Page 1 September 05_Normal Pages 9/4/2021 10:50 PM Page 1 4 Expect to have real, inclusive govt in Afghanistan: Blinken US presses Pak to fight terror WORLD groups as Afghan crisis spirals 9 Independence, freedom of expression of citizens crucial in democracy: Shah PM Modi may visit the US NATION in late Sept www.thehillstimes.in Voice of the hills people Vol .No. XXII Issue No. 229 Regd. NGG-709 RNI-ASSENG/2000/12862T HE DIPHU, KARBI H ANGLONG,ILLS SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 5,T 2021 IMES PAGES 12 PRICE ` 8 Accord signed to give peace a chance in KA KAAC to become Territorial Council ` 1,000 cr development package announced KEY HIGHLIGHTS OF THE ACCORD HT Bureau aCouncil to be renamed as Karbi Anglong Autonomous NEW DELHI/GUWAHATI, Territorial Council. Sept 4: Paving a way for a long aMembers to be increased to not more than 50 of whom lasting peace in Assam particularly 6 members (including 2 women members) would be nom- in Karbi Anglong, a tripartite inated by the Governor. agreement among six insurgent a groups of the state, the Centre and 34 seats to be reserved for STs, 10 seats under the state government was signed Open category. on Saturday to end years of vio- a Govt of Assam shall create a post of DIG, Police lence in the Karbi Anglong region. exclusively for the Hill districts. Union Home minister Amit Shah, a Executive functions of KAAC shall be exercised who was present on the occasion, through principal secretary. Post of principal secretary said the accord will bring lasting shall be encadred. Officers of KAAC shall exercise admin- peace and all round development istrative as well as financial powers commensurate with in Karbi Anglong. their ranks. The insurgent groups which a signed the peace accord are: Peo- Deputy commissioners and superintendents of Police ple's Democratic Council of Karbi will be posted with consultation of the CEM, KAAC. Longri (PDCK), Karbi Longri a The Govt. of India may refer to UPSC the demand for ex- North Cachar Hills Liberation emption of ST (Hill) candidates from KAAC area from taking Front (KLNLF), United People’s MIL in the civil services exams conducted by UPSC. Liberation Army (UPLA), Karbi a Govt. of Assam may consider the proposal of KAAC People’s Liberation Tigers (KPLT- to notify Karbi as the official language of KAAC. Ceasefire), Karbi People's Liberation a Govt. of India, Govt. of Assam may take necessary Tigers (KPLT -R) and Karbi People’s measures to rehabilitate the cadres of armed groups. Meas- Liberation Tigers (KPLT -M). ures shall include: lump sum ex-gratia payment; funding eco- About 1,000 militants belonging As per the agreement, Karbi An- (KATC) which will have 34 seats DIG, Police exclusively for the Hill of KAAC to notify Karbi as the of- to these groups have surrendered glong Autonomous Council to be reserved for STs, 10 seats districts, according to the accord. ficial language of KAAC. Another nomic activities through existing Govt. schemes; along with their arms and have (KAAC), will be renamed as Karbi under Open category. The Assam According to pact, Assam gov- significant highlight of the accord trade/vocational training; Govt. jobs as per eligibility. joined the mainstream. Autonomous Territorial Council government shall create a post of ernment may consider the proposal is that the (CONTD. ON PAGE-9) (CONTD. ON PAGE-9) Pandemic hits donations to Jeuti Eye Bank hard Govt to take steps to make By: Smita Bhattacharyya cornea had been collected and 1,598 corneal trans- plants had been enabled, resulting in restoring the JORHAT, Sept 4: A WHO report has stated that eye sight of those whose corneas had been dam- there has been a 53 per cent drop in eye donations aged. it successful pact: CM globally following the Covid-19 pandemic. Senapati said that in India about 30 lakh people AK Senapati, secretary of Jeuti Eye Bank, the were blind due to corneal damage but due to lack Sonowal, Himanta, Tuliram hail accord only eye bank in the North East established by an of awareness only a very few could get their eye- HT Bureau stream to maintain peace in long group which is also a his- NGO and housed in Chandraprabha Eye Hospital sight restored through donated corneas which were GUWAHATI, Sept 4: Union Assam. toric moment." here since 2002, said that Jeuti had also been af- scarce. minister and former Assam Chief minister Himanta He ensured that the Assam fected and no awareness regarding eye donations "People in the region do not know that the cornea chief minister Sarbananda Biswa Sarma said it was a his- government will take each and could be created due to restrictions. should be donated within 6 to 8 hours of death. Sonowal, who was present on toric day as the militants of every possible step to make it a Senapati said that during the ongoing Eye Dona- Moreover, the face does not get disfigured as is the occasion of the signing of these six insurgent groups will successful agreement, expect- tion Fortnight (August 25 to September 8), usually often feared an artificial eye is inserted and resem- the Karbi accord, appreciated now join mainstream and work ing "the accord will help in observed in the country in the last week of August "Therefore there is need for much more aware- bles a real eye," he said. the efforts of the Prime Minister for the development of Karbi great support to the state". to September first week, Jeuti Eye Bank created ness for more corneas to be donated and the gap to Senapati further said that the eye can be pledged and the Home minister in bring- Anglong. CEM of Karbi Anglong Au- mass awareness by undertaking rallies with school be bridged. Therefore we are mulling to go online to Jeuti Eye Bank by any person even before death ing peace in Assam and the Sarma said there was a his- tonomous Council Tuliram and college students carrying placards but due to and also creating a network of young people under and a pledge card would be provided which re- Northeast. torical moment in 2019 when Ronghang stated that he is fully the pandemic for two years this had not been possi- a key person to carry this mission forward in upper quired to be kept with the person at all times. The Sonowal congratulated Bodoland Accord was signed. happy with this accord and he ble. Assam districts upto Nagaon," he said. other option was for the relatives to donate the Union Home minister calling "Now lower Assam has been thanked Central government He added that in India on an average 8 lakh peo- Jeuti Eye Bank is doing a yeoman’s job in eradi- cornea. the agreement a ‘historic’ move turned into a peaceful area. and state government for taking ple died every year but only about 9,000 people do- cation of blindness. The Jeuti Eye Bank is a sister organisation of by the Centre, wishing the Now we are going to sign an this wise step for the overall de- nated corneas. AK Senapati said that till date 799 pairs of Jeuti, a registered society. Karbi groups to adopt main- agreement with the Karbi Ang- velopment of the state. Centre reviews Covid- 19 Vaccination with NE HT Bureau NEW DELHI, Sept 4: Union Health secretary Rajesh Bhushan chaired a high-level review meet- ing on Saturday with the North East and Hill states and UTs: Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Jammu & Kashmir, Ladakh, Ma- nipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Na- galand, Sikkim, Tripura and Uttarakhand. At the outset, the Health secre- tary underlined that the states and UTs need to quickly saturate the first dose coverage among the 18+ population category and now must also focus on the 60+ age group as the coverage of both the doses in this category is unsatis- factory in Assam, Manipur, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland and Meghalaya. The vulnerability of this age group to Covid-19 makes this exercise important. The attention of the states was brought to the fact that the admin- istration of the first dose has pro- gressively outpaced the administration of second dose. It was suggested that states earmark doses, earmark days and target the completion of the exercise for these beneficiaries. The details of state/UT-wise balance stock of 0.5 ml syringes, vaccination coverage among spe- cial groups (CONTD. ON PAGE-9) Clash between transporters and DTO officials HT Correspondent BOKAJAN, Sept 4: An alterca- tion occurred between trans- porters and DTO officials at Bokajan regarding the transport of goods from Bokajan Railway Station on Friday evening. The DTO along with Bokajan Sub-Division administration of- ficials stopped the transporters from loading cement, rice, scrap, etc., at Bokajan Railway Station as the road connecting the Railway Station to NH 39 PWD in Bokajan allowed the trucks to be transported on up to Janasanyog/D/5468/21 the weight of 12 tons as per the PWD. Whereas the truckers said they are allowed to carry more than 12 tons of load. The matter currently remains unresolved. Page 2 September 5_Normal Pages 9/4/2021 8:55 AM Page 1 2 THE HILLS TIMES BUSINESS SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 5, 2021 Supertech to file review Durex celebrates World Sexual Health Day in NE petition against SC order HT Bureau GUWAHATI, Sept 4: Reckitt led ‘Twin towers built as per law,’ says Supertech chairman R K Arora ‘The Birds and Bees Talk’ pro- NEW DELHI, Sept 4 (PTI): Realty firm Su- "We would like to reassure all our customers, gram, celebrated World Sexual pertech Ltd on Saturday said it will file a review bankers, vendors and other stake-holders that Health Day in the six states of petition against the Supreme Court order to de- we will deliver all our projects in the scheduled North-East including Sikkim, molish the company's twin 40-storey towers in time frame," Arora said.