Members of All Assam Gorkha Students Union, Bokajan sub-unit take out a silent candle light procession to commemorate the anniversary of the brutal killing of 12 people including seven Gorkhas by the anti-talk NDFB faction on October 4, 2009 during Durga Puja in Sonitpur district, at Silonijan in Karbi Anglong district of Assam on Tuesday. (EP)

From Our Correspondent

 Guwahati: Ranjit Das, the man who allegedly severed his wife’s head and marched through a street in the Assam’s capital city here on Thursday, was remanded to judicial custody for three days on being produced before a magistrate here on Friday.

Das, who lives in a rented house in the Japorigog locality, close to the state capital complex at Dispur here, had allegedly chopped off the head of his wife Amaya Daimary Das, and then walked holding it in one hand and a blood-stained machete on the other until some CRPF jawans accosted him and drove him to Dispur police station.

An official in the Dispur police station said Das had confessed to have killed his wife during interrogation.

The magistrate sent him to three days’ judicial custody. He would be produced before the magistrate again on Monday.

Das, plies a autorickshaw and also runs a small grocery shop in his locality.

Father of two sons aged nine and six, Das told the police that he had suspected his wife of having an illicit affair with another person. He also told the police the name of the “other person”, which the police refused to divulge.

His wife Amaya, who was a health worker under the National Rural Health Mission posted at Orang in Udalguri district, had come home for her puja holidays when Das killed her.

After chopping off his wife’s head following an altercation, Das started walking with the severed head and the blood-stained machete on his both hands through the busy Ganeshguri junction at around 11:30 am on Thursday when a group of CRPF jawans on duty picked him up and drove him to the Dispur police station.

From Our Correspondent

 Guwahati: Assam government on Friday accused Left-wing extremists of engineering protests against big dams in the state and warned off appropriate action to tackle the design.

Assam government spokesperson and the state’s industries and power minister Pradyut Bordoloi claimed that Left-wing extremists were behind protests against big dams while Maoists and some other militant groups too were instigating agitations to create instability in the state.

Asserting the government has proof to substantiate its accusation, Bordoloi said the Left-wing extremists were trying to gain a foothold in the state in the guise of protests against big dams and such issues.

“The agitation against big dams is just an issue for the Left-wing extremists to penetrate the state. A section of protests against big dams in instigated and led by them,” Bordoloi added.

He said these extremists were already present in parts of remote eastern Assam’s Sadiya and bordering districts of Arunachal Pradesh. “We have information on their activities. Those are remote areas where development is still to pick up at a desired level,” the minister said.

Bordoloi added that local militant groups, like the anti-talks faction of the ULFA, are also supporting the Left-wing extremists in entering the state. He said the main agenda of these extremists was to create instability and push back Assam to the days of unrest that the state had witnessed less than a decade ago.

“The government is awake to these threats and we are taking action,” he added. On the anti-big dam movement led by other civil society groups, Bordoloi said the government was not against democratic agitations and will deal with their grievances sympathetically.

He once again sought to allay apprehensions that big dams will cause devastation for Assam and assured that the state government would not give its nod to any project in neighbouring states that could have adverse impact on Assam.

Meanwhile, in view of power crisis in the state, Assam government has ordered all big and medium industries to stop production during peak evening hours, which could ensure availability of up to 200 MW for general consumption.

The power minister said, “We have asked all big and medium industries which require massive power supply to stop production between 5 pm to 11 pm from October 10.”

He added that it was only a temporary measure to tide out of the present power scarcity the state was facing.

The state has been buying additional power from the national grid at market prices since this month. Putting thrust on increasing power generation capacity, Bordoloi said two new hydel power projects will soon come up in the state.

A 150 MW Lower Kapili project and another 250 MW Kiling project would soon be set up, he added.

From Our Correspondent

 AGARTALA: Ending a month-long uncertainty, the mammoth Gas Turbine (GT) for the Palatana power project in Tripura has been installed recently, official sources confirmed here on Friday.

The 300 ton turbine, which was made in USA, skidded off puller vehicle while it was being transported from Akhaura to Palatana in May. After month-long efforts, the ill-fated turbine was pulled out of the gorge and taken to Palatana in June. And finally, it was installed on September 28 after carrying out special check by engineers from General Electricals.

Earlier, boiler turbine for the first unit of 726 MW power project was installed at the designated place. With the installation of two major equipments, the OPTC hopes to commission the first unit as per the schedule- by February next year.

“We have done 75 percent work for the first unit of the mega power project as the gas turbine has been installed without any problem”, said an official of OTPC here.

The first unit of Palatana was supposed to kick off by December this year but later the deadline has been extended till February.

AK Hazarika, the Chairman cum Managing Director (CMD) of ONGC had said that the first unit would come up in February in stead of scheduled time- December this year. “The reason is simple – the GT, main equipment for the power project met an accident while it was taking to Palatana from Akhaura”, he said.

Sources said, the ONGC CMD will soon visit the site to review the progress of ongoing works. Reports from Palatana said, the erection of transmission line for evacuating power seems a major problem with designated agency failing to meet the deadline.

Tripura Power Minister Manik Dey had already voiced concern over the tardy pace of transmission line because there is no facility of national power grid in the state yet.

Agartala: The National Liberation Front of Tripura (NLFT) militants a tribal during the Durga Puja festival from remote Sarada Roaja Para under Raishyabari police station of Dhalai district in the wee hours of Wednesday.

Police here on Friday said taking advantage of festive fervor, the militants had stormed the hamlet and kidnapped Chiranjoy Tripura (5) at gunpoint from close to Tripura State Rifles (TSR) camp. According to report, the kidnapping was reportedly carried out after the extortion money demanded by NLFT had not been paid by the villagers.

The hamlet was the residence of about 30 families who practice shifting cultivation over the generation. (UNI)