A 21-year-old Assamese woman was raped in south Delhi's Mahipalpur area by two men who have been arrested, police said on Sunday.
One of the men was known to the woman who recently came to Delhi. According to reports, the girl, along with her male friend, had visited Kerala a month ago. She came back to Delhi on Friday and stayed in Mahiphalpur area, where her male friend sexually assaulted her along with another friend.
Police said she was assaulted at a house in Mahipalpur on Saturday afternoon.
As the accused escaped, the woman came out of the house and alerted a passerby before police came in. The accused - Rahul and Harun - were arrested late on Saturday, police said.
Guwahati, Feb. 20: Assam
police plan to adopt a transparent recruitment policy to eliminate the
possibility of corruption and nepotism in recruitment of police
personnel.
Additional director-general of police (administration) Bhaskar Jyoti Mahanta told The Telegraph that
the primary objective of the policy was to make the overall induction
process free of human interference as far as possible.
The thrust of the policy will be on
developing an information technology-enabled system for recruitment of
policemen in a very transparent and merit-based manner.
Mahanta said under the proposed policy,
the entire recruitment process would become automated and
biometric-based. Machines or electronic applications will be used
to evaluate answer scripts, prepare lists or rolls and maintain data,
including fingerprint and iris details of candidates.
The electronic devices will be used to
record data relating to physical tests during recruitment. “There will
be two components in the physical test — mile run and long jump. The
entire physical test will be video-graphed, which will make manipulation
of results impossible,” Mahanta said.
He said the written exam will be held on
an optical mark recognition sheet and the answer sheets will be
evaluated through computer scanning.
Since law and order is a state matter, the
Union home ministry had written to all state governments and Union
Territory administrations in 2010, asking them to adopt a
technology-based transparent recruitment process for the police forces,
free of any human interference.
The home ministry wrote the letter after
it observed that police recruitment in almost every state was mired in
allegations of corruption. There were also allegations that aspirants do
not get jobs as constables and sub-inspectors unless money is paid.
Uttar Pradesh was the first state in the
country to devise such a policy in 2009. Central paramilitary forces,
including the SSB and the CRPF, adopted it in 2010.
In the Northeast, Meghalaya approved adoption of the policy in 2012 and it is under implementation.
A senior police officer said under the
policy, the functions related to recruitment of police personnel would
be outsourced to a professional agency. “The agency will be selected in a
transparent manner and its functioning and performance will be
monitored by a consultant to be appointed by Assam police.”
He said a request for proposal would be
issued within the next few months, inviting bids from competent agencies
to which the recruitment process will be outsourced.
The source said the state police are also
considering giving more weightage to the written test than the physical
test under the policy, which is exactly the opposite in the existing
system.
The All Assam Police Association had
stated last month that 12,000 posts were lying vacant in the state
police force. It demanded immediate filling up of these vacancies and
also sought the creation of 30,000 new posts. According to the
association, because of manpower shortage the state police force is hard
pressed to take on militant groups operating in the state.
Assam government has established 64 additional Foreigners' Tribunals for a period of two years only.
This is in addition to the existing 36 Foreigners' Tribunals already functioning in the state, an official release said here today.
Eight additional tribunals have been set up in Dhubri and Barpeta each, seven in Nagaon, six in Goalpara and Sonitpur each, four each in Kamrup(Metro), Kamrup (Rural)and Cachar, three each in Nalbari and Morigaon, two each in Darrang and Dhemaji and one each in Bongaigaon, Dibrugarh, Karimganj, Chirang, Baksa, Udalguri and Dima Hasao.
Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi was more keen to resolve Assam's problems than BJP's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi, Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi said Wednesday.
Gogoi told media that while Modi spent only three hours in Assam during his recent visit, Gandhi would be spending more time during his two-day visit starting Feb 25.
"Rahul Gandhi is scheduled to arrive in the state Feb 25. He will meet intellectuals and the media in the morning, following which he will address a rally at the Khanapara Veterinary College field," he said.
Gandhi will address another public meeting at Diphu the same day.
The chief minister said Gandhi was likely to participate in a road show from Nagaon to Kaliabhomora the next day. Before leaving the state, he will address a women's meet at Jorhat Feb 26.
Gogoi said Modi only spent three hours in Guwahati, but Gandhi will be staying for 30 hours in the state "to know the people and the issues related to the people of the state. This shows sincerity of Rahul Gandhi, which Modi lacks".
The Assam government today said it will introduce a new Lokayukta Bill
in line with the central legislation during the next Assembly session.
Presenting Assam's interim Budget for 2014-15, Chief Minister Tarun
Gogoi said, "I propose to introduce a fresh Bill, called the Assam
Lokayukta Bill 2014, in the next session of the Assembly so as to
strengthen the institution of Lokayukta by giving it more powers."
The draft Bill is at the final stage of consultation with various departments as per procedure, he said.
Assam currently has a Lokayukta under the Assam Lokayukta and Upa-Lokayukta Act 1985 and the new legislation will repeal this.
"The proposed new Lokayukta Institution will be empowered to enquire
into and investigate the allegations of corruption against various
public functionaries under the Prevention of Corruption Act 1988. The
existing Lokayukta has no such powers," Gogoi, who is also the state
finance minister, said.
The new Bill is in conformity with the central Lokpal and Lokayukta Act 2013, he said.
As per the draft Bill, the current and former Chief Ministers, existing
and formers ministers, and current and former MLAs will come under the
purview of the Act.
Besides, all government employees of all grades, staff of companies,
societies or trusts that are set up, financed or controlled by the state
government will come under the new Act, Gogoi said.
The eight-day long economic blockade in Assam against Arunachal Pradesh finally came to a temporary halt after the agitators demanded the arrest of those involved in the killing of 11 CPI(ML) supporters, within a span of twenty days. The agitation that was regulated by various organisations in the state was temporarily withdrawn after holding a meeting with the district administration at Biswanath Chariali to make a settlement on the grave issue.
The protest commenced after eleven Assamese men were killed by miscreants from Arunachal Pradesh in Chouldhowa under Behali Reserve Forest on January 29, triggering a sense of fear and rage among the localites.
While submitting a memorandum to the Deputy Commissioner, Sonitpur and addressing it Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi, the organisations gave the Government a time limit of twenty days, placed forth four special demands- soliciting compensation for the victims' families, congenial deal of the pending inter-state border dispute along the Assam-Arunachal frontier areas, admonitory penalty to the accused involved in the killing and to provide adequate protection to those residing in the border areas.
The more-than-a-week-long economic blockade was initiated at Charidwar under Charidwar PS and at Borgang under Biwanath PS in Sonitpur district. Severely affecting several parts of the hill states, the blockade restricted the supply of essential goods and edible commodities leading to scarcity of food items and fuel.
A female elephant was today seriously injured when she got stuck in a deep muddy pit in Kaziranga National Park.
The elephant was grazing with other members of the herd near
the Boishamari camp in northern side of Kohora range when she got stuck
in the pit, Park officials said.
The animal fell down, broke her hip and could not make any further movement.
She was suffering from pain and the other members of the herd tried to pull her out, the officials said.
The elephant was crying in pain and patrolling park employees
informed veterinarians who reached the spot and injected pain killers
and medicines.
Veterinarians attending on her said her health condition was deteriorating and it was difficult to move her out of the pit.
Guwahati, Dec 6 : A girl abducted by an unidentified gunman Wednesday from Assam’s Sivsagar district was rescued from near the Assam-Nagaland border Thursday morning, police said.
“The class VIII girl was rescued today (Thursday) morning from Rangajan area along the Assam-Nagaland border. The girl was not hurt by the abductor and was handed over to her family by the police,” said Sivsagar Superintendent of Police Bijoy Kuligam.
A man Wednesday hijacked a school van with 11 children on board at a gun-point near Sivasagar district’s Nazira area. He escaped with a girl student in a tea garden along the Nagaland border.
Although 10 children along with the van-driver were rescued after the vehicle was recovered by the police, one student was missing till late Wednesday night.
“We have launched an operation in and around the area. Nagaland police were also helping us in search of miscreant who abandoned the girl and managed to escape. We hope to nab him in a day or two,” Kuligam said.
Accorduing to police, the man had an altercation with some youths at a tea stall near Nazira Tiniali and ran away after they chased him. He stopped the school van passing by the area and asked the driver to drive towards Simaluguri on the Assam-Nagaland border.
He later got down near the Santak tea estate and vanished in the garden with the girl.
The anti-talks faction of the United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) led by Paresh Baruah in an emailed statement to the media Wednesday denied their involvement in the matter and urged the youth to release the girl unharmed immediately.
A primary school teacher in Sonitpur district of Assam tied a noose around a student's neck to show the class how freedom fighters were hanged prompting the district administration to order an inquiry.
Sonitpur Deputy Commissioner Lalit Gogoi told The Indian Express that the district elementary education officer was asked to investigate and submit a report by Monday. "It is a strange case and we are taking some drastic action tomorrow," Gogoi said.
According to local reports, Dhiren Kakati, the teacher, tied a noose around a student of Class IV and almost pulled the knot when some children raised an alarm out of fear. Some even ran away. The incident occurred at Kongkalbhangi Prathamik Vidyalaya, about 30 kms west of Tezpur, the Sonitpur district town. The teacher was explaining Class IV students a lesson "Swadhin Bharat" when he did his "practical" demonstration on how the British hanged freedom fighters.
When parents went to school to find out, Kakati confirmed he had shown them "practically" how freedom fighters were hanged.
Two other teachers reportedly protested their colleague's action but found that he was drunk.
PULLOCK DUTTA
Jorhat, Nov 29 : Oil India Ltd will launch an initiative to train over 25,000 youths from Assam and other parts of the Northeast in the next five years to address unemployment and rural poverty in the region.
The company will sign memoranda of understandings with Construction India Development Council, Indian Institute of Entrepreneurship, Guwahati, and IF&FS Education and Technology Services Ltd, Guwahati, to train these youths for placements in construction companies, industrial sewing, housekeeping and hospitality industry, management, jewellery making and gemstone cutting and polishing.
A senior OIL official told The Telegraph today that the company’s long-term corporate social responsibility would be a big help in addressing the unemployment scenario in the region, especially in the rural areas.
“These youths will be selected from areas where the company has its operations and will be provided free training in various fields,” the official said.
The company, which has its field headquarters at Duliajan in Dibrugarh district, has been under tremendous pressure from various organisations, demanding jobs for local youths and development activities in the interior areas of Upper Assam.
The company had recently announced that it had suffered a loss of at least Rs 200 crore during the 2012-13 fiscal because of frequent agitation called by numerous organisations in three Upper Assam districts of Sivasagar, Dibrugarh and Tinsukia, where the company has oil and gas fields.
Baghjan, Berakuri, Makum, Halfjan and Digboi oil fields in Tinsukia are the most important hydrocarbon reserves of OIL, which is the main supplier of gas in the region.
The All-Assam Moran Students Union and the Assam Tea Tribes Students Associations have been up in arms against the company, accusing it of not carrying out any development activities in Upper Assam, where the company has several oil fields, and not recruiting local youths.
The company, however, denied such allegations and said it has been dedicated to carry out development activities.
The OIL official said the company has been spending huge amounts of money under its corporate social responsibility schemes to develop areas where it has its operations.
Last year, the company spent Rs 51.9 crore and more than 90 per cent of the funds were spent in the development of the Northeast.
The official said the company also plans to launch an initiative for entrepreneurship orientation programme (EOP) for the teachers/faculty, entrepreneurship awareness programme (EAP) for the colleges students and entrepreneurship awareness camp (EAC) for schoolchildren very soon.
OIL, in partnership with State Institute of Rural Development, has supported over 6,000 self-help groups under Project Rupantar that has benefited over 35,000 families in around 200 villages in Upper Assam.
The company has made an investment of around Rs 9 crore in this project, which was launched in 2004.
MUMBAI: As many as 40,000 cable operators in Assam await a final
decision on the issue of monthly payment for using electric poles to
lay cable wires.
It was in September that the Assam Power
Distribution Company Limited (APDCL) sent out its first circular, making
it mandatory for cable operators in the state to pay Rs 25 per
electric pole per month, with the deadline being 7 October.
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Significantly, while 80 per cent of the electric poles are used by cable operators, the remaining 20 per cent are used by telecom and broadband operators as well as the Assam police. Close to 31,000 electricity poles are being used by cable operators in Guwahati alone.
Says Ahmed: “When we received the notice, even APDCL authorities were not aware of the safety guidelines that needed to be followed. Also, we were not too happy with the amount we were asked to pay. So we requested for an extension in the deadline for complying with the notice,” and added that the GGCTOA proposed holding a meeting with the APDCL chairman to present its viewpoint.
Accordingly, a meeting was held on 22 October with 12 cable operators from across Assam, the APDCL chairman and other state heads.
“Through the meeting, we communicated our concern over paying the Rs 25 per pole per month to APDCL. Considering that APDCL will earn revenue from many other service providers who are using the electric poles, we requested them to lower the rate. We also proposed licensing for cable operators, which will allow only those cable operators with proper documents to be given licenses to lay down cables on electric poles,” Ahmed reveals.
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“The process is already in place in Meghalaya for the past six years. There was an agreement between the board and cable operators to use the pole. The agreement has been so worked out that on an average - every operator pays Rs 5-6 per pole per month. Moreover, they are also being provided electricity for Rs 50,” said Ahmed.
On APDCL’s part, a committee has been constituted to decide the rate. “Though we had fixed it at Rs 25 per pole per month, after the cable operators’ association applied for a revision in rate, we are now working on the final fee that they have to pay for using the electric pole,” expresses APDCL public relations officer Chandra Mudoi.
Asked about the criteria that are to be used to decide the final rate, Mudoi highlighted that the effort was on to "compare the electric pole fee from other states, like Meghalaya.”
But what led to the decision levying this fee on cable operators in the first place? “The cable wires strung over electric poles can cause electrical accidents. So we asked the cable operators to remove these, which they didn’t and so we asked them to pay rent. Also, other states take money from cable operators for using electric poles. And so it makes sense for us to charge them for using electric poles without any permission or even without safety measures,” elucidates Mudoi.
With the committee expected to announce the new fee in the next few weeks, Mudoi is quick to point out that: “If the operators do not agree to the new rate, we will ask them to remove the cable wires from the poles.”
Meanwhile, Ahmed says: “We have tried to explain to the committee that there are smaller operators whose area of business is smaller with lesser number of subscribers. And there are the bigger operators as well. The committee cannot have equal policies for both. Though currently we are in the status quo mode, we are using the electric poles like before and await the final decision.”
Will their pleas be heard or will Assam Power short circuit them?
A powerful Improvised Explosive Device (IED), weighing nearly seven kgs,
was recovered from the coach of a train at Kamakhya Station here today.
The explosive was found by patrolling Railway Police Force personnel in a
bag lying abandoned in Coach No: 11411 of Intercity Alipurduar Express
after it arrived this afternoon at the station.
The explosive, timed to explode at 3:55 PM, was found along with fused
wires wrapped in a polythene packet, and was kept in a tiffin box in the
bag. Senior RPF officials rushed to the spot and evacuated the
passengers in time.
Bomb disposal unit also rushed to the station and took the bomb in its custody and defused it.
In view of the incident, security has been tightened and patrolling
intensified in and around railway stations under the North East Frontier
Railways in Lower Assam.
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