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Gogoi visits Kokrajhar as Assam reels under ethnic violence

Kokrajhar: Scattered violence continued for the sixth day today in riot-torn lower Assam districts where one person was killed in police firing while four persons were injured in an attack by a group of persons in Baksa district.

Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi arrived in Kokrajhar to review the situation in the riot-affected areas where tension prevailed.

Kokrajhar district Executive Magistrate Bipul Saikia was injured in an attack by unidentified assailants and his vehicle damaged while he was on his way to visit a relief camp in Bhotgaon Kanchipara area of the district.

In Dhubri district, one person was killed last night when the police fired to quell a mob, taking the death toll to 41, IGP (Law and Order) LR Bishnoi said.

Four persons were seriously injured when some persons opened fired at Mussolpur in Baksa district, neighbouring Chirang district.

Stray incidents of violence were reported from Kokrajhar district as well as Chirang, Dhubri and Baksa during the night.

The Army and the paramilitary forces were deployed in the area.

The Chief Minister, who arrived in Kokrajhar at 11.30 AM in a helicopter from Guwahati, is scheduled to review the situation in a meeting with senior police and civil administration officials at the Circuit House.

He is also scheduled to meet people displaced from their homes due to the conflict.

Indefinite curfew and shoot-at-sight orders were in force in worst-affected Kokrajhar district, while night curfew was on in Chirang and Dhubri district.

Nearly two lakh people are taking shelter in 150 relief camps while 11 persons are missing.

Train services, which came to a complete halt for two days, have resumed with three special trains — one each to New Delhi, Kolkata and Bangalore — being run from Guwahati to take passengers who were stranded at different places along the route.

“Railway services have resumed fully. The Rajdhani Express, The North East Express and the Kamrup Express left Guwahati on time this morning,” an official of the North East Frontier Railway said.

Assam Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said that additional doctors, nurses, mobile medical units and 15 ambulances along with medicine have been sent today to the violence-hit districts.

“We will ensure complete health care to all the affected and suffering people. We are quickly arranging for more doctors for the three severely affected districts of Kokrajhar, Dhubri and Chirang,” he said.

Already a team of doctors from Guwahati Medical College was working in Kokrajhar and these are only additional deployment in view of more relief camps, he said.

“We will further deploy two male public health workers and two nurses in each of the relief camps,” he said. — PTI

Infant left to die over Rs 200 in Jalandhar hospital

Jalandhar: In a shocking incident that has put humanity to shame, a newborn girl child died at a government hospital in Jalandhar after doctors removed her from the incubator because her parents could not pay Rs 200.

The girl child was born on July 20. Being a premature baby, she needed incubator support. However, civil hospital authorities asked her father to arrange money - to pay the electricity charges to run incubator – to continue keeping the baby in incubator.

A painter by profession, Sanjiv Kumar, could not arrange Rs 200 demanded by the hospital. The poor man asked many people to lend him money but no one came forward to help.

Despite Kumar’s inability to pay Rs 200, hospital authorities, showing no empathy, removed the incubator leading to the death of the baby on Wednesday night. 

Amitabh to carry Olympic torch in London

London: Amitabh Bachchan will carry the London Olympic torch today, a day before the opening ceremony of the Games.

The actor will be part of the relay team which will carry the torch.

Bachchan, 69, tweeted that he would be carrying the Torch in London tomorrow at 10.30AM.

OK !! HERE IT IS : Have been invited by London Olympic Organizing Committee to carry the torch in the relay tomorrow ...,” Bachchan tweeted.

“Honored to be asked to carry the Olympic Torch in London at Southwark around 10:30 AM !! A proud moment for me and country,” he added.

Bachchan is not the only celebrity to lend the Indian touch to the mega gaming event. Indian music maestro A R Rahman has teamed up with his ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ director Danny Boyle to compose a track for the inaugural event.

"Clarifying the report on the Olympics track I am composing... It's a track in Punjabi celebrating the Indian influence in the UK. It's a part of a medley in the Olympics opening ceremony, according to Danny Boyle's creative wishes!," Rahman had written on his Facebook page.

Hang me if I am guilty: Modi on Gujarat riots

Ahmedabad: In his first ever interview to an Urdu daily, Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi has talked about the post-Godhra riots and said that he be hanged if found guilty.

"Hang me if I am guilty (Main gunehgaar hoon toh mujhe phaansi par latkaa do)," Modi said in an interview conducted by, editor of Nai Duniya.

Former Rajya Sabha member Siddiqui is also a well known Samajwadi Party leader. The cover-page candid interview runs into six pages and covers issues like state of Muslims in Gujarat, post-Godhra riots and other sensitive issues.

Siddiqui said he decided to interview the Gujarat Chief Minister after a meeting in Mumbai with known Modi critics Mahesh Bhatt and Salim Khan. The duo suggested that dialogue can be a way to resolve issue, following which Siddiqui sent a request to Modi’s office.

Trouble in SP; Azam Khan offers to resign

Lucknow: Samajwadi Party leader Azam Khan has offered to resign from the Uttar Pradesh Cabinet berth after he was removed as the minister in-charge of Meerut district.

In a letter to Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav, Khan said if he was not capable of being the minister in-charge of Meerut district, he was willing to step down as a Cabinet minister, sources said.

He has also asked the Chief Minister to remove him from the responsibilities of minister-in charge for Ghaziabad and Muzzafarnagar too, they said.

According to sources, Panchayati Raj Minister Balram Yadav has been given the charge of Meerut district and Khan was given the responsibility for Pilibhit district. 

Khan, UP Urban Development and Minorities Welfare Minister, was the minister in-charge of Ghaziabad, Muzzafarnagar and Meerut and responsible for development projects in these districts.