5 guards of Durgapur sub-jail suspended for 8 August Jailbreak

Kolkata, Durgapur, 10 August : After the great escape, it's time for the crackdown. Five guards of Durgapur sub-jail, whose negligence led to Saturday's jailbreak by a six-member gang, have been suspended while a sub-jailer has been served a showcause notice.
State jails minister Biswanath Chowdhury said suspension notices have been issued against the guards and departmental proceedings will follow in two months. The sub-jailer has been asked to reply to the showcause by Tuesday. Calling it a 'shameful incident', he said, "I have no words to criticise it."
The minister said directives will be sent to all prisons to ensure that the staff follow the rules and do not indulge in acts like accepting food and drinks from visitors. "In an age of globalisation, greed is growing among people. However, I have no words to criticise what happened on Saturday." န Photo : Niraj Modi

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2 arrested for theft of rare monkeys from Alipore zoo
Kolkata, 10 August : Two security guards at the Alipur zoo were arrested Monday for their alleged involvement in the stealing of Brazilian monkey Sunday.
“We’ve arrested two security guards, Ashok Patra of Hooghly district and Shyam Sundar Ghosh of South 24 Parganas’ Sonarpur area, who were on duty that night to take care of the enclosure,” Kolkata Police deputy commissioner (port division) Asit Pal said.
Eight rare Brazilian monkeys were found mysteriously stolen from Kolkata’s famous Alipore Zoological Garden Sunday morning.

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န Singur, 10 August :

(L) A farmer carries a bundle of jute in Singur Today.

(R) Farmers take a rest after the initial processing of jute sticks in Singur in Hooghly district. India has raised the minimum support price for raw jute to 1,375 rupees per 100 kg for the financial year that began 1 April, from last year's 1,250 rupees, Home Affairs Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram said recently.

န Photos : Reuters

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North East insurgent groups call for "I-Day" boycott

Agartala, 10 August : Five secessionist militants outfits based in North East India banned 'United Liberation Front of Asom', 'Kamatapur Liberation Organisation', 'Manipur People’s Liberation Front', 'National Democratic Front of Bodoland' and 'Tripura Peoples Democratic Front' - have called upon the people of the North East India to boycott and prevent celebration, in any manner, of India’s Independence Day in the region on 15 August as a mark of solidarity against ‘Indian colonial occupation' the Twitter sources said.

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'Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan's teachers on indefinite fast

Port Blair, 10 August : Altogether 147 teachers of Andaman and Nicobar islands, working under central 'Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan' were on an indefinite relay fast from 30 July protesting against the move by local authorities to prepare a new panel of SS Contract Teachers (SSCT).
The agitators, on relay fast in front of the Education Department here alleged despite having been appointed by the Administration of the Union Territory under the 'Sarva Siksha' (education for all) scheme in the year 2003 and working continuously till date, the administration was giving little thought about continuation of their service.
Besides the call for continuation of service till the end of the project, other demands included granting of age relaxation at the time of absorption or regularisation of service and first preference to the SSCT in future recruitment in the Education department, Ajit Mondal, one of the teachers said.

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9 "All Tripura Tiger Force" militants surrender to BSF

Agartala, 10 August : Nine insurgents of the outlawed All Tripura Tiger Force (ATTF) have surrendered to security forces and deposited arms and ammunition. Seven ATTF militants, including three women, surrendered to BSF personnel here, sources said.
They deposited one AK-47 rifle, 70 live cartridges and two walkie-talkie. In a separate incident, a husband-wife duo, both ATTF ultras, surrendered to Assam Rifles here, the sources said. All the surrendered ultras had been handed over to the police. During interrogation, it was revealed that all of them had fled from their base camp at Satchhari in Bangladesh's Sylhet district, police said.
Earlier on 4 August, eight insurgents of the same outfit had surrendered to BSF security forces at Teliamura, about 45 km from here.

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5 killed and 15 others injured in Comilla's road crash
UNB, Comilla, 10 August : Five people were killed and 15 others injured in a head-on collision between two buses on Dhaka-Chittagong Highway in Chouddagram upazila of the district this afternoon.
The accident occurred around 12:30pm(BDST) near Birchandranagar Madrassah when the Chouddagram-bound bus from Miabazar collided with the Dhaka-bound bus coming from Khagrachhari, police said quoting witnesses. Five people died on the spot. The injured were rushed to the Chouddagram Upazila Health Complex and Comilla Medical College Hospital.

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GJM leadership not to attend Tuesday's tripartite talk

PTI, Siliguri, 10 August : Gorkha Janamukti Morcha(GJM), spearheading the agitation for a separate statehood, today said its top leadership will not participate in the third round of tripartite talks being held in New Delhi tomorrow.
GJM General Secretary Roshan Giri told Bengal Newz that he and party President Bimal Gurung would not attend the talks involving the Centre and the West Bengal government as the parleys are being held at an "administrative level and not at a political level as demanded by the outfit". "Any decision on statehood could be taken only at the political level," he said. A 12-member GJM delegation led by coordinator Amar Lama has already reached Delhi and is carrying "relevant papers" to establish the demand for 'Gorkhaland' as per provisions of the Constitution, Giri said.
Meanwhile, two organisations, Amra Bangali and Adivasi Vikash Parishad, have given calls for a 12-hour shutdown tomorrow in Siliguri and adjoining areas and Dooars region of neighbouring Jalpaiguri district.

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Chennai swine flu death creates concern in Andaman

PTI, Port Blair, 10 August : The death of a four-year-old boy due to swine flu at a Chennai hospital today is causing anxiety to residents of Andaman islands since Chennai is the nearest mainland.
Passengers in large numbers, particularly businessmen, sail by ship between the Andamans, which has a population of about 40,000 Tamil-origin people, and Chennai. Parents were also worried over their wards studying in Chennai, reports said. No swine flu case has been reported in the islands so far.
In-charge of Swine Flu Control Unit of the Directorate of Health Services, Dr Abhijeet Roy, asked islanders not to visit swine-flu affected areas in the mainland. "We will issue a circular, based on the guidelines drawn up by the Centre, which will be sent to all Primary Health Centres and schools in the islands," he said. န Photo : AP

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Bangladesh hopes 4 repatriation of Myanmar refugee

Xinhua, Dhaka, 10 August : Bangladesh’s foreign minister has expressed hope the Myanmar refugees living in the country’s Cox’s Bazar area would be able to return to their homes soon. Foreign Minister Dipu Moni made the remarks during a meeting with the regional representative of the UN High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR), Raymond Hall, here Sunday.
According to the UNHCR, over 250,000 Rohingya refugees, Myanmar’s ethnic Muslims, have been living in Bangladesh since 1990s. Although many of them have been repatriated to Myanmar, some 28,000 registered Rohingya refugees are still living at the camps in the southeastern Cox’s Bazar area bordering Myanmar, the foreign ministry said in a statement citing the minister.
The Bangladeshi leader said around 400,000 unregistered refugees are living outside the camps. န Photo : UNHCR

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