KOHIMA, July 24 - Viral fever and water-borne diseases in Nagaland have claimed at least 274 lives in recent months, official sources said on Saturday. The state director of health services R Shaiza said the worst-affected areas were Mon, Mokokchung and Dimapur districts where the diseases were raging in an epidemic form. He said the diseases had claimed more than 150 people in Mon alone and 81 in Mokokchung. Forty-three people had died in Dimapur. Casualty figures from other parts of the state are yet to come in. However, unofficial figures put the toll at over 600. (UNI; The Assam Tribune; Guwahati; July 25, 1999)

NEW DELHI, July 24: Yamin Hazarika, deputy commissioner of police (crime against women), known for her impeccable track record in the force, including a three-month stint in Bosnia, died on July 24. She was 43. Hazarika, the first women from Assam to have cleared the police service exams, is survived by her 13-year-old daughter and her son, aged nine. It was in Bosnia, where she was posted as part of the UN peacekeeping force, that she was found to be suffering from leukaemia. Treatment began only in when she returned last September, at Mumbai's Tata Institute and at AIIMS where she passed away. A 1977 batch DANIPS (Delhi, Andaman and Nicobar Islands Police Service) officer, she was serving her second term as the DCP (crime against women) in Delhi. Her husband, Rajeev Sagar, is an IPS officer from the Haryana cadre. Many journalists remember her as a very helpful officer, who even tossed up ideas and always got back when contacted. (Express News Service; The Indian Express; New Delhi; July 25, 1999)

AGARTALA, July 24: Tripura's jail affairs minister and veteran CPI leader Durbajoy Reang died on July 23 at his native village Laxmi Chara under Belonia subdivision in South Tripura district following a protracted illness. He was 78. He is survived by his wife and a daughter. Reang was suffering from liver cancer. (UNI; The Assam Tribune; Guwahati; July 25, 1999)

AGARTALA, July 22: The Tripura government has criticised the Centre for abandoning an Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) funded educational project in the state and demanded immediate intervention by the Prime Minister on the issue. The state education minister Anil Sarkar said here on July 21 that the Centre had cancelled the Rs 43 cr educational project to be funded by OPEC International Development Fund "without assigning any reason". He said the state chief minister Manik Sarkar urged the Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee to intervene and requested the human resource development minister Murli Manohar Joshi to sanction an equal amount from similar other projects if the current one was discarded. (UNI; The Assam Tribune; Guwahati; July 26, 1999)

IMPHAL, July 24: The Manipur government on Thursday ordered a magisterial inquiry into the killing of five civilians by the Central Reserve Police force (CRPF) in Churachandpur on July 21, the state chief minister Wahengbam Nipamacha Singh told the House on July 22. The magisterial inquiry will be headed by the deputy commissioner of the district, Taranikanta. The report will be submitted within 15 days. Nipamacha Singh also promised an ex gratia payment of Rs 1 lakh each to the families of the victims. He, however, said if necessary a judicial inquiry too could be instituted. The chief minister condemned both the CRPF personnel as well as the underground activists. Appealing to both to ensure that such incidents should not recur, Nipamacha Singh said since most of Army personnel stationed in the state had already moved to Kargil, the ongoing counter-insurgency operations would mainly be conducted jointly by the police and paramilitary forces, including CRPF. (UNI; The Assam Tribune; Guwahati; July 26, 1999)

GUWAHATI, July 26: The state pollution control board has served notices to the Oil and Natural Gas Commission asking for temporary closure of drilling operations at three cluster drilling sites of ONGC at Rudrasagar in Sibsagar district for not conforming to the pollution control norms. The board has also stopped issuing no-objection certificates to all ONGC drilling sites at Geleki and Rudrasagar oil fields, board sources here said. The PCB steps were initiated after the visit of the board member secretary to the ONGC cluster drilling sites in the first week of July. He found that the drilling sites were poorly maintained by ONGC. The situation at the drilling sites was such that it was difficult to identify the actual drilling wastes. The reason behind the mess was lack of introduction of proper segregation system in the waste pits. Though it is mandatory for drillers to clean up wastes of the early operations before undertaking the following operation in case of cluster drilling, the ONGC had ignored the stipulation at the above drilling sites. Moreover, the condition for extra pits which is almost obligatory for drilling operations during the monsoon was also not fulfilled by ONGC. The drilling site at Geleki was found to be polluting the nearby Sivbari Tea Estate. The leakage in the storage tank of the drilling site was finding its way to the tea estate through a small drain, which passed through an abandoned pit of ONGC. The site had virtually no waste pit. The central effluent treatment plant of ONGC at Geleki was also found to be creating environmental problems because of the disproportionate size of the sludge storage. The sludge water of the sludge storage was found being pumped to the nearby old waste pit contrary to the norms. (Correspondent; The Assam Tribune; Guwahati; July 27, 1999)

GUWAHATI, July 26: Assam can take pride in the fact that out of about 1,000 global population of greater adjutant storks, about 850 are found in the state, according to Prashanta Kumar Saikia of the department of zoology at Gauhati University. Saikia said the bird has been identified as "endangered" globally and is included in the Schedule I of the Wildlife Protection Act of India (1972). The remaining 150 birds have been spotted in Cambodia spread over about 40 nests. In Assam, the concentration of this species is found in and around the state capital. Dadara near Hajo in Kamrup district has an impressive presence of these storks followed by a few other places. Inside Kaziranga National Park only two nests could be found constantly since 1972, Saikia said. Greater adjutant storks normally make their nests on trees like shimalu and kadam. About 10 or more nests can be found in the same tree. However, there must be a good presence of bamboo trees in and around. The mating season of this species begins from October and lasts till April. After this, they come out of their nests in search of food and frequent garbage dumps in nearby areas for food. Saikia said this was the reason sometimes quite a few storks are seen in the garbage dumps at the backside of Gauhati Commerce College, Adabari bus station. They eat snakes and frogs. Saikia, who was awarded a PhD degree for his thesis on this species, said in Assam a total of 162 nests have been found till recently with as many as 40 in the Dadara area itself. He said in an effort to create a suitable environment for more natural breeding of this species, he had initiated steps for plantation of trees necessary for their habitat. First this was done in Daulashal near Nalbari several years ago and another proposal was taken up for doing the same in the area behind Gauhati University. In case of the latter, detailed discussions are under way with the deputy commissioner of Kamrup district and forest department officials. Work is scheduled to begin soon. The government too would be requested to take ownership of the land on which these nests have been found. Saikia also emphasised on taking up steps for minimising the ill-effects of the railway line cutting through the Deepor Beel area as this would affect available flora and fauna, specially the greater adjutant storks. (Bijay Sankar Bora; The Assam Tribune; Guwahati; July 28, 1999)

AIZAWL, July 27: The first chief executive member of the erstwhile Lushai hills district of Assam (now Mizoram) and former Rajya Sabha member, Lalsawia, died of blood sugar on Monday, family sources said. Lalsawia, who was 80, leaves behind his wife, one son and four daughters. A prominent leader of the Mizo Union, the first Mizo political party, Lalsawia later took over as the vice-president of the Mizoram Pradesh Congress Committee after his party merged with Congress in 1972. He also served as the general secretary of the Central Young Mizo Association (YMA), a prominent non-governmental organisation in the State. (PTI; The Assam Tribune; Guwahati; July 28, 1999)

NEW DELHI, July 28: The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has decided to refer the complaint lodged by Dr Dhani Ram Baruah to the full bench of the Commission. The controversial surgeon who was in the news for transplanting a pig heart into a human being had filed a complaint with the NHRC alleging human rights violation by the Assam government. The commission had since heard the representatives of the two sides and reserved its order. (Staff Correspondent; The Assam Tribune; Guwahati; July 29, 1999)