Railway was electrified in 2017-18, including Katihar Yard (37.51 km) and Katihar- Kumedpur-Malda Court (181.84 km) sections, and since then a total of 315 km of railway lines were electrified during 2018 -19. Electrification of 1,085 km of railway tracks, including the Raninagar-Jalpaiguri-New Bongaigaon-Rangiya- Guwahati section, is supposed to be completed by December 2019, the spokesperson said. Currently, 21 pairs of passenger trains and 14 goods train running on electric traction originate from NFR and travel towards other zones and this figure was expected to increase as more and more sections gets electrified, he said. (PTI)
CBI closes case against Nagaland IAS officer
New Delhi: The Central Bureau of Investigation has closed a case of disproportionate assets against IAS officer Jyoti Kalash, which was registered in 2008. The probe against Kalash, a 1990-batch, Nagaland cadre officer, was closed by the CBI as the accusations in the FIR against him could not be substantiated by the agency during its exhaustive probe. The agency had submitted its closure report to the Patiala House Court which was accepted on July 18, 2011, according to the court order. The case pertained to a CBI FIR against the officer in 2008 in which the agency had alleged that he had amassed illegal wealth of Rs 37 lakh. (PTI)
Assam to reduce minimum age for panchayat head to 25 years
Guwahati: The Assam government has decided to reduce the minimum age for becoming a panchayat head from the existing 35 years to 25 years. The decision was taken during a cabinet meeting on Monday, a release from the Chief Minister’s Office said. However, the norm of having a maximum of two children for the same post will remain, it said. The cabinet also decided to enact a new legislation — Assam Private Placement Agencies for Recruitment Regulation Act — to safeguard the interest of youths working outside the state. Besides, the eviction drive to clear the community lands from encroachments will be carried out under the amended Assam Land Revenue Regulation Act, 1886, instead of the ongoing exercise under a Gauhati High Court order, the release said. (PTI)