DHEMAJI, October 3: Altogether 545 voters of Dakhin Nalbari LP school polling centre in Dhemaji today boycotted the polls in protest against the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel's action of raping two teenaged girls last night. Later, the two CRPF men, involved in the case, were arrested. (Correspondent; The Assam Tribune; Guwahati; October 4, 1999)

BARPETA, October 4: The paddy fields in Barpeta areas have been mercilessly attacked by a kind of rice hispa since August. The areas include Chonga, Nagaon, Keotkuchi, Belbari, Bhella, Mandia, Golibandha and Pathsala. At the first stage, the area affected was around 4,500 hectares. When the matter was reported to the director of agriculture, 196 litres of pesticides was sent to Barpeta, while 170 litres for Pathsala subdivision. The district agriculture officer, Barpeta, has taken personal attention and visited the affected areas and supervised the spraying of PF chemicals. Besides, necessary advice for the control of hispa has been given by the DAO, Barpeta. Although the hispa had been controlled in the areas where the insecticide have been sprayed the deadly pests have spread to fresh areas containing sali crops. And hence, the affected areas in Barpeta subdivisions has increased to 2,685 hectares and in Pathsala areas it has increased to 4,874 resulting in 7,559 hectares of total affected areas in the district. The Assam State Marketing Board, Howly has also extended help in providing pesticides to control pests in the areas. Besides, the farmers have also sprayed pesticides from their own source to control the pests. (Correspondent; The Assam Tribune; Guwahati; October 5, 1999)

GUWAHATI, October 5: A major earthquake rocked Assam and its neighbouring areas for about 20 seconds at around 10.35 pm tonight. Panic-stricken people from places in Morigaon district called up the Tribune office to find out the impact of the quake. In the city, petrified people in highrise buildings, with vivid visuals of the Turkey quake fresh in their minds, ran out of their flats to seek shelter in the open space of their buildings' premises. Initially, the tremor was mild. But seconds later, it became severe waking up people from their slumber, throwing them out of their beds and into the street. No immediate report of any casualty, however, has been received till the filing of this report at 1.30 a.m. (Staff Reporter; The Assam Tribune; Guwahati; October 6, 1999)

GUWAHATI, October 6: The Assam government today placed Sonitpur district superintendent of police, LR Bishnoi, and additional superintendent of police, Abhijit Bora, under suspension with immediate effect in the wake of the untoward situation that has developed in Tezpur town following abduction of two youths of the town by suspected ex-cadres of the United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA). According to official sources here, the decision to suspend the two police officials was arrived at a meeting of the chief minister with top civil and police officials here. The meeting reviewed the latest situation in Tezpur town. The suspended officials will be replaced within 24 hours. The new officials have been instructed to take prompt action to apprehend the culprits involved in the abduction of the two youths. Meanwhile, the state government has issued strict instructions to all district administrations all over the state to ensure that such incidents could not take place anywhere in the state. (PTI; The Assam Tribune; Guwahati; October 7, 1999)

SHILLONG, October 6: An earthquake of moderate intensity rocked Meghalaya and other parts of the Northeast at 10.35 pm last night. According to seismological department sources here, the tremor measuring 5.0 on the Richter scale lasted for 15 to 20 seconds. Its epicentre was located at latitude 26.33 north and longitude 91.84 east of the Assam-Meghalaya border region. There is no report of any loss of life or property, according to preliminary reports. (Special Correspondent; The Assam Tribune; Guwahati; October 7, 1999)

GUWAHATI, October 8: Karuna Dutta, Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) MLA from Majuli, died at Dergaon en route to Guwahati for treatment today. He was suffering from liver cancer for about one year. He was 55. Dutta was elected an MLA from the island in 1996. Dutta, the lone son of freedom fighter, Kanak Chandra Dutta, in company with Rajya Sabha MP Arun Sarma made Majuli a focal point of discussion even in international fora. Their efforts resulted in several big and successful strides to wrest the international recognition of a World Heritage Site to Majuli, the largest of the fresh water islands on the earth. The island is now at the doorstep of attaining such a recognition because of the efforts of Dutta and Sarma. Dutta also played a major role in convincing the Oil India Ltd authorities for undertaking measures to improve the road communication network in Majuli and also in pressuring both the state and Union governments to initiate effective measures for protecting Majuli from the erosion of the Brahmaputra. (Staff Reporter; The Assam Tribune; Guwahati; October 9, 1999)

GUWAHATI, October 8: The Sangeet Natak Akademi has selected three artistes from Assam -dance exponent Pradip Chaliha, theatre personality Dulal Roy and vocalist Parveen Sultana - for the 1998 Sangeet Natak Akademi Awards. This is for the first time three artistes from the state have been awarded with the highest award in the country for performing arts. (Staff Reporter; The Assam Tribune; Guwahati; October 9, 1999)