iMizoram : i Mizoram

Sunday, July 6, 2014

Mizoram Medical College to be operational by Aug 15

AIZAWL, July 7 : The Mizoram State Medical College will come to full operation by August next year with intake capacity of 50 seats for First batch. Subject to the improvement of the medical college, the intake capacity is to be increased from 50 seats to 100 seats as allowed by Government of India.

In this connection, the Board of Management for Establishment of Mizoram State Medical College headed by Mizoram Chief Minister Lal Thanhawla today held meeting regarding crucial matters for the proposed setting up of State Medical College and approved Mizoram Institute of Medical Education and Research (MIMER) to be the name of the State Medical College as has been suggested by Advisory Committee.

It is planned that MIMER will get started with the existing 300 beds in the State Referral Hospital, Falkawn, from which later it shall be upgradated to 500 beds.

Friday, July 4, 2014

Presbyterian Church asks local churches to hold mass prayer

Mizoram Synod of the Presbyterian Church of India has asked all the local churches to organise mass prayer on Sunday night on the issue of prohibition.

The powerful church which was against replacement of the existing prohibition law, in a statement said, the Presbyterian church prohibited its members from indulging in alcohol for a hundred years and the church's stance remained the same.

The church statement came in the wake of the proposed relaxation of prohibition by the Mizoram government by introducing a new bill in the coming assembly session commencing on July eight.

The state government intended to introduce the Mizoram Liquor (Prohibition and Control) Bill, 2014 in the state legislature on July 10 replacing the Mizoram Liquor Total Prohibition Act, 1995, in force in the state since February 20, 1997.

The church also wanted continuation of the dry law in Mizoram to ensure public peace and tranquility, the statement said.

The Presbyterian Church's Synod Executive Committee (SEC) on July two had sought the help of major NGOs to take up the matter by protesting against the proposed relaxation.

However, the church did not go ahead with its proposal to take out a procession as the NGOs expressed their decision not to support the church in organising the protest procession.

Thursday, July 3, 2014

GSI survey centre in Mizoram

Silchar, July 4 : The foundation of a field training centre of the Geological Survey of India (GSI) was laid at Durtlang village near Aizawl by the state’s industries minister H. Rohluna late last week.

The centre will be the first specialised body in the Northeast and the twelfth in the country, aimed at tackling landslides and enhancing the knowledge of the region’s geography.

Speaking to The Telegraph from Aizawl today, Rohluna expressed hope that the centre, set up under the Union ministry of mines, would fill in the knowledge gap about Mizoram’s geography in particular and the Northeast in general.

It will also provide information about landslides in the Northeast.

The director-general of the GSI, S.K. Wadhawan, who was present at the foundation-laying ceremony of this centre, along with three other deputy director-generals of the institute, said it would be a “world class training centre”.

It would be equipped with state of the art instruments and gadgets to help in the dissemination of knowledge about landslides and earthquakes, which will be transferred to experts, geologists and students of geography and geology.

Rohluna hoped that the institute would be able to complete the construction soon without a hitch.

Natural disasters like landslides and earthquakes occur regularly in the state every year.

The industries minister made it clear that the local residents and the people of the Northeast would be helped considerably.

The institute has conducted training since 2010 for the administrative and engineering department officials of both the Centre and the state government regarding the threat of periodic landslides and earthquakes in the state.

The training will now be conducted at the centre at Durtlang.

Lightning leaves 2 dead in Mizoram

Lightning struck a 58-year-old woman and her 20-year-old son to death in Hmunnghak village in Aizawl district today.

Sources said Lalthari and her son Samuel Vanlalpeka were hit by the lightning as they were hiding from heavy rains in a jhum hut around 1600 hrs.

The woman was said to be holding a knife as was trying to tear apart an old mosquitoes net which was also held by her son on the other end.

Their neighbour Zatluanga and his four sons were staying in the jhum hut when the lighting struck. Zatluanga was slightly hit by the lightning on his leg, the sources said.

3 arrested with arms, ammunition near Mizoram-Myanmar border

A huge cache of arms and ammunition was seized and three suspected Myanmarese nationals were arrested on a highway between Aizawl and Champhai town along Mizoram-Myanmar border, police said today.

Four AK-47 assault rifles, two AK-56 rifles, three G-3 rifles, one light machine gun, one Mark-4 rifle, 1,195 rounds of ammunition and 21 spare magazines were seized last night, a police official said.

Three persons, suspected to be Myanmarese nationals who smuggled the arms from Myanmar via the international border were arrested, he said.

The police suspected that the weapons were to be handed over to a Bangladesh-based Chakma insurgent group called the United People's Democratic Front, a breakaway group of the Shanti Bahini.

The joint operation was conducted by the Mizoram Police and 14 battalion Assam Rifles.

Tuesday, July 1, 2014

Heroin seized in Aizawl

Aizawl
1 Jul 2014

Mizoram excise and narcotics department officials today seized 15 grams of pure heroin in Aizawl, commissioner of the department L Hmunsanga said. Lallianthanga, also known as Pumthanga, of Khawmawi in Myanmar, who allegedly smuggled the contraband concealed in soap cases through Mizoram-Myanmar border river Tiau, was arrested while trying to sell the dreaded drugs. Hmunsanga said that the accused was booked under relevant sections of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985 and remanded to judicial custody at the Central Jail near Aizawl today.

Mizoram governor takes additional charge of Tripura

Agartala: Mizoram Governor Vakkom B. Purushothaman on Monday took additional charge as the governor of Tripura.

Purushothaman was sworn-in by Tripura High Court Chief Justice Deepak Gupta at a simple ceremony at Raj Bhavan here.

Purushothaman, an 86-year-old veteran Congress leader who served in his native state Kerala as a minister and the assembly speaker and was also elected to the Lok Sabha twice, was appointed Mizoram governor by then president Pratibha Patil in August 2011.

He replaced Devanand Konwar, who was transferred to Tripura from Bihar March 25 last year and completed his tenure Saturday.

Tripura Chief Minister Manik Sarkar, his cabinet colleagues, leaders of various political parties and army and police officials were present during the ceremony.