October 9, 2018

Page 1

Nagaland Post www.nagalandpost.com

Vol XXVIII No. 304

Armed miscreants assault shopkeeper

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 9, 2018 Pages 12 ` 5.00

SC to hear PILs challenging Rafale deal

Barcelona’s winless run continues

Pompeo holds ‘frosty’ meetings with Chinese officials

national, Page 5

sports, Page 12

international, Page 9

Gov plea for adopting childcare homes

Staff Reporter

DIMAPUR, Oct 8 (NPN): In a suspected case of extortion, a non-Naga shopkeeper was reportedly attacked by two armed miscreants at Burma Camp area here on Monday afternoon. According to PRO Dimapur police, the incident took place at around 12:30 p.m. when two armed miscreants went to the shop and demanded money. One of them hit the owner on the forehead with the pistol, PRO said. Though no arrest has been made till the time of filing this report, PRO said a case was registered at East Police Station and investigations were on.

Muivah discharged from Delhi hospital

DIMAPUR, OCT 8 (NPN): NSCN (I-M) ato kilonser, Th. Muivah, who was admitted to a private hospital in New Delhi has now been discharged Monday. Sources informed Nagaland Post that Th. Muivah was discharged from the hospital and recovering. It may be recalled Muivah was hospitalised on October 1 after he complained of “uneasiness” was admitted to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of the hospital for monitoring. (Staff Reporter)

Night curfew along Assam border

DIMAPUR, OCT 8 (NPN): Additional District Magistrate (ADM) Sivasagar, Assam has reinforced night curfew in the 5 km belt in Assam side of Sivasagar district bordering Nagaland state with effect from August 23, 2018 for a period of 60 days from 6pm to 6am. ADM, Sivasagar said movement of any person/ group of persons/any vehicular traffics are prohibited during the period of night curfew. However, magistrate, security personnel of army/CRPF/Police and civil officials deployed on duty are exempted from the purview of the prohibitory order.

NLA notifies on vacancy of 26 Aonglenden AC

DIMAPUR, OCT 8 (NPN): Nagaland Legislative Assembly secretariat has notified that 26-Aonglenden (ST) Assembly Constituency seat has become vacant with effect from September 23, 2018 following the demise of Imtikumzuk, Member of the 13th NLA from 26 Aonglenden (ST) A/C on September 22, 2018.

This is it!

“I see Indian politics having two sides- big business and cow business.” K Y M C

4 die, 10 injured in Phek road mishap Correspondent

Governor Acharya and others along with children from Child Care Institutes of Kohima district at Raj Bhavan on Monday. (DIPR)

DIMAPUR, OCT 8 (NPN): Nagaland Governor, P.B. Acharya has appealed to empowered institutions like banks, cooperative societies and educational institutions to adopt childcare centres (CCs) in their area as part of their social responsibility. Speaking on the third day of outreach programme and on the occasion of his birthday celebrated at Raj Bhavan, Kohima on Monday, Acharya stressed that the empowered should share and care, even as he encouraged children to improve and empower themselves through education. Altogether 135 children from seven childcare institutions of Kohima district at-

tended the programme. The governor thanked the children for their heartfelt birthday wishes and their inspiring performances. Stating that the children were second to none, he called on caretakers and coordinators of all children homes in the State to identify the children’s talent and groom them in their fields of choice. He also appreciated and congratulated all NGOs in the State for strengthening the society through such works. Governor’s wife Kavita Acharya, who was present on the occasion, encouraged the children to dream big and make the society proud. Appealing to the children

NCSU urges PWD to spilt work orders for road construction DIMAPUR, OCT 8 (NPN): Nagaland Contractors’ & Suppliers’ Union (NCSU) has urged PWD to split work orders kilometrewise while awarding contracts for road construction by reviewing the present criteria in the notice inviting tender (NIT). In a representation to PWD (Road & Bridges) minister, NCSU president Pele Khezhie and general secretary John Kath said that while they appreciated chief minister Neiphiu Rio’s recent statement of floating open tenders in the coming weeks to build roads, they were concerned about the criteria laid down in NIT published in local dailies on October 2. They added that the criteria laid down in NIT by the department were harsh, complicated and not applicable to local Class-1

registered contractors to qualify for the works. NCSU pointed out that earlier PWD used to earlier split work orders kilometre-wise while awarding contracts for road construction so as to enable the local contractors to get work. However, the present criteria in the NIT had put hurdles and hardly one or two local contractors would qualify for the works, while rest of the registered Class-1 contractors, including those from ENPO areas, would not get any work as per the advertisements published by the department, the union pointed out. The union mentioned that work for four projects under SARDP Phase-1 were clubbed together into one package and allotted to M/s Mayatas & Gayatri in (Cont’d on p-7) 2014.

to love and respect their brothers and sisters and their house parents, she expressed the hope that the children would be nation builders in the days to come. Meanwhile, special presentations were made by Kohima Orphanage & Destitute Home, Open Shelter and Bright Morning Star, besides a dance performed by Kanili, finalist of Kohima Mega Dance Fiesta. Earlier, programme’s chairperson Lucy Konyak welcomed the children and the coordinators and caretakers to Raj Bhavan and hoped that the event would be memorable for everyone. She said the outreach programme was a personal

Rupee slumps to lifetime low MUMBAI, OCT 8 (PTI): The rupee slumped by 30 paise to finish at a fresh lifetime low of 74.06 against the US dollar Monday amid strengthening of the greenback and steady capital outflows. The rupee had opened lower by 14 paisa against Friday’s close of 73.76 in early trade as the US dollar strength against major global currencies weighed on the rupee sentiment. At the Interbank Foreign Exchange (Forex) market, the local currency opened lower at 73.89 a dollar against its previous closing of 73.76. It recovered to a high of 73.76, but failed to sustain the momentum and plunged to 74.10 and finally closed at 74.06, down by 30 paise, marking its fifth straight session of decline. On Friday, the domestic unit plummeted by 18 paise to end at 73.76.

initiation of the governor, to whom she also expressed her appreciation for giving such an opportunity to the children. Acharya also ceremonially cut a cake in presence of the children and staff of childcare institutions and Raj Bhavan, besides all those present on the occasion. The children were also entertained by games held at Raj Bhavan, which witnessed active participation by the governor too. Acharya also donated carom board, board games, skipping ropes and other stationeries to all childcare institutions. This was stated in a press release issued by PRO to the governor.

has over 200 million users in India and almost one million people are “testing” its payments service. India is one of the largest bases for the Facebook-owned company that has over 1.5 billion users globally. In its plea, the CASC said that to open a bank account, a customer needs to comply with KYC norms laid down by the RBI and various other formalities. “WhatsApp is a foreign company with no office or servers in India. To run Payments Service in India, WhatsApp is obligated to have its office and payments in India. Moreover, it is also required to have a Grievance Officer for users in India. Yet, it is being allowed to continue with its Payments and other services, without any check,” the plea claimed. It also alleged that the social media giant does not comply with tax and other

laws of India, but its reach was such that it is used by everyone, be it a commoner or even the judges of the apex court. The plea, filed through advocate Virag Gupta, said that every user has a number on WhatsApp but the messaging platform has no number through which its user can contact it for any grievance redressal. Pointing to various internet-based crimes, it claimed that the growth of such incidents was directly proportional to the growth of the user base of messaging services like WhatsApp. “Companies like Facebook Inc. and Google Inc. have appointed Grievance Officer for users in India, but WhatsApp has not. However, the Grievance Officer of Facebook sits in Ireland and the Grievance Officer of Google sits in USA and are thus rendered ineffective.

MUMBAI/DIMaPUR, OCT 8 (PTI/NPN): Despite the excise duty cut on fuel process, petrol and diesel prices have been on the rise again. In Mumbai, petrol and diesel prices have gone up by 21 paise per litre and 31 paise per litre. In the national capital Delhi, petrol and diesel prices stood at Rs 82.03 per litre Rs 73.82 per litre, respectively. Meanwhile, in Nagaland’s commercial hub, Dimapur diesel prices went up by 33 paise per litre and petrol by 26 paise per litre costing Rs. 69.34 and Rs. 77.69 respectively. In Kohima, petrol cost Rs. 79.80 per litre and diesel Rs.69.89. Before the excise duty cut, fuel prices had risen by the highest since midAugust as compared to any six-week hike since the daily price revision in June 2017. After the Centre cut excise duty by Rs 1.50 per litre and asked PSU oil firms to subsidise fuel by Re 1, the Nagaland government also announced a matching Rs 2.50 cut in fuel prices.

PWD (R&B) reacts to ACAUT allegation on road project DIMAPUR, OCT 8 (NPN): Reacting to ACAUT allegations with regard to Pokhungri-Avakhung road project, the PWD (R&B) Phek division termed as “technically without substance and uncalled for” the ACAUT demand for blacklisting M/s Viu Angami & Sons, the firm that was awarded the project. In a press release, PWD (R&B) Phek division executive engineer (EE) Abija Khing said the particular project has been one of the most challenging projects and for which department took up the challenge head on to make the road through with full cooperation and commitment of the contractor. Khing said the project was initially sanctioned for an amount of Rs.1042 lakh for 18.49km by NEC during 2005-06 and the work was allotted to M/S Nagaland Builders Pvt. Ltd. However, after encounter-

WhatsApp issue: SC asks Centre to respond to plea NEW DELHI, OCT 8 (AGENCIES): Supreme Court Monday asked the Centre to file its reply on a plea alleging that WhatsApp does not comply with the Indian laws, including the provision for appointing a grievance officer. A bench of Justices R F Nariman and Navin Sinha granted time to the Centre to file the reply after Additional Solicitor General Maninder Singh said that various issues have been raised in the petition and it needs time to file the response. The top court had issued a notice to the Centre and WhatsApp on a plea filed by an NGO, Centre for Accountability and Systemic Change (CASC), which also sought to restrain the platform from proceeding with its payment service unless it fully complies with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) provisions. WhatsApp reportedly

KOHIMA, OCT 8 (NPN): At least four persons died and ten others suffered injuries when a Bolero pickup in which they were travelling met with an accident in Phek district on Monday. The accident took place about four kilometers away from Leshemi village towards Kohima on Monday morning between 9:30 a.m. and 10 a.m. When contacted, one of the Leshemi villagers said the vehicle carrying the passengers from Leshemi village was on its way to carry out “bee hunting” for fund drive. On their way, the occupants of the vehicle picked some villagers including a woman, who were also on their way to the field. Though the exact cause of the accident could not be ascertained, it was suspected to be due to brake failure. The villager said two persons died on the spot while another two succumbed to injuries on the way to the hospital.

The ten injured persons have been brought to Kohima and admitted at Naga Hospital Authority Kohima (NHAK). Among the injured, two of were reportedly in serious condition and have been kept in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) while the rest were out of danger. Further details could not be ascertained till the time of filing this report. Meanwhile, despite several attempts, SDPO Pfutsero could not be reached. Leshemi villagers alleged that though Khezhakeno police station was barely 7-8 km away from Leshemi village, the police failed to rush to the spot immediately in order to take stock of the situation. The villagers said police personnel had reached the spot only in the evening after the injured persons were taken to Kohima and the bodies safely taken to the village. Meanwhile, the villagers have expressed gratitude to the passersby who helped in rescuing the injured and recovering the bodies.

Fuel prices resume upward climb

“In order to make Respondent No. 6 (WhatsApp) accountable, it must be directed to comply with Indian Law and appoint Grievance Officer, who shall be the person to address grievance of consumers, as well as coordinate with investigating agencies,” the petition said.

Govt seeks time

Central government on Monday informed the Supreme Court that it would take more time to file a detailed reply in the WhatsApp matter. The government’s reply came after an NGO had moved to the apex court alleging that WhatsApp was not implementing certain laws. It also claimed that the company is not fully cooperating with the Indian agencies to crack the menace of fake news leading to crimes including lynching and other incidents.

ACAUT demand irrational: PAPO

Crawler excavator working on Pukhungri-Avankhug road. [PWD (R&B)]

Taking exception to ACAUT’s demand for black listing a firm that was awarded the Phokhungri– Avakhung road project, Phokhungri Area Public Organisation (PAPO) Monday termed the demand as “uncalled for and irrational.” In a press release, PAPO president, Krutu Thurr, and general secretary, Ruzhuse Perry, expressed shock and dismay that ACAUT would demand blacklisting of the firm “without actually visiting the project site to verify the ground realities before initiating further actions.” The signatories said the particular project has been the only project of significant importance “for a remote and ignored area like (Cont’d on p-7) ours”.

ing rocky portions, EE said the contractor could not proceed further owing to the extremely difficult unforeseen working conditions for which the firm was ill-equipped to handle and ultimately had to surrender the work order. Thereafter, EE said the project remained dormant

for the next four years in spite of the best efforts of the department to continue with the works. Realizing the importance of the road, he said the state government through the active initiation of the then development commissioner, Alemtemshi Jamir

Meghalaya Cong legislator Clement Marak dies in Delhi

Lhisemia council resolves to monitor road works

Correspondent

N E W D E L H I / SHILLONG, OCT 8: Former Meghalaya Power minister and senior Congress legislator, Clement Marak, passed away in a private hospital in New Delhi on Monday evening after a prolonged battle with cancer. He was 58. “Marak passed away at Max Super-specialty Hospital at Shalimarbagh this evening,” Congress Spokesperson Zenith Sangma said. Despite battling with prostate cancer for years, Marak contested the assembly elections held in February and retained his Selsella constituency defeating NPP’s nominee, Ferlin C A Sangma. Several leaders including Meghalaya chief minister, Conrad Sangma, former CM Mukul Sangma expressed shock and conveyed heartfelt condolences.

(Cont’d on p-7)

DIMAPUR, OCT 8 (NPN): While appreciating the move to improve roads in all corners of Kohima by PWD (R&B), including almost all roads of Kohima village area, Lhisemia Council of Kohima village Monday said that it would closely monitor the quality of work. In a statement issued by its chairman Setuo Kelio and general secretary Ketouvizo Tseikha, the council said it would closely monitor the work, especially on Billy Graham Road, Bayavu Circular Road, Tanquist Road and any other road that fell under its jurisdiction, to ensure quality work, so that they lasted for a longer period. The duo said that Lhisemia Council and Kruoliezou Council, during a joint inspection of the repairing work on Billy Graham Road on July 28,

found that blacktopping on the road was laid in 2017. But due to inferior quality of workmanship and nonprovision of proper drainage, the road was damaged within a very short period, unable to withstand even a single monsoon like many other roads in the State Capital, they alleged. Under the circumstances, the council said it resolved to closely monitor any upcoming developmental work under its jurisdiction to ensure quality control by contractors. While assuring its fullest cooperation and support in every possible way in the road improvement endeavour, Lhisemia Council reiterated its stand of not allowing substandard work under any circumstances on the works taken up within its khel jurisdiction. (Cont’d on p-7) K Y M C


Turn static files into dynamic content formats.

Create a flipbook
Issuu converts static files into: digital portfolios, online yearbooks, online catalogs, digital photo albums and more. Sign up and create your flipbook.