Land of Jewels (Sana Leibak)

Police seize truckload of chicks smuggled from Assam: Imphal, Feb 3: With a ban imposed on the import of poultry and poultry products from outside the state in view of the bird flu outbreak in West Bengal, the Patsoi police seized altogether 6120 chicks which were being brought in from Assam along NH-53 on Sunday afternoon. According to reports, the chicks were meant to be delivered to one Huidrom Ramcharan, who runs a chicken meat shop at Kwakeithel bazar. The chicks, packed in 120 baskets, were brought in from Assam, via Jiribam on a Tata DI 207 truck registration no. MN01K-5783 and it was caught by the Patsoi police at around 12:35 pm at Keithelmanbi, on NH-53. The entire load of chicks, along with the vehicle was later handed over by the police to the veterinary department. It may be mentioned, as a precautionary measure against the possibility of spread of bird flu to the state, the state chief secretary, recently issued a notification asking all district DCs as well as all police...

Public hearing to be reconducted at site: Imphal, Dec 14: Public hearing on the Tipaimukh Hydro-Electricity Power Project for which the foundation stone was laid a year back in 2006 will be reconducted at the project site. According to an official source the public hearing on the environment aspect of the project follows a directive from the Union Ministry of Home Affairs. The ministry also asked the Manipur government to conduct the public hearing as early as possible at the project site. Mention may be made that many civil organizations based in the state like the Action Committee Against the Tipaimukh Project, ACTIP have been objecting to the construction of the project in Manipur. They are also blaming the authorities for conducting the public hearing at other places and not at the site where the dam is to be constructed. Protesting that a public hearing in Tamenglong district in November 2006 was not conducted in a fair manner, project opposers had also burnt down a government off...