SMS Misuse to be Penalised by Mizoram Election Commission

Aizawl, Oct 28 : Five days before the first election to the Aizawl Municipal Council, Mizoram State Election Commission today warned that misuse of short message service (SMS) would invite penalties.

In an official statement, the State Election Commission said the misuse would be penalised under provisions of the IPC, Representation of the People Act, 1951, Mizoram Municipalities (Election of Councillors) Rules, 2007 and the Conduct of Election Rules, 1961.

"It has been brought to the notice of the Commission that certain objectionable SMS’s are being transmitted by some persons, violating the provisions of election laws and the model code of conduct."

Any violation of the election laws and the model code of conduct should be reported to the police and the police would take action in accordance with the law", the statement said.

Expenses on bulk SMS’s sent by service providers would be included in the election expenditure of the candidates, the Commission said, adding that transmission of bulk text messages of political nature for a period of 48 hours before the end of the election process of the civic polls was strictly prohibited.

Due to plethora of diktats imposed on the political parties and the candidates by the Mizoram People's Forum (MPF), the Presbyterian Church-sponsored election watchdog, including prohibition of door-to-door canvassing, political parties and the candidates for the civil polls turned to sending of SMS’s to woo the voters.

Mizoram to Take Back Refugees From Tripura

Agartala, Oct 28 : Following continuous agitation and memorandum to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, the Centre has directed the Mizoram government to take back Reang refugees, lodged at makeshift camps in North Tripura for over 13 years.

Officials here today said Mizoram Home minister R Lalzirliana announced to begin the repatriation process from November 18 and IN the beginning 50 families would be taken back to Kolalian village in Mamit district.

There was ambiguity over the number of refugees amping in Tripura though the refugee leaders claimed that as many as 35000 Reangs were residing in the camps at present.

However, the Lalthanhawala government gave no assurance over how many such families would be repatriated, refugee leaders alleged.

According to report, repatriated families would be provided temporary housing besides cash dole of Rs 38,000 for construction of new houses and initially they would be rehabilitated in 46 villages of Mamit, Lunglei and Kolashib districts.

Air India's Special Schemes For Northeast India

Mumbai, Oct 28 : The national carrier, Air India has come up with three super saver schemes for North East, Port Blair and Agatti to fulfill its mission of promoting travel and tourism to far flung and lesser visited destinations.

''The schemes launched on October 23, 2010 shall be valid for sale till March 31, 2011 and the validity of the tickets for travel shall be 3 months from the date of issue, a release issued here today said.

''First scheme is of Northeast super savers with four coupon tickets for sale and travel within the states of Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Tripura, Manipur, Mizoram and Nagaland at a total cost of Rs 10716/- all-inclusive,''the release added.

Another scheme is of Islanders' super savers for Port Blair. A special four coupon ticket is for sale in Andaman and Nicobar islands with travel originating from Port Blair on the first coupon.
Subsequent coupons can be used for travel between Port Blair and Chennai/Kolkata. The total cost of the ticket will be Rs 26000/-all inclusive, the release further added.

Accordibng to release, the last scheme is for Islanders' super savers for Agatti. A special four coupon ticket at a total all inclusive cost of Rs 23,200 is for sale in Lakshwadeep and travel against first coupon from Agatti to Chennai/Bangalore/Kochi.

Subsequent coupons can be used for travel between Agatti and Chennai/Bangalore/Kochi.

Lajong Invites Sikkim Players For Manchester Qualifiers

Lajong FC coach Pradhyum Reddy gives soccer tips to players of Gangtok Boys Club at Paljor Stadium in Gangtok on Wednesday. Picture by Prabin Khaling

Gangtok, Oct 28 : Shillong Lajong FC will invite selected boys from Sikkim for trials to set up an Under-15 side from the Northeast keeping an eye on the India leg of the Manchester United Premier Cup.

MUPC is organised annually by English Premier League giant Manchester United where selected countries, including India, participate. The Lajong Under-15 side had represented India in the last edition of the qualifying tournament. The players were mostly from Meghalaya at that time.

According to Lajong FC coach Pradhyum Reddy, only I-League teams are eligible to field their Under-15 teams for the MUPC qualifiers and therefore, young players from the northeastern states including Sikkim do not get an opportunity to play in the India leg and eventually in the MUPC.

Although the Shillong outfit has been relegated from the I-League, the coach believes that his side will be allowed to play the qualifiers for the MUPC by virtue of being the defending champions of the India leg tournament. “We want to give a chance to players from Sikkim and other northeastern states. We will go all over the region to scout for talents. These kids are the future of Indian football. Even if we are not allowed to participate in the MUPC qualifiers, we will take our players to various youth tournaments of other countries,” Reddy said.

The Lajong coach said they had written to the Gangtok Boys Club to send few of their talented players for trials to Shillong in December.

“We want to set up an Under-15 side comprising players from all the eight northeastern states for playing in the MUPC India qualifying round,” Reddy said here today.

He attended an almost two-hour-long coaching camp for the Under-14 and Under-16 players of the Gangtok club at Paljor Stadium here this morning.

The Shillong club is in Gangtok to participate in the All India Governor’s Gold Cup Football Tournament. It drubbed Sikkim Police 4-0 in yesterday’s match and entered the quarter-final round.

The Lajong coach and a few of his key players, including striker Anil Gurung, goalkeeper Gumpe Rime, Nigerian imports Kelechi Okoye and Michael Ochei Emeka, passed on technical tips and demonstrated their skills over ball control to the 45 young players of the Gangtok club at the stadium.

“They were good with sound technical skills. We concentrate on giving the technical tips. Everything we did today was with the ball. They have potentials,” Reddy later said commenting on the Sikkim players’ ability.

The Lajong club has also persuaded the Sikkim Football Association to give free passes to the Gangtok club players to watch the matches.

“It was wonderful to learn from the Lajong coach and players. We learnt new techniques like how to control, trap and dribble the ball. It was very helpful,” said Lakpa Sherpa, 16.

The Gangtok club had started a football academy two years ago and the players practised daily at the Tathangchen grounds under the watchful eyes of former players of Sikkim.

“We give our boys free training daily. We run the academy on our own and also on contributions from individual donors. The team has shown great progress and in a couple of years, these boys will be ready to play in tournaments,” said club general secretary Nima Thendup Bhutia, who had been part of the Calcutta giants East Bengal and Mohun Bagan.

Air India’s Failure is Bhutan's Flying Hope

By Rahul Karmakar

Guwahati, Oct 28 : Bhutan’s government-owned airline has adopted a loss-making international circuit that Air India abandoned eight years ago. Suicidal soar? No, insists Drukair or Royal Bhutan Airlines, not with the global dream riding on a local need – to provide the Himalayan country’s eastern half a faster way to reach capital Thimphu.

AI had in April 2002 launched the once-a-week Guwahati-Bangkok flight with a “viable” target of 60 per cent seat occupancy. Poor demand put paid to the service within 15 months.

“We studied the pros and cons for two years before deciding to launch our Paro-Guwahati-Bangkok flight from October 31,” said Drukair’s CEO Tandin Jamso here Wednesday.

Paro, at an elevation of 7300 ft, is Bhutan’s only airport 58 km from Thimphu.

Jamso hopes the Rs 1.6 billion Drukair, with plans to fly to Hong Kong and Singapore, can sustain its “global via Guwahati” operation unlike AI.

One reason is Drukair’s inter-regional focus with Kathmandu, Dhaka and major Indian metropolises on the radar. Another – more important to Bhutan’s internal affairs – is eastern Bhutan’s communication bottlenecks.

Eastern Bhutan has six ‘dzongkhags’ or districts. Some 500,000 people across these districts have to travel 550-700 km via Assam and West Bengal to reach Thimphu. Drukair is banking on a quarter of the population to fly between Guwahati and Paro.

“It would be faster and more cost-effective for people of eastern Bhutan to travel 90 km from Samdrup Jongkhar (major town bordering Assam) to Guwahati and take the 50-minute flight to Paro than driving on the long and tiresome roads,” said Dasho Tsering Wangda, Bhutan’s Kolkata-stationed consul general.

The 19-year-old Drukair also hopes to cash in on the increasing trend of Indian, European and American tourists packaging Bhutan with the Northeast. “Our flight to and from Bagdogra (West Bengal) is doing well for two years now. This (Guwahati) should too,” said Jamso.

Rio to BRO: Restore NH-39 Soon

Kohima, Oct 28 : Nagaland Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio today instructed the 15th Border Road Task Force (BRTF) under the BRO to restore the National Highway-39 at the earliest, which remained blocked over three months due to landslides at the KMC Dumping Site.

Mr Rio, along with by Nagaland Assembly Speaker Kiyanelie Peseyie, Nagaland Additional Chief Secretary and Development Commissioner Alemtemshi Jamir, Commissioner and Secretary of Roads and Bridges Temjen Toy, Additional Chief Engineer of Roads and Bridges V Kiehie, visited the landslide-hit highway.

He expressed his displeasure at the delay in restoring the lifeline between Nagaland and Manipur.

''It is a serious matter. The BRTF, under the Border Roads Organisation (BRO), has failed to restore it even after over three months,'' Mr Rio said and asked the Commanding Officer of the BRTF to send all the relevant documents for restoration to his office for an immediate examination.

Mr Rio also assured all possible aids to the BRTF from the state government and said that, if possible, he want the road to be restored by tomorrow itself.

The Chief Minister and the officials took a stock of the damage triggered by landslides and provided some suggestions like construction of resistance walls.

The Commanding Officer of the 15 BRTF Col Maladi told newspersons at the site that entire three-and-half-km of the area was under the grip of landslide due to water seepage owing to paddy cultivation above the area.

''It is not immediately possible to restore the road as landslides were triggered by heavy to medium rainfall. The earth is still not yet stable. I hope that a portion of the NH-39 will be opened for light vehicles in the next ten days,'' Mr Maladi added.

Assam Launches Campaign in Cholera Infested Tea Gardens

Guwahati, Oct 28 : The Assam Government has launched massive awareness campaign in the Cholera infested tea garden localities in Sonitpur district.

The disease has spread to several tea gardens in Biswanath Sub-Division, claiming at least 20 lives till this morning. Over 140 affected tea gardens workers were admitted to different hospitals in the district.

The worst-affected tea gardens located along the Assam-Arunachal border included Pratapgarh, Sakomoto, Nilpur, Majuligarh and Sadharu. According to a top Health official of the district, the tea garden workers are worst affected as they are not aware of proper health, hygiene and sanitation.

It is said that the sweets sold during Durga Puja festivals in the tea gardens were one of the root causes for the epidemic.

The illicit country liquor consumed by the tea garden workers also exaggerated the problem. Top Health department officials besides the district authorities are camping in the affected areas and supervising treatment of affected patients.

10,000 Sign Up For Game of Zombie Tag in Facebook

Facebook turns zombie game into monster happening

By Alan Gomez

Whitney Metzger coordinated Survive Norfolk, a community-wide zombie-themed game of tag, which will be held Friday, October 22.

Whitney Metzger thought it would be fun to hold a zombie-themed game of tag in her Norfolk, Va., neighborhood of Ghent. She hung fliers, invited friends and hoped for maybe 100 people.

Now the mayor of Norfolk says the number could be more like 10,000.

Metzger's game exploded through Facebook. By Thursday afternoon, 7,200 people had signed up for tonight's event, and 6,000 more said they might attend.

Metzger was blindsided by the rush, forcing the 26-year-old office administrator to raise money for a permit, off-duty police and insurance.

"I'm not sure we could stop it now if we tried," Mayor Paul Fraim said. "So we're just trying to go with the flow and make the best of it."

The game is fashioned after a form of tag called Humans vs. Zombies that has become popular on college campuses. Those designated undead flesh-eaters chase the humans as they try to reach checkpoints and a finish line.

Metzger wanted to organize something fun for her friends and opted for zombie tag for a simple reason: "Zombies are awesome."

She posted the game on Facebook on Oct. 6 and was soon forced to navigate city planning and security. She agreed to limit the event to 1,500 people, although Fraim wonders whether it's possible to stop more people from showing up.

The permit cost $110, the one-day insurance policy cost $332, and the nine off-duty police officers required to monitor the event cost $1,660. Metzger was still waiting Thursday for a final price tag for closing off three city blocks that will serve as the starting point.

She started asking for $5 donations online. Community members and local businesses chipped in, hosting fundraisers and providing signs. She has collected more than $3,800 and said any extra money will be donated to three local charities.

Some people are nervous about the idea of thousands of teens and young adults sprinting through their neighborhood of century-old homes.

Alisa Landrum, a high school French teacher who lives a couple of blocks from the starting point, is concerned about the area's elderly being terrified by marauding hordes of zombies.

"I just don't think you can bring that many people into a small neighborhood without someone getting hurt and something getting damaged," said Landrum, 57.

Others are looking forward to the spectacle.

David Schinderle, 42, a physician, said Ghent has always been an "eccentric, funky, fun neighborhood" that is home to many artists and musicians. He said his house might provide a front-row seat for the event and he might make a night of watching the game.

Even Fraim, whose children went to school with Metzger, is making sure he gets a good view: "I've got a reservation at a restaurant right on the main drag, just to watch it all go by."

source : The Virginian-Pilot