Northeast Platform

Reacting to Home minister Imkong L Imchen’s apology to the State media and admission of his “foot-in-the-mouth” syndrome, the Nagaland Pradesh Congress Committee (NPCC) has termed the Home minister as “paranoid” and demanded his resignation.NPCC in press release issued by media cell member Dr. K Hoshi said the admission of the Home minister was most unfortunate and humiliating to the people of Nagaland, and that the minister had stooped so low as to admit his “foot-in-the-mouth” syndrome repeatedly which, the minister said, he was aware of. “That shows that he had made the irresponsible utterances deliberately. Since a syndrome is a disease, there is no guarantee that the same foolish act shall not be repeated in future,” the release stated.NPCC said giving the gravity of the law and order situation in Nagaland, it was very risky for the State to be headed by a “paranoid” Home Minister, and demanded his resignation for bringing “shame to the whole State” and for “distressing the Hon’bl

IMPHAL, Oct 24: The director general of police, DGP, Manipur has given strong instructions to all concerned district SPs, COs of MR/IRB battalions including the home guards to prevent any form of unauthorised absence from their place of posting during the festivals of Diwali and Ningol Chakkouba which will be celebrated in the state next week.The instructions from the DGP have come in view of the prevailing law and order situation in the state and to prevent any unwanted incidents leading to the loss of arms and ammunition or attacks and ambushes by the militants who may take advantage of unguarded moments of the security personnel at designated posts, stations and batallions.As has been experienced in the state, during the festivals the uniformed personnel also tend to be in a festive mood resulting in many cases of unauthorised absence from the place of posting which lead to unwanted incidents of loss of arms and ammunition, he said.Anti social elements and activists of the undergrou

IMPHAL, Oct 24: The agitating street vendors of Imphal’s Khwairamband market submitted a memorandum to the state chief minister this morning urging him to allow them to sell their goods at the roadsides upto the Ningol Chakkouba festival and arrange a suitable alternative site for them after the festival.The memorandum was submitted jointly by the secretary and joint secretary of the recently formed Street Vendors JAC Khwairamband Bazar to the chief minister through the chief minister’s secretary at the chief minister’s bungalow this morning.The memorandum to the chief minister mentioned that the affected people were poor street vendors who maintained their families by selling vegetables and other articles on the roadsides at the Imphal bazar area. Their families depended on their day-to-day earnings without which they would starve. In view of the ensuing Ningol Chakkouba festival, which is a big festival in Manipur, they had borrowed big amounts of money on interest from money-lenders

Imphal, Oct 24: The daily onslaught of violence in the state in the form of bomb blasts, firings, kidnappings and monetary extortions are becoming a cause for concern among senior citizens and elders of Manipur. In an interaction with IFP at BT Park which is a meeting point for senior citizens taking time off to interact with their peers, Gurumayum Gopan Sharma said, “There was no such large scale violence 15-20 years back. We grew up in an environment of peace and security till we reached our middle age but the irony is that in our sunset years, we are in a state of unrest due to the conflict around us today.” He further said that such conflict was also a result of the lack of trust and fraternal bonds between people and rued that the level of social interactions had come down drastically. “The tradition of giving physical help in times of religious functions and ceremonies are being replaced by financial help. Money has become the cornerstone of everything and it looks like people ar

IMPHAL, Oct 23: The death toll in Tuesday’s bomb blast at Ragailong rose to 17 today as another injured victim died at the Shija hospital this afternoon. The identity of the only deceased left to be identified was also confirmed today.The blast victim who died at the Shija hospital today was identified as Pukhrambam Bigyananda alias Naoten, 35, son of Pukhrambam Ongbi Damayanti of Khurai Chingangbam Leikai. He reportedly died around 12.40 pm at the ICU ward of the hospital due to the injuries sustained at the head and chest.According to a family source, he was an agent of ICICI Prudential Life Insurance company and was to marry his fiancee on December 1 this year. He was accompanying Leishungbam Devendro Singh alias Ingocha, 36, son of late L Modhumangol, a local close friend who was also killed in the blast.The deceased is survived by his mother and his dead body was handed over to her after post mortem at the RIMS morgue this afternoon by the police.In the meantime, the last of the u

Lamka, Oct 25: The total loss incurred in the machineries destroyed yesterday when some volunteers of the Khuga Dam Neglected Contractors Forum, KNCF, burnt down the storerooms at the dam at about 4.30 pm has been estimated at about Rs. 15 lakhs.The police who took stock of the value of the machinery destroyed, said that four generators of 5 Kv each and a portion of the dam costing about Rs. 8 lakhs along with some metres of cable wire costing around Rs. 5000 were burnt down in the raging fire.A battery that cost Rs. 5000 and a wooden almirah which cost about Rs. 300 were also burnt to cinders, the police said. Some other properties along with the wooden fencing were also destroyed. Meanwhile, the KNCF in a press handout today said that they had served request letters to the state government for clearance of their dues latest by October 23 but no tangible steps had been taken up by the goverment. As a result the forum had started its agitation from 4.30 pm of October 23 at the project

IMPHAL, Oct 25: The real value of our morals and discipline lies within the arts and culture of the state, said Md Alauddin Khan, minsiter for RD and PR during the Golden Jubilee Celebration observation of the Huyen Lallong Manipur Thang-ta Cultural Association at Irilbung this afternoon.The minister further said that Manipur was rich in its arts and culture since the early period and the state needs to preserve it and recognise its value. In fact in the early times culture itself was the education, he added.He said it was common belief that where there is no culture there is civilization, and this was true for the state and its abundance of art and culture since time immemorial.Considering this the people of the present generation need to preserve and protect the arts which have accompanied the culture of the state.Director of the Chorus Repertory Theatre, Dr. Ratan Thiyam while attending the celebration as guest of honour mentioned that though the arts and culture of the state had be

IMPHAL, Oct 25: The irate public of Kongpal Khaidem Leikai destroyed a portion of a retaining wall which was constructed by the state IFCD as part of flood control measures three months back along the Kongba river at Kongpal Khaidem Leikai after the wall was found running long cracks this morning.The local public after discovery of the cracks on the wall constructed at the bank of Kongba river turned violent and carried out the dismantling process this morning around 10.30 am. About 10 meters of the cracked portion of the retaining wall was destroyed by them.In this connection, the local public of Kongpal Khaiden Leikai said that cracks had appeared earlier after the completion of the wall, but the cracks were filled with cement after they complained to the local MLA, Nandakumar recently.The locals said the wall was broken down as many portions of the retaining wall were found to be constructed without proper quality control. There was apprehension that the wall which was constructed a

IMPHAL, Oct 25: The Zeliangrong Union (Assam, Manipur, Nagaland), ZU(AMN), and the Zeliangrong Youth Front (Assam, Manipur, Nagaland), ZYF(AMN), have strongly condemned the burning of passenger bus by KLO and KLA militants on the NH-39 at Naorijan in Assam last Thursday resulting in the death of two passengers.The two bodies have said in a press statement that the act itself was like targeting a particular community by the proscribed KLO and KLA outfits since no other passengers were victims in the incident, except the two members of the Zeliangrong community.The ZU and ZYF have demanded that the outfits compensate the families of the two victims as per Zeliangrong customary practice and also appealed to the government to take up appropriate action against the culprits along with providing compensation to the deceased’s families.A separate press release from the All Zeliangrong Students’ Union (Assam, Manipur, Nagaland) while strongly condemning the act as savage has dismissed the irre

IMPHAL, Oct 24: The All Manipur Inter State Bus Association has suspended all inter-state passenger bus services from this morning in protest against the burning down of an Imphal-Guwahati passenger bus of the Imphal Airbus Travels at Naorijan in Assam, near Dimapur, on last Thursday evening by two unidentified gunmen resulting in the death of two passengers, including one woman.A Budha Luwang, president of the AMISBA during a press conference held at North AOC in Imphal this noon narrated the inhuman and barbaric act of last Thursday at Naorijan. He said the ill-fated passenger bus bearing registration No. MN01-1664 was travelling from Imphal towards Guwahati when it was stopped and set ablaze after dousing it with petrol by two unidentified gunmen from Dimapur after the passengers numbering 32, including women and children, were locked inside the bus. The incident took place on last Thursday evening around 8.30 at Naorijan under Khatkhati police station.He said the passengers inside