Category: NORTH EAST

• ASSAM
• MANIPUR
• MEGHALAYA
• MIZORAM
• NAGALAND
• ARUNACHAL PRADESH

The security forces have seized huge quantities of heroin worth Rs 15.59 crore and arrested seven drug peddlers during the past 24 hours in Mizoram and Tripura, officials said on Wednesday.

Two persons, including a village defence volunteer (VDV), were killed while seven others were injured in heavy firing between two rival groups at Narainsena in Bishnupur district on Tuesday, the police said.

The full Election Commission, led by Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar, on Tuesday held a meeting with top Mizoram government officials and reviewed the preparedness for the state Assembly elections, due by this year end.

A senior police officer said that a team from the Garchuk police statio and a Special Operations Group jointly conducted an operation on Tuesday and seized the fake notes.

Amid the ongoing controversy surrounding the death of Assam BJP leader Indrani Tahbildar, who allegedly committed suicide on August 11 after her intimate pictures went viral on social media, the state's party president Bhabesh Kalita has instructed Ministers and MLAs against addressing the media.

Deaths of people due to human-elephant conflicts is on the rise in Assam with 118 people losing their lives since last year. During the same period, as many as 29 wild elephants have died, either after being run over by trains or other reasons, including electrocution.

A criminal complaint was filed against a woman Assam Police official on Sunday for allegedly abusing and imprisoning her domestic help for several days at her home and pouring boiling water on her.

In another incident, media reports quoting the police said that unidentified attackers snatched three weapons from the security personnel guarding the residence of former Health Director K. Rajo on Sunday at Sagolband Bijoy Govinda in Imphal West district.

Septuagenarian journalist Atin Das was arrested on Friday in Assam’s Hailakandi district for referring to Mahatma Gandhi as “a spy of the British” before being released on bail, the police said.

10 tribal MLAs, including two ministers, who have been demanding separate administrations for tribals in Manipur, will boycott the Assembly session commencing August 29 citing security reasons.

Subsequently, after discussion with the district administration, officials of Meghalaya State Pollution Control Board, village authorities and the cement company executives the venue for the public hearing was shifted to nearby premises.

Various disaster response personnel continued their search operation for the second day on Thursday to recover more bodies in Mizoram’s Sairang area, where an under-construction railway bridge collapsed on Wednesday killing at least 23 people and injuring three, officials said. 

The Superintendent of Police in Cachar, Numal Mahatta, told IANS, “Acting on a tip-off, an operation was conducted near the National Institute of Technology (NIT) in Silchar in the wee hours of Wednesday. During the checking, 1.5 kg heroin was found kept hidden in 104 soap boxes in a vehicle.”

Manipur Chief Minister N. Biren Singh on Wednesday said that prefabricated houses are being constructed to rehabilitate displaced people temporarily  while the permanent structures would be built at the original places for those affected by the violence in the state.

At least 26 workers were killed and two others injured after an under-construction railway bridge collapsed near the mountainous Sairang area of Mizoram on Wednesday, officials of Mizoram Relief and Disaster Management Department said.

At least 17 workers were killed on Wednesday after an under-construction railway bridge collapsed near Sairang area of Mizoram, officials said. According to railway and police officials 17 bodies have been recovered so far.

Blockade on the Imphal-Dimapur National Highway (NH-2) continued for the second day on Tuesday, while the security forces provided security cover to facilitate the movement of vehicles along the Imphal-Jiribam National Highway (NH-37).

The state cabinet earlier on August 4 had made a similar recommendation to Governor to convene the 4th session of the 12th Manipur Legislative Assembly on August 21 but the Governor did not summon the session.

United Naga Council (UNC), the apex body of the Nagas in Manipur, on Monday objected to the demand of a Kuki organisation for the creation of the posts of Chief Secretary and Director General of Police or equivalents in the Kuki areas.

Expressing their deep concern over the filing of FIRs against Kuki scholars and academics, a leading tribal body of the community in Manipur has sought Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s intervention to withdraw the cases registered against the tribal intellectuals.

An influential tribal body in Manipur on Monday reimposed indefinite blockade on two vital National Highways after accusing the rival community for disrupting supplies of essential commodities in the tribal dominated areas.

Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Pema Khandu said on Monday that the disputes along the Assam-Arunachal inter-state borders, of which most areas are inhabited by the Bodos, have been resolved barring in a few pockets.

“During a check on the highway, narcotic substances suspected to be heroin were recovered from a vehicle. The drugs were kept hidden inside a few soap boxes within the vehicle,” a police officer said.

A woman has been sent to jail by a court in Assam for allegedly lodging a false complaint of rape, an official said on Sunday. The incident happened in Hailakandi district. 

CPI-M General Secretary Sitaram Yechury on Sunday said without disarmament of the cadres of all groups, the Manipur crisis would not be resolved and also asked the BJP government to start talks with the warring Kuki and Meitei communities for resolving ethnic strife.