Mizoram blogs against 'racist' policeman, gets seniors to act

On Sunday, Vanlalruat Kima, 32, from Mizoram was hanging out with his north-eastern friends.

The group was chatting near a roadside stall in Malabar Hill when a police van slowed down and an officer allegedly passed racist comments at them.

“I had great respect for the Mumbai police and never expected them to behave like this. The cop used words such as Nepalese and Kathmandu and yelled for no reason,” said Kima.
Appalled, he posted a blog titled ‘Dear Mumbai Police, can I buy you a cup of tea?’. He has invited policemen for a cup of tea to discuss the issue.
Joint commissioner of police Sadanand Date responded to the blog, assuring Kima of action against the officer. The Mumbai police have begun an inquiry.
“We will record Kima’s statement and based on what exactly happened, take appropriate action,” said Date. “We will also inquire into what made the cop pass such comments.”
Date added that he is open to the idea of a meeting to clarify Kima’s stand and create awareness but if the cop is found guilty, he will be booked as per law. Kima, a mobile phone game developer, has been living in Mumbai for the past five years. He has been blogging a lot about the problems faced by North-East people in other parts of the country.
“I was deeply hurt by the incident and decided to vent it out on my blog,” he said.
“The need of the hour is not punishment or violent protests but education. People should know about our identity and that we also come from respectable families and have jobs. People confuse us with Nepalese and ridicule us all the time.”
Kima said he was in touch with the Mumbai police and has requested to have a friendly meeting with senior police officials as well as the cop who insulted them.
“I want to meet that cop over a cup of tea and explain our background and identity. I want to tell him how we struggle in a city like this. I don’t want any punishment for him,” said Kima. The inquiry is being conducted by DCP (zone II) Nisar Tamboli.
“This is a sensitive issue and we will take action to ensure such incidents do not happen,” said Tamboli.

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Mizoram budget increases MLAs development fund

Aizawl: The Mizoram government proposed increasing the MLA Local Area Development Scheme fund by Rs 5 lakh to Rs 30 lakh and an outlay of Rs 370 crore under its flagship new land use policy in the budget presented in the Assembly on Friday.

State Finance Minister H Liansailova, while presenting the Rs 5,245.34-crore budget, said that though the Planning Commission was yet to allocate the state annual plan outlay for 2013-14, he presented a regular budget without vote-on- account in the final year of the current ministry's tenure.

The budget comprised of non-plan provision of Rs 2,945.11 crore, plan allocation of Rs 2,300 crore and centrally sponsored scheme (CCS) of Rs 22.86 lakh.

During his 80-minute budget speech, Liansailova said he kept the plan size the same as the current fiscal's plan allocation at Rs 2,300 crore though it was expected that the Planning Commission would increase the plan allocation by at least 10 percent.

He said the revenue surplus was estimated at Rs 381.81 crore and the fiscal deficit at Rs 73.65 crore.

Requirements for salary under non-plan, plan and others (CSS, North East Area and Non-lapsable central pool of resources) were Rs 1,902.11 crore which was 35.24 percent of the estimated total expenditure, he said, adding requirements for pension charges and interest payments were estimated at Rs 250.17 crore and Rs 248.48 crore respectively.

The budget proposed to increase the MLA Local Area Development Scheme from Rs 25 lakh to Rs 30 lakh per MLA with the total allocation for the scheme at Rs 12 crore.

Liansailova also said Rs 600 lakh was allocated for Lunglei High Power Committee IN south Mizoram's Lunglei district, while Rs 500 lakh was allocated for the District Planning Committees of five districts and another Rs 300 lakh for the Sinlung Hill Development Council.

The Mizoram finance minister said the New Land Use Policy (NLUP), the flagship prgramme of the ruling Congress in the state, remained the top priority of the government and the budget earmarked an outlay of Rs 370 crore for the next fiscal.

"Out of the target of 1.2 lakh families, a total 96,139 families have been covered during the first two years and the remaining 29,862 families were being covered during the current financial year," he said.

The Planning Commission has been requested to enhance the number of beneficiaries by 15,000 due to increase in the number of eligible families.

Liansailova also presented the supplementary demand for the current fiscal amounting to Rs 967.08 crore and the supplementary demand for regularisation of excess expenditure during 2008-2009 and 2009-10.

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Complaint boxes put in all colleges in Mizoram

Aizawl, Mar 13 : In its initiative to check various problems faced by the student fraternity, National Students Union of India (NSUI), Mizoram unit is to place a 'complaint box' each in all the colleges in Mizoram for addressing the problems faced by the students.

This was announced today by National Students' Union of India (NSUI), Mizoram State unit in a press conference held at Aizawl Press Club at 1:30 pm.

The students are expected to write a complain in connection with the lack of teachers, non-availability of books in library, laboratory, equipments etc., no proper sports and cultural facilities and functionary of the college management.

Meanwhile, the NSUI today said that they are launching 2013-2014 membership drive in all the colleges, NITs and the University.

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Mizoram warns tit-for-tat action to kidnappers

As the kidnappers have reportedly set a deadline of March 9 for payment of ransom, Mizoram home minister warned that the state police will give a tit-for-tat retaliation if the kidnappers refuse to release their hostages.
Appealing to the kidnappers, suspected to be National Liberation Front of Tripura, to release the five Mizo labourers safely, R Lalzirliana said, " The Mizoram police will go tit for tat, an eye for an eye if the kidnappers ignore our repeated pleas. "
The Home Minister was addressing a passing-out parade of 120 constables at Thenzawl police training centre today when he made the remarks.
Meanwhile, sources said the kidnappers warned the families of their hostages to pay up the demanded ransom Rs 50 lakh latest by March 9.
The five labourers working in a road construction within Dampa sanctuary in western Mizoram near Tripura border were abducted by armed miscreants suspected to be NLFT cadres on February 19. No outfit had claimed responsibility for the abduction though.

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Mizoram: Arms, ammunition recovered

Guwahati, Mar 11 : Security forces Thursday evening recovered huge cache of arms and ammunition including 23 AK-47 rifles and apprehended three persons in Mizoram, officials said on Friday.

Acting on a tip off, a joint team of the Assam Rifles and Special Narcotics police, Aizawl recovered the arms and ammunition from Zero Kilometer Stone four on the Lengpui Airport Road under Sairang police station.

Security forces recovered 23 AK-47 rifles, one Combat Browning Automatic Rifle (CBAR), one Singapore made 5.56 Automatic Light Machine Gun, 86 rounds of AK-47 ammunition, 67 rounds of CBAR, 24 rounds of Automatic Light Machine Gun and 30 magazines which were hidden in an abandoned electric transformer.

“Based on intelligence report, troops recovered the arms and ammunition were hidden in an abandoned electric transformer in the steel electric switch box, which was locked,” an official of Assam Rifles said.

Security forces also apprehended three persons linked with an outfit group.

The nabbed persons were identified as Robi Chakma, Soboz Chakma and Moni Tripura, who were hailed from North Tripura.

In other hand, Guwahati city police apprehended four persons with arms and ammunition in Guwahati on Friday.

“The nabbed persons had planned to kidnap a state government official,” a top official of Assam police said.

Police also recovered one Toyota Innova car, one 9 mm pistol with magazine and five rounds of live ammunition in possession of them.

The nabbed persons were identified as Gagan Boro, Mithual Basumotary, Sanjib Swargiary and Bijoy Ramchiary.

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Brus pray for safe return of kidnapped

AIZAWL, March 8  – Bru displaced people of Mizoram in the camps in North Tripura are observing fasting and prayers for the safe return of the five Forest department workers kidnapped for ransom from Dampa Wildlife Reserve on February 19.

A press statement from the camp in Kanchanpur Sub-Division said that the refugees prayed for the safe release of five people abducted by suspected NLFT militants. The fear is that this incident may harm the prospects of return of the displaced persons to their homes in Mizoram.

Meanwhile, all Christian denominations held mass prayer in their own respective local churches while the Hindus also prayed at the Shiv Mandir and Ram Mandir.

The five persons were kidnapped by a cell of the National Liberation Front of Tripura. According to local reports they have contacted their families for ransom of about Rs 50 lakh.

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Mizoram youth goes missing

A 28-year-old youth from Mizoram has gone missing from the City under mysterious circumstances.
Lalhmachhuana, who was staying with two friends at a room at Mariyappanapalya in Amrutahalli police station limits, went out for work on February 15, but did not return.

He was in catering business with his two friends. He is suffering from mental illness and had gone missing once in the past. He cannot speak either English or Hindi. The Amrutahalli police have registered a missing case.

Anyone with information about the  youth may call: 9900766001/ 99164884- 16/9448136598.

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Mizoram CM visits Cosmos Bank

The growing clout of the Cosmos Bank was noticeable when the Chief Minister of Mizoram Mr Lalthanhawla visited its premises recently in Pune.
He was felicitated by Cosmos Bank Chairman-In-Charge- Krishnakumar Goyal and the senior Director- Dr Mukund Abhyankar.
The Chief Executive Officer of the Cosmos Bank- Vikrant Ponkshe, Joint Managing Director- Suhas Gokhale were also present on the occasion.
Chief Minister of Mizoram Mr.Lalthanhawla and Mrs.Lalthanhawla also visited Data Center- Cosmos Bank Head Office, Pune.
Cosmos Bank has shown the fastest growth rate in India’s Co-operative banking sector with a business set up of more than Rs.22,000 crores. It has presence across 6 states and has 119 branches and extension counters.

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