From Our Correspondent

 Agartala: In a surprising development, the number of voters of Tripura has been reduced from 21, 86,134 to 21, and 83,081 as per the draft publication of photo electoral rolls.

Publishing the photo electoral rolls for all 60 Assembly constituencies, Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) KV Satyanarayan said that the number of electors has been reduced due to continue up-date process.

“As many as 3051 names have been deleted from the voters’ list by using E-clean software”, he said adding that the intensive revision of electoral rolls came into enforce from October 1.

Urging the voters for cooperation, the CEO said that the focus of the revision would on to prepare error-free photo electoral rolls. “ The Booth Level Officers (BLOs) along with Booth Level Agents (BLAs) will carry out special campaign on October 16, 23 and 30”, he said.

As per the revision schedule, claims and objections would be received by the designated officers from October 1 to November 10. The claims and objection would be verified on October 8 and 11 next. The claims and objections on the draft rolls would be disposed by December 5, 2011 next.

The updating the database, merging of photographs, updating the control tables and preparation and printing of supplementary list will be held between December 6 and 31 next. The final electoral rolls would be published on January 5, 2012 next.

Asked if the BLOs would face any problem due to the festival season, the CEO said that the Election Commission had extended the process for ten days keeping in mind of the festive season. “This will be enough for the persons associated with the task”, he claimed.

However , the 2013 Assembly elections will not take place on the final electoral rolls to be published on January 5, next year. Voters will get another chance to get their names included in the electoral rolls one mother time before the next Assembly elections.

From Our Correspondent

 Guwahati: Nepali-speaking Gorkha community in Assam is peeved at some of the members of the community being branded illegal migrants and some being marked ‘D’ (doubtful) voters.

The All Assam Gorkha Students’ Union (AAGSU) alleged that of late incidents of marking Gorkhas in Assam as ‘D’ voters or suspecting them as illegal migrants had been on the rise and demanded immediate intervention of the Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh through a memorandum.

Copies of the memorandum were marked to Chief Minister of Assam Tarun Gogoi, Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha Smti Sushma Swaraj, Chief Election Commissioner and Assam, Accord Implementation Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and all DCs of the state.

Citing an instance, the AAGSU stated that recently a genuine Indian citizen, a resident of Tezalpati under Sootea police station in Sonitpur district Indra Bahadur Rai was served with a notice branding him as illegal Bangladeshi.

The AAGSU publicity secretary Nanda Kirati Dewan said, “The ‘D’ voters cases amongst the Gorkha community have gone abruptly high over the years and the genuine Indians have been harassed in the subject of proving their nationality time and again which is in bad vibe and is being operated by a organized group of police, politicians and corrupt officials who demand cash for removing the ‘D’ from the victim’s name in the voters list. We condemn all such incident in the toughest of words.”

He said Gorkhas had settled in Assam over two hundred years and such actions from the government were uncalled for.

The AAGSU threatened an intensive agitation throughout Assam if the issue was not addressed at the earliest.

Agartala: The state government has demanded to declare Ashuganj port of Bangladesh as port of call for transporting food grains and essential commodities for Tripura and Mizoram.

In regional meeting of north eastern states at Guwahati yesterday, the state government officials urged union food and civil supplies minister K V Thomas to facilitate both the northeastern state for getting access to Ashuganj port considering their proximity with Bangladesh.

” Thomas assured us to taken up the issue with Inland Water Transport Authority of India and Ministry of External Affairs while Food Corporation of India has agreed with the proposal, as it will reduce transport cost, transportation delay and other logistic difficulties, ” said Food and Civil Supplies Secretary B K Ray. He, however, pointed out that FCI officials were asked to finalize the matter soon after discussing with IWTAI and all other concerned and added that most of the time Tripura and Mizoram faced inordinate delay in transportation of essential commodities because of high terrine in surface transport.

Earlier, Bangladesh had allowed ONGC Tripura Power Company to transport over dimension consignments for 360 MW thermal power project in Palatana of South Tripura through Ashuganj sea port.

Subsequently, 305 MT of steel consignment of a private enterprise had reached Ashuganj river port on Meghna River from Kolkata’s Haldia port through the riverine route earlier this week, which widen and brighten the scope of carrying essential commodities via Bangladesh port. Meanwhile, Tripura has also demanded an additional 10,000 MT rice every month following enhancement of ration cards against current allocation of 12,595 MT rice every months for Public Distribution System. (UNI)

Guwahati: Alobo Naga & The Band from Nagaland is the first band from the North East region to be in the Top 10 Countdown list of the international music channel VH1.

The Dimapur based band’s music video’Painted Dreams’ is currently on number four position in VH1 competing alongside international heavyweights like Lady Gaga, Maroon 5, Red Hot Chilli Pepper, Superheavy, etc, a release by the producer of the music video. ‘Painted Dreams’ was conceptualised and produced by Guwahati based Creovaent Productions, whose founders Prithish Chakraborty and Puja Chakraborty directed the music video.

The video was made as a promotional theme song for Creovaent Productions’ first Guwahati International Short Film Festival held in May, the release said. “In the coming days, the band is hoping to make it to the number one position,” the release said. (PTI)

Guwahati: A CBI special judge has convicted three people, including two Northeast Frontier (NF) railway officials, in a case of favourtism that caused monetary loss to the NF Railway.

The CBI special judge sentenced the trio to two years rigorous imprisonment and a fine of Rs 10,000 each in its order yesterday, a statement said here.

The convicted NF railway officials are AN Borah, the then-Senior Stores Officer and R Sutradhar and a businessman Sashikant Agarwal.

The CBI, Guwahati, had registered a case on November 29, 2000, against the accused a for showing undue favour to Sashikant Agarwal in procurement of 40 substandard hospital beds at highly exorbitant rate for NF Railway Hospital at Tinsukia in 1995-1996 and thereby causing considerable loss to the NF Railway.

The charge sheet was submitted on February 21, 2003, and the sentence pronounced yesterday after a trail of seven years. (UNI)

Agartala: The enthusiasm among people for Durga Puja in northeast India is no less than what it is in other parts of the country.

And, the festive season spells good times for business community and traders across the region.

Forty-five-year old Narayana Rudra Paul is a small trader in Arali area of West Tripura.

He makes garlands and other decorative items that are used for adorning the idols as well as pandals.

With Durga Puja around the corner, the demand for his products has increased.

Paul is putting in extra hours to get them ready on time for the festival.

He has not only engaged his family members in the business, but has also created employment for others.

He started this business two decades ago and today, his unit employs nearly 20 members.

“We make garlands throughout the year but wait for the Puja season as there is huge demand during this period,” said Paul.

“We have huge work pressure, as we do not have skilled workers.

We are working day and night to complete the work. Getting workers is the biggest problem here,” adds artisan Rupak Rudra Paul.

“This is a seasonal business and we make good profits during the festival but during the other times the demand is comparatively less, says another artisan Biplab Dutta.

Markets in both Tripura and Assam are bustling with people busy with their last minute shopping for the festival. This is a great time for handicraft workers and artisans.

“There is a huge rush in the markets and people are enthusiastically participating in the Durga Puja,” says Geetanjali, a resident.

“The business has just started and I hope that it will be good in coming days,” adds Purabi, a trader.

The state government has also beefed up security to prevent any untoward incident during the festival.

Several thousand policemen have been deployed and watchtowers and CCTV cameras have also been installed.

People from all walks of life and different communities come together during the festival presenting a perfect example of unity and harmony. (ANI)

Businessman shot dead

Nalbari: A prominent businessman of lower Assam’s Nalbari district was shot dead and another injured by unidentified men tonight, according to police sources.

Around 7.40 pm, grocery wholesale businessman Anil Jain was about to leave for home after closing his shop when two motorcycle borne youths asked him to hand over the Rs 5000 he was carrying, the sources said.

When Jain refused to hand over the money, they pumped in two bullets into his head near Jain Temple on N T Road in Nalbari town,

Another bullet fired at Anil accidently hit the leg of another businessman Subhash Jain standing nearby, the sources said.

Both the injured businessmen were taken to Nalbari Civil Hospital, which referred Anil Jain to the GNRC Hospital in Guwahati.

Anil died on way to Guwahati, while, Subhash Jain was undergoing treatment here, they said. (PTI)

Troops seek women’s help to fight social menace

Imphal: Assam Rifles on Saturday organised a series of interaction with ‘Meira Paibi’ (women torch bearers) at various locations in Manipur.

Three of such interactions had been carried out by Brigadier Navneet Kumar of Assam Rifles at Nilakuti, Kakching and Chingmeirong where during the interactive sessions, the Meira Pabis pledged to work hand in hand with the Assam Rifles specially in eradicating social ills like drug menace rampant in the society.

During one such interaction at Nilakuti today, Brigadier Navneet Kumar said over a period of time, the Meira Paibi had created social and political space through their selfless struggle and collective action.

Replying to a query on unemployment, Meira Paibi said unemployed youths were getting involved in anti social activities among other things.

Brig Navneet Kumar assured that assistance in terms of pre-recruitment training in Assam Rifles / Army would be provided as also workshops on ill effects of drug abuse and rehabilitation program would be undertaken.

He further stated that women in Manipur possessed great talent and time had come to undertake small scale self-financing ventures.

He requested the Meira Paibi to come up with constructive proposals in this regard. (UNI)

AR conducts ex-servicemen meet

Imphal: Assam Rifles along with the Western Valley Bhutpurv Sainik Association has conducted an ex-servicemen meet at Thungchang village in the Western Valley Area of Chandel District.

The meet was conducted with an aim to apprising the Ex-servicemen of the various schemes and benefits being provided for their welfare.

The meet was also organised as a measure to provide a platform to the ex-servicemen to air their problems and to find solutions to the same.

The event was attended by about 110 ex-servicemen, 22 widows and 38 families of ex-servicemen.

A 93-year-old ex-serviceman walked eight km across hills to attend the meet. (UNI)