Cachar forces put on alert

Silchar, April 3: The Cachar administration has put security forces on an alert following intelligence reports about possible infiltration of militants into the district from Bangladesh. Cachar deputy commissioner Sunanda Sengupta said the intelligence sources did not identify the rebel organisation but she surmised that it could be members of Ulfa. Intelligence sources have confirmed frequent movement of Ulfa rebels into the district from Bangladesh. Various militant outfits, including the NSCN (I-M), have used the Indo-Bangladesh border along Cachar to return to the country after completing their training in Bangladesh. The deputy commissioner has also clamped a night curfew, from 9 pm to 8 am, within a one-km radius of the border.

 Bangla may give Indians multiple entry visa

Silchar, April 2: Bangladesh is contemplating introducing multiple-entry visas for Indians who visit the neighbouring country frequently. Deputy high commissioner of Bangladesh in Calcutta, Touhid Hussain, who was in Karimganj town yesterday, said Dhaka was also considering opening a consulate in an important town of the region to facilitate expansion of trade between the two countries. Hussain, who was accompanied by his wife Jahanara Siddique, an official in the Bangladesh deputy high commission in Calcutta, interacted with representatives of two trade associations of Karimganj. The officials of Assam Exporters and Importers’ Association and Karimganj Exporters and Importers’ Association are said to have explained to Hussain the shortcomings in infrastructure, which impede transportation of merchandise to Bangladesh. The officials demanded modern weighing machines at the Bangladesh checkposts, repair of dilapidated roads and bridges along the route from the checkposts to Sylhet and a consulate in south Assam to issue visas to the people of the Northeast intending to visit Bangladesh. The deputy high commissioner said the Bangladesh government would try to improve the infrastructure in the border areas to help export articles, particularly the low-ash Meghalaya coal, gain an easy passage into the neighbouring country. Products worth nearly Rs 40 crore are exported to Bangladesh from Karimganj district annually. Hussain denied India’s repeated allegation that militants of the Northeast were being trained in the neighbouring country. He, however, alleged that several rebel groups from Bangladesh were being provided shelter in India. The deputy high commissioner also hinted that Bangladesh would moot a proposal to India to initiate joint measures to curb the rising incidence of crimes along the borders.

 Cachar school under scanner

Silchar, March 31: A mass copying racket and other examination malpractices have come to light at Earl Higher Secondary School in the subdivisional headquarters town of Lakhipur in Cachar district. School principal Manimohan Singh has been accused of being the kingpin responsible for instances of corruption in the institution, once a higher secondary school of repute. A mass copying racket by a section of “outsider” candidates was detected at the higher secondary examination centre (first part, science stream). Following an inspection at the centre, the education department here found that the same batch of 175 candidates was allowed to sit for the examination, even though not a single one of them had the mandatory migration certificate. The outsider candidates, who were allowed to appear at the HS (first part) examination at this school, were mostly from Imphal and Jiribam in Manipur. Each of them had paid a hefty sum in cash, ranging from Rs 2,000 to Rs 3,000 as the examination fee. On scrutiny, it was found that the candidates were students of an unrecognised school — a kind of teaching shop — which recently sprang up at Rongpur on the eastern fringe of this town. The Assam Higher Secondary Council has decided to rush a high-powered team of senior officials to the district for conducting a probe at the examination centre. The decision was taken when Higher Secondary Teachers and Office Staff Association general secretary Noorul Islam kicked up a row yesterday at a meeting of the council in Guwahati. He levelled allegations regarding such glaring irregularities at the examination centre. Cachar assistant inspector of schools Fulendra Kalita visited the school today. Reports have been trickling in about such mass cheating since March 18, when the examination began. A section of invigilators there has been charged with conniving with guilty students.