Strike by employees paralyses Mizoram Govt
The functioning of the Mizoram Government came to a standstill with four groups of employees taking mass casual leave. Most government offices here, including the Secretariat, were closed or empty as thousands of government employees, under the umbrella of the Mizoram Government Group A, B, C and D Employees Coordination Committee, have taken mass casual leave for three days. Employees ranging from departmental heads to peons have not been attending duty. Engineers and doctors and Central civil service officials, however, attended office while State police officials came to work without wearing uniforms. The employees are demanding parity of pay and status with their engineer counterparts. As decided by the Coordination Committee, teachers attended work to ensure that students did not suffer due to the strike. The State Government has not made any statement on the protest. Many organisations have issued statements urging the State Government to concede the demands of the employees if this could be done or to invoke the Maintenance of Essential Services Act and punish the striking employees to ease the suffering of the people.

Ex-IPS and wife sent to jail
A local court has sentenced three persons including a former IPS officer to four-and-a-half years imprisonment for forging the signature of Sikkim Chief Minister Pawan Kumar Chamling. District and Session Judge S W Lepcha held former IPS officer Anil Khanna, his wife Rajni Hilton and Asim Chettri guilty of forging the signature of Chief Minister as endorsements on applications for contract works and favours from government departments. The three were taken to the State jail at Rongyek after the judgement was pronounced and their bail plea rejected. Asim Chettri, a co-accused in the case along with Khanna and his wife, is the man from whose house rubber stamps and other vital evidences had been found, the SP added.

Portfolios re-allocated in Manipur
Manipur Chief Minister O Ibobi Singh re-allocated portfolios to Ministers while retaining Home, Finance and other departments not allocated to others. An official release said Ibobi Singh would also look after the Department of Personnel and Urban Development departments. Th. Debendra Singh would look after Revenue, Forest and Environment, and Law and Legislative Affairs. P Tonsing was allocated Power, Horticulture and Soil Conservation and Science and Technology while T N Haokip was given charge of Public Health Engineering and Information and Tourism department. Y Erabot Singh received the portfolio of Commerce and Industries and Food and Civil Supply; N Loken Singh– Agriculture, Minor Irrigation and Social Welfare. L Jayantakumar Singh – Education, Transport and Sericulture ; K Ranjit Singh – Works, and Printing and Stationery ;Alaudin Khan – Rural Development, Fisheries and Minority Department. Ph Parijat Singh (the lone CPI Cabinet Minister) – Health and Family Welfare and Labour and Employment.

Centre may set up Brahmaputra Valley Authority
Establishment of a Brahmaputra Valley Authority is under active consideration of the Centre. This was revealed to the Dibrugarh MP, Sarbananda Sonowal by the Union minister of State for Water Resources, Saifuddin Soz. The Union minister said he would be visiting Assam shortly for a first hand appraisal of the flood and erosion situation. Mr. Sonowal informed that he raised the issue of floods and erosion by both Barak and Brahmaputra and their tributaries in the State, and that the situation needs to be tackled as a national issue. Sonowal said he demanded long term flood and erosion protection measures throughout Assam as centrally sponsored national projects, and that this should be the prime responsibility of the proposed Brahmaputra Valley Authority. He made a special mention of the erosion problem at Rohmaria, Jakhalabandha and Palashbari, saying these needed immediate Central intervention for corrective measures

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