30 shops in Silchar market gutted

From Our Correspondent Assam Tribune
 SILCHAR, Feb 26 – A devastating fire at Janijanj market place, the most important commercial area in Silchar town, gutted at least 30 shops at around 11 pm on Sunday.

Local businessmen said that the fire broke out from the near Pandap Paul’s shop. The reason for this fire was yet to be ascertained but people said that crackers may be the main reason behind this fire.

Sources said that during the fire many LPG cyliners exploded and with most of the crackers sold by the shops bursting, a critical situation arose in the area.

The administration deployed CRPF to tackle the situation. But the CRPF personnel also became helpless and instead started a lathicharge in the spot.

Deputy Commissioner, Gautam Ganguli, Bithika Dev, MLA and Chairperson of Silchar Municipal Board and Ajit Singh also rushed to the spot. Sources said that the amount of loss during the fire is near about one crore rupees.
 

Silchar defeat Dibrugarh to enter final

OUR BUREAU  TELEGRAPH INDIA

J.K. Baruah Trophy

Silchar/Mangaldoi, Feb. 26: Silchar booked a berth in the final of the J.K. Baruah Trophy under-19 inter-district cricket tournament, defeating Dibrugarh by seven wickets in the first semifinal match played at the Satindra Mohan Dev Stadium in Silchar today. In another quarterfinal match of the tournament played at the Mangaldoi stadium, Tezpur sailed into the semifinals defeating Nalbari by 17 runs. Tezpur will take on Barpeta in the second semifinal to be played at Mangaldoi on February 28-29. In the two-day semifinal at Silchar, Dibrugarh today set a small target of 96 runs before the hosts. Silchar reached the target in 26 overs, losing just three wickets in the process. Resuming the second innings today Dibrugarh were bundled out for 201 runs in 63.5 overs. Kalyan Gogoi topscored with 57 runs in 73 deliveries. Safique Ahmed scored 30 runs in 55 balls. The other notable contributors with the bat were Bijoy Paul Valmiki (31) and Prasanta Sonowal (27). Silchar’s Amit Yadav and Raju Das shared three wickets each, giving away 27 and 39 runs respectively. Samik Das claimed two wickets conceding 35 runs in his 12 overs. Raju Das remained not out in Silchar’s run chase. He scored 48 runs from 73 balls. Animesh Mishra scored 28 runs from 42 balls. While Valmiki of Dibrugarh took two wickets conceding 20 runs from his five overs, Maclin Gogoi took the other Silchar wicket, conceding 10 runs in his spell. In the quarterfinal encounter at Mangaldoi, the Tezpur boys defeated Nalbari by 17 runs to enter the semifinals. Set to bat first, Tezpur scored 129 runs losing nine wickets in 32 overs. Openers Tajudding Ahmed and Prakshay Dugar shared a 41-run partnership for the first wicket. Tazudding was run out for 27 and Prakshay for 23. Ralulshan Basfor scored 21 runs. Jytotish Das and Bituranjan Kalita picked up two wickets for Nalbari. Chasing the modest target, Nalbari were bundled out for 112 runs in 30.2 overs. Niraj Bora scalped four wickets conceding just 16 runs for Tezpur, while Shyambabu Sahani took three wickets. Nasir Ansari and Raushon Basfor picked up one wicket each.

Lumding-Silchar Gauge Conversion Project

 

 

Asom MPs not happy with Lalu’s Budget NE neglected again From our Correspondent Sentinel Assam NEW DELHI, Feb 26: Even after repeated queries from newsmen on the Lumding-Silchar Gauge Conversion Project, Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav today refused to set a target schedule for the completion of the project. “Who will work in the project where a number of workers fell to the bullets of militants? It’s impossible to complete the project without cooperation from the State Government,” Lalu said while talking to reporters after presenting the Railway Budget here today. He added: “Retired jawans will be deployed for the security of rail workers.” Meanwhile, the Parliamentarians from the North-east are up in arms against the Railway Minister for the neglect which the region was meted out in the Rail Budget. Railway Parliamentary Committee Chairman Basudeb Acharya said: “I hoped that the railway network in the North-east would be expanded, and the Lumding-Silchar Gauge Conversion project would get a boost, but nothing of that sort was announced in the Budget.” AGP MP Arun Kumar Sarma, on the other hand, said: “The North-east is always neglected, and there is no deviation from that this time too. There were proposals for the setting up of a railway coach factory at Bongaigaon and double line up to Guwahati, but the Budget made no such announcements.” The Budget, however, made a mention that the Ministry requested the Centre for an additional Rs 1,712 crore for Jammu & Kashmir and the North-east for some national projects. The projects in the North-east are Jiribam-Imphal, Dimapur-Kohima, Kumarghat-Agartala, the Bogibeel Bridge, Silchar-Lumding- Jiribam and Rangiya-Murkongsele k.

One-act play contest at Silchar

From Our Correspondent  Assam Tribune
 SILCHAR, Feb 25 – Rupam, a sports and socio-cultural organisation here, organised an all-India one-act-play competition at District Auditorium in Silchar. The programme was inaugurated by Prof Tapodhir Bhattacharjee, Vice Chancellor of Assam University, by lighting of lamp.

In his welcome address, Partha Sarathi Das, secretary of the competition committee, said that “It is highly appreciable that in this era people love drama”. In organising this competition despite the hardships, the organisation was able to overcome the situation, which is laudable.

In his inaugural speech, Prof Tapodhir Bhattacharjee said that it is really appreciable that the competition has been organised by ‘Rupam’ on an all India basis since 1987.
 

Silchar roads: Eighty per cent in shambles

From our Correspondent Sentinel Assam
SILCHAR, Feb 26: The roads in Silchar present a chaotic scenario. Any citizen of the town reacts with dismay and shock on being questioned about renovation of the roads, given the fact that eighty per cent of the road network is in shambles. Alaince Project Implementations (API) and National Building Construction Corporation (NBCC), which are constructing the road from Capital Travels point to Holy Cross School, a stretch of 3.5 km at an estimated cost of Rs 170 crore, have not outlined a specific time-frame to complete their work. To that end the people of the town have to daily go through the ordeal of commuting on dusty, dirty and potholed roads.

Dainik Jugasankha to promote football in Barak Valley   Media group to promote game

OUR CORRESPONDENT  TELEGRAPH INDIA

Barak Valley soccer

Hailakandi, Feb. 25: To encourage talented footballers in the rural areas, the Dainik Jugasankha newspaper group will organise the 4th Barak Valley rural prize-money football tournament in collaboration with Silchar Football Academy. Managing director of the Jugasankha group Bijoy Krishna Nath said they have found some exceptional talents in the rural areas. The Barak Valley has been divided into eight zones for holding the tournament. Cachar district has been divided into four zones — Lakhipur, Sonai, Palonghat and Kathigorah. The remaining four zones — two each in Karimganj and Hailakandi districts — have not yet been finalised, he said. In each zone, at least eight teams will participate. The matches got under way yesterday and will continue till March 30. The champion teams from the eight zones will play in the final phase of the tournament from March 30 in the Silchar Football Academy. The organisers have said they will award Rs 5,000 to the winners while the runners-up will pocket Rs 3,000. The best goalkeeper, defender, linkman, forward will also be rewarded in cash. The organisers hope that they will get sufficient response from the rural football teams in the tournament.

Fire at Janiganj, the commercial hub of Silchar Shops, houses razed in Janiganj Road in downtown Silchar - Property worth Rs 6 crore gutted in shopping complex fire

OUR CORRESPONDENT   TELEGRAPH INDIA

The fire that started at Janiganj in Silchar on Sunday. Picture by Eastern Projections Silchar, Feb. 25: Property worth nearly Rs 6 crore went up in flames as 25 shops and as many houses on Janiganj Road in downtown Silchar were razed in a shopping complex inferno last night. It took 15 fire tenders nearly four hours to douse the blaze. There was no report of any casualty. The fire at Janiganj, the commercial hub of Silchar town, has left over 25 families homeless and laid bare the shortage of fire tenders in this growing town of South Assam with a population of nearly four lakh. The fire was first spotted by passersby around 10.40am, police said. The rows of shops in the congested area were turned to ashes in no time. Most of the gutted shops were made of timber and tin and stashed with highly inflammable items. Firecrackers, polythene, wedding pandal materials, including decorative papers, boards and bitumen tins, fanned the flames that wreaked havoc in an area spanning nearly a 1km radius. Fire tenders of the Assam Police’s fire service, Hindustan Paper Corporation, ONGC, civil aviation, army and the airforce were pressed into service to battle the blaze. Fire officials and police said 15 fire tenders from different towns of the Barak Valley districts were rushed to the site. The residents of the area alleged that the fire tenders reached the spot nearly half an hour later though the fire brigade headquarters is only 2km away from the Janiganj-Dewanjibaz ar crossing, the site of the inferno. There are two operating fire tenders in the entire town and shortage of water has added to the residents’ woes. Firefighters had to haul water from a distance after each sortie, delaying efforts to contain the inferno. Fire services staff today said they lacked basic firefighting gadgets, including snorkels, water dowsers and crash fire tenders to douse fire in the quickest possible time. Manoj Paul, one of the owners of the gutted shops, alleged that police and the fire service staff totally lacked planning while combating the blaze. The commercial hub of this town, where shops have been set up in a haphazard way flouting building rules, has become a veritable tinderbox, putting the lives of the residents at risk. As many as a dozen incidents of major infernos have been reported here since the worst blaze in this town in 1954.

Additional Rs 60 crore demanded for Cachar

From Our Correspondent  Assam Tribune
 KARIMGANJ, Feb 24 – Union Heavy Industries Minister Santosh Mohan Dev has demanded an additional allocation of Rs 60 crore under Rajiv Gandhi Rural Electrification Scheme for electrification of 890 villages in Cachar.

Simultaneously he has urged the Union Power Ministry to extend relaxed norms of the Government of India to Cachar district with special provisions for isolated habitations.

Expressing his deep concern over the fact that the Rural Electrification Corp (REC) has drastically reduced the project amount for Cachar to Rs 65.07 crore, Dev in a letter to the Union Power Minister SK Shinde, said the DPR for electricity for Cachar district, which was approved at an estimated cost of Rs 65.07 crore, included establishing infrastructure and rural electricity of 890 villages. Out of these, 230 villages were yet to be electrified and 660 villages partially electrified which also include release of free service connection to 73512 BPL house-holds.

Coal-based power plant in Barak Valley

Flood of tips to avert rain woes

OUR CORRESPONDENT  TELEGRAPH INDIA

Cachar

A waterlogged street in Silchar. Picture by Eastern Projections Feb. 20: If a flood of recommendations can save a town from the scourge of floods, Silchar can hope to remain on dry ground this monsoon. The Centre and an NGO have formed separate committees to pinpoint the causes of the annual hazard and find remedies, giving residents of not only Silchar but also the rest of south Assam a sniff of a monsoon minus floods. While the Centre has set up a task force to find a permanent remedy to the problem, the Institution of Engineers, Silchar, has already compiled a comprehensive report identifying the causes of floods in the three Barak Valley districts, particularly Silchar. Silchar last year experienced its worst flooding in recent times, which was not surprising considering the fact that it received as much as 3,215mm of rain. The town remained under water for over two weeks with the Rukni and Sonai rivers — both tributaries of the Barak — and the Ghagra breaching their banks. A committee comprising three retired chief engineers of the water resources department — S.R. Swami, B.K. Das and N.R. Chakravarty — compiled a 13-page report for the NGO. The committee stressed the need to construct the multipurpose Barak dam at Tipaimukh on the Manipur-Assam border as soon as possible to save the three Barak Valley districts from the annual deluge.

Congress wooing independents in a bid to form Karimganj ZP

Akhil Ranjan Talukdar, Mantaj Ali in the race
From our Correspondent Sentinel Assam
KARIMGANJ, Feb 19: It has now become almost clear that the Congress is going to form the Karimganj Zila Parishad by inducting some of the independent winning candidates into the party’s fold. In the election, Congress won 8 seats, Assam United Democratic Front (AUDF) bagged 4 seats while Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) bagged one.
According to sources, in the district, two winning candidates of the Congress are very much in the presidential race for Karimganj ZP. They are Akhil Ranjan Talukdar from Bhairabnagar ZPC, who had contested the last Assembly election from Ratabari SC constituency, but had lost. The other aspirant is Mantaj Ali, who won from the Alipur ZPC, and has been in panchayat politics for more than three decades.
It may be mentioned here that Ms Shila Biswas, president of the erstwhile Karimganj ZP could not get Congress nomination this time. The former vice-president of Karimganj ZP Abdul Aziz also did not get a Congress ticket this time due to unknown reasons. But he contested the election this time as an independent candidate from Sarisha Bazarghat ZPC and won.
The following is the list of the winning candidates of Karimganj ZP — from Sarish Bazarghat - Abdul Aziz (Independent), from Sadarashi Lakshmibazar - Najmal Hussain (Congress), from Ramkrishnanagar - Nikhil Shuklabaidya (BJP), from Cheragi - Situl Namasudra (Congress), from Baraigram - Afia Khan (Congress), from Nilambazar - Parsia Sultana (AUDF), from Ratabari - Kiran Das (Independent), from Bakharshal Nairgram - Amaresh Roy (Independent), from Kankalsh Bashail - Jharna Das (Independent), from Kaliganj - Selim (Independent), from Bhairabnagar - Akhil Ranjan Talukdar (Congress), from Anip - Mantaj Ali (Congress), from Chandkhira - Jamuna Rani Sahu (Congress), from Lowairpoa - Lipika Namasudra (Congress), from Maizgram Sutai - Shahanara Begam (Congress), from Achimganj - Manataj Begum (Congress), from Gandhai Brahmanshashan - Abdul Rouf (AUDF), from Duttapur - Layali Begum (AUDF), from Patharkandi - Raj Rajkumar (Independent), from Malua Shreegouri - Niloy Paul (Independent).
It may be mentioned here that Congress, BJP and AUDF had contested all the 20 Zila Parishad seats.

Deccan launches new N-E flights