Church destoryed by squall in Mizoram
Aizawl, March 31 (PTI): A church in central Mizoram's Serchhip district was completely destroyed by a pre-monsoon squall which hit early this morning. None was, however, killed or injured in the incident that occured at Khawbel village. State Disaster Management and Rehabilitation department officials today said the squall also damaged some private houses in the village. Power lines and telecommunication lines were destroyed in some places which led to frequent power supply disruptions even in the capital town.
PREPAK claims responsibility for Thoubal attack on AR
Imphal, March 31 (IANS): Insurgent group People's Revolutionary Party of Kangleipak (PREPAK) on Thursday claimed responsibility for an attack at an Assam Rifles post near the Manipur capital on Wednesday night. A press release issued by 'Captain' Achouba, leader of the outfit, on Thursday said they attacked the post of the Assam Rifles 40 Battalion located at Lilong in Thoubal district about 15 km away from the state capital, Imphal. Assam Rifles sources told IANS that there was no casualty in the bomb blast at 8.40 p.m. on Wednesday. Though the security personnel fired at the insurgents, they managed to escape. Achouba said a "special force unit of the Red Army", the military wing of PREPAK, had carried out the attack as part of the ongoing "war" to reclaim "independence". Such attacks will continue, he said.
112 crorepati candidates for 1st phase poll in Assam
New Delhi, March 31 (IANS): Nearly half the candidates contesting the first phase of the Assam assembly elections have not declared their income tax details, an NGO, Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), said here on Thursday. Forty seven percent or 255 of 539 candidates have not declared their income tax details, while 19 of these candidates have assets worth more than Rs.50 lakhs, said ADR. In all, 112 contesting candidates have their assets in crores of rupees. It said top of the chart is Jyoti Subba an Independent, standing from Sootea constituency of Tezpur district, who has assets worth Rs.288.1 crore. Naren Sonwal of Asom Gana Parishad, fighting polls from Naharkatia seat of Dibrugarh district, has assets worth Rs.33.9 crore. Rahul Roy of Congress ranks third with net worth of Rs.25 crore. He is contesting from Algapur assembly segment of Hailakandi district, said ADR in a statement. It said 36 of the 65 candidates fielded by Congress have assets worth crores of rupees, in comparison to 23 out of 54 Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidates and seven of 11 AGP candidates. ADR said 26 Independents have declared assets worth more than Rs.1 crore. Two candidates, Jiten Tanti of CPI(ML)(L)from Teok constituency and Diganta Phukan, an Independent from Mariani constituency, have declared zero assets in their self sworn affidavits submitted to the Election Commission of India.
