70 houses damaged by hailstorm in Mizoram Newmai News Network Aizawl | April 2 At least 70 houses were damaged in Mizoram bordering Assam when a squall accompanied by hailstorm lashed the northern part of the state on Sunday morning, sources said. The reports said that villagers of Vairengte and Saiphai are experiencing hard times due to the calamity. The hailstorm also caused damages in Chiahpui village under Ngopa sub-division in Champhai district of Mizoram. Sources said that the roof of a Sunday School hall belonging to EFCI church in Vairengte was blown off by a strong wind, while one person got injured in the incident. No other casualty was reported. Communication and power supply were disrupted in the area as a large number of poles were uprooted and many trees were also uprooted by the storm, the sources said. Meanwhile, reports said the administration is taking up all necessary measures to address the plight of the affected people. M'laya to amend Excise rules in line with SC order SHILLONG, APRIL 2 (PTI): Meghalaya Excise Minister Zenith Sangma today said the state government will amend the existing excise rules in line with the Supreme Court order. "There is a need to amend the excise rules in line with the latest Supreme Court order which exempted Meghalaya and Sikkim due to the unique topography," Zenith told reporters. "We will do it as soon as possible in consultation with the Law department and the government," he said. On Friday, the Supreme Court had exempted Sikkim and Meghalaya from the 500-metre cap on liquor vends alongside highways. School for marginalised families of Tripura's Reang tribes AGARTALA, APRIL 2 (PTI): A school has been established for the marginalised families of Reang tribes of Tripura to "recognise, nurtureand build"their talent on lines of the ancient Indian Gurukul philosophy. "On the lines of the ancient Indian Gurukul philosophy, the school inKanchanpur sub-division of the state aims to identify and nurture thenatural inclinationof children," a press release issued by the Great India Talent Foundation, which has set up the school, said. "Each individual is different with varied strengths and needs. The school will recognise this important aspect and trainthe children accordingly," it said. Tripura Governor Tathagata Roy also sent his good wishes for the initiative. A total of 350children have been admitted into the school at present. "The school will support the educationof children of theReang tribes of Tripura, who live in close proximity to the institution. It will also provide textbooks, notebooks, uniform and mid-day meals to children free of cost," the release added. School teacher trampled to death by wild elephants Tura, April 2 (PTI): A school teacher was trampled to death by rampaging wild elephants in West Garo Hills district, police said today.The teacher identified as Taher Ali Sheikh was trampled to death when the car he was travelling with along with other passengers came across a herd of wild elephants at remote Gaptuli village last evening, the police said. While the other passengers made their way to safety after the elephants attacked the vehicle, the teacher, however, was not so lucky and was crushed along with the car he was travelling in, a senior district police officer said. Residents living beside the area had reported earlier of herd chasing vehicles in the past few weeks mostly in the evening time as it was identified as one of elephant s corridor. Sheikh is a Hindi teacher in Kukurmara Higher Secondary School. Mobile telecom services to all uncovered villages in Arunachal Itanagar, April 2 (PTI): Mobile telecom service to all the uncovered villages in Arunachal Pradesh will be provided under the Comprehensive Telecom Development Plan (CTDP) during 2017-18. The decision was taken during a meeting held here yesterday between officials of BSNL NE-II circle and Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Communications, Manoj Sinha, a BSNL release said here today. Around 1893 mobile Base Tran-receiver Stations (BTSs) are expected to cover all the uncovered villages. The highways will also get covered under the CTDP project. In order to strengthen the telecom network of inter-district connectivity and to promote Digital India Vision, 1510 km of Optical Fibre Cable (OFC) would be laid in this year for which work has recently started. MPLS (Multi Protocol Label Switching) has also recently been made operational at Itanagar with two 10 Gbps connectivity. It would provide stable telecom backbone and leased line circuits for expediting the e-governance projects of state and central governments, the release said. In order to provide stable backbone network and also high speed data network for 3G and broadband services, the BSNL has recently commissioned 40 Gbps transmission media on PGCIL network at Itanagar.