GOSSAIGAON, August 28: "The Bodoland Accord initiated by the All-Bodo Students Union (ABSU) has proved to be a defective arrangement which prompted the People's Democratic Front (PDF) to resign from the Bodoland Autonomous Council (BAC)," according to Prabin Kumar Iswary, PDF secretary of western zone. He said the unilateral functioning of the BAC chief, Kanakeswar Narzary, had ushered a sense of intolerance in the PDF which resulted is the organisation dissociating from the council. When asked about the PDF's view on the Bodoland issue, Iswary said PDF was born to create a separate Bodo Hadot as the aspirations of the people of Bodoland and cannot be fulfilled without a separate Bodo Hadot. (Correspondent; The Assam Tribune; Guwahati, August 29, 1999)

NEW DELHI, August 30: In a significant development, the Centre today formally clarified its stand on the controversial Illegal Migrants (Determination by Tribunals) Act, notifying the Supreme Court that it is actively considering to scrap the Act, as it was hampering in detection and deportation of illegal aliens, overriding the provisions of the Foreigners Act, 1946. The central government's stand was made known to the Apex Court through the counsels for the ministry of home affairs in a case relating to a public interest litigation (PIL) seeking deportation of foreigners, even as the Assam and West Bengal governments were given two weeks time to file their replies. The PIL filed by All India Lawyers Forum for Civil Liberty has sought Supreme Court's direction to the Union government to detect and deport over 10 million illegal Bangladeshi migrants living in various parts of the country particularly in West Bengal and the Northeast. The case was heard in the court of the Chief Justice, AS Anand, who headed a three-member bench comprising Justice M Srinivasan and Justice R C Lahoty. (Staff Correspondent; The Assam Tribune; Guwahati, August 31, 1999)

ITANAGAR, August 29: The Congress president, Sonia Gandhi, has appointed Omen Deori as secretary of All India Congress Committee (AICC), party sources here said. Deori, has also been appointed as one of the members of the national campaign committee. The Arunachal Pradesh chief minister, Mukut Mithi, and the state Pradesh congress Committee president, Dera Natung, have hailed the decision of the Congress president and congratulated Deori on her appointment as secretary of AICC. (UNI; The Assam Tribune; Guwahati, August 31, 1999)

AGARTALA, September 1: The Nationalist Congress Party's Tripura unit has been formally launched and Birballav Saha has been appointed its president, party sources said. The state unit was launched here on Tuesday but NCP is not yet decided whether it will contest the coming Lok Sabha elections. Arindom Lodh and Sipra Kar have been appointed general secretary and joint secretary respectively of the party. (The Assam Tribune; Guwahati, September 2, 1999)

GUWAHATI, September 3: The Assam Human Rights Commission (AHRC) chairman, Justice Surendra Nath Bhargava, has denied reports appearing in a section of the press that he was involved in any financial wrongdoing during his tenure as Chief Justice of the Sikkim High Court, before he took up his present assignment. "I am pained to see such reports", Justice Bhargava said. "Three years after my retirement from the post I am now being accused of misappropriating a few thousand rupees which is not fair", he said. Of late, some reports have appeared in the press that Justice Bhargava, during his stint at the Sikkim HC had withdrawn excess salary, retained books with himself and did not return them despite notices being served on him. Denying such allegations, Justice Bhargava pointed out the reasons that has given rise to such controversies. He said that till some time ago, no audit was done in the Sikkim HC which led to a lot of irregularities. "When I retired, there was an audit conducted as a result of which several lapses were discovered", he said. (Staff Reporter; The Assam Tribune; Guwahati, September 4, 1999)

AGARTALA, September 4: The Tripura unit of Trinamool Congress was formally launched yesterday with the joining of many top ranking state leaders of Congress. Addressing a press conference here, former chief minister, Sudhir Ranjan Mazumder, said that all India president of Trinamool Congress, Mamata Banerjee, had formed an 11-member steering committee under his presidentship for Tripura. He announced that as per the recommendation of Banerjee, he would contest the West Tripura parliamentary constituency for the ensuing elections. Mazumder, a former TPCC president, claimed that Agartala Municipal Council would come under the control of Trinamool Congress as majority number of councillors would join the newly-formed party. Asish Saha, chairman of the council, who joined the Trinamool Congress was also present in the press conference. (PTI; The Assam Tribune; Guwahati, September 5, 1999)

AGARTALA, September 5: The Congress, which suffered severing of its 16-year-old alliance with tribal party Tripura Upajati Juba Samity in Tripura, has received yet another jolt with several of its senior leaders joining the newly-created Trinamool Congress unit in the state barely a month before the Lok Sabha polls in the state. Among the Congress leaders who joined on Saturday were former ministers Motilal Saha and Ratan Chakraborty, chairperson of Agartala Municipality, Ashis Saha, Sudhir Ranjan Mazumder, former chief minister who defected recently, told a press conference here. (PTI; The Assam Tribune; Guwahati, September 6, 1999)

GUWAHATI, September 6: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is likely to question food and civil supplies minister, Digen Bora, and former minister, Ardhendu Kumar Dey, in connection with the palmolein oil scam in the food and civil supplies department. CBI sources said that the Union government imports palmolein oil for distribution through the public distribution system and Assam received its quota of the commodity from 1992 to 1997. But palmolein oil is very rarely used as cooking oil in this part of the country and the commodity was never distributed through the PDS in the state. Sources revealed that after receiving complaints, the CBI conducted a preliminary investigation into the matter and now the central investigating agency has formally registered a case in this regard and investigations into the matter is on. (Staff Reporter; The Assam Tribune; Guwahati, September 7, 1999)

GUWAHATI, September 8: It is like a vulture hovering over a fainted prey, or, a hawk trying to prey upon a dove. Anyway, it is the flesh of assets and capital the organisation has generated, that has become the point of attraction for a nexus of politicians and bureaucrats. And, these people are allegedly more eager to build their own fortune at the cost of one of the apples of the eyes of the people of Assam - the cooperative sector Assam Polyester Cooperative Limited (APOL). This is happening at a time when the entire state is mourning the demise of the chairman-cum-managing director (CMD) of APOL, Col Uma Nath Sarma - one of the patriarchs of today's industrial activities in the state. This nexus of the politicians and bureaucrats is now up in arms allegedly to usurp the post of the CMD in flagrant violation of all norms of civility and making a mockery of all norms of industrial management. If this nexus is allowed to usurp the CMD's post with a man of its choice, it is feared that APOL, which has now emerged as one of the symbols of state's pride, will have the death knell ringing for it soon as happened to several other cooperative sector and public sector enterprises in the state. (Staff Reporter; The Assam Tribune; Guwahati, September 9, 1999)

IMPHAL, September 10: A British national, identified as Rachel Goldwyn, was arrested by the Myanmar authorities at Rangoon for singing a pro-democracy song and chanting slogans, according to information reaching here yesterday. The All Burma Students Democratic Front (ABSDF) criticised the arrest and demanded immediate release of Goldwyn. The British national is a student of London School of Oriental and African Studies, the sources added. The Burmese students stationed here, in the meantime gave a call for boycott of all State owned newspapers saying that they carried reports degrading the pride of the Burmese nation. Prohibitory orders under Section 144 CrPC were promulgated at Moreh, the bordering town of Manipur with effect from September 8 evening in view of the observation of the "9999" by Burmese students. The pro-democracy activists of Myanmar, however, yesterday staged a mass protest rally at Moreh as part of observing their Burmese uprising movement without any disturbance. (Correspondent; The Assam Tribune; Guwahati, September 11, 1999)

AGARTALA, September 11: The high-level meeting between the Border Security Force (BSF) and Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) over the disputed 62.27-acre Muhurichar land along south Tripura border with Bangladesh has remained inconclusive. BSF sources said that no decision was taken in yesterday's BSF-BDR meeting held at South Tripura district's Belonia checkpost, 110 km from here. The next round of meeting between the inspector-general of BSF, Tripura, Cachar and Mizoram frontier and the deputy director-general of BDR would be held on September 27 in Shillong. The meeting was held according to the decision of the August 25 meeting between the BSF and the BDR following the three-day-long cross-border firing between the border guards of the two countries over disputed territory. Six Indians, including two BSF personnel, and 13 Bangladeshi nationals, including one BDR jawan, suffered bullet injuries. Of the 62.27 acre disputed Muhurichar land, 44.87 acres are in Indian possession, while 17.40 acres are in Bangladeshi possession. The Muhurichar land remained a disputed border area since 1974 with both India and Bangladesh claiming the cultivable land as their own territory. (UNI; The Assam Tribune; Guwahati, September 12, 1999)