The Northeast Notebook

Meghalaya shuts toll gates
TRUCKERS carrying essential commodities to the hill state of Meghayala now have some reason to be happy. The state government last week closed down as many as 13 toll gates on National Highway 44, thus reducing the entry tax on trucks.

This will also bring some relief to the common man in Meghalaya who now won8217;t have to pay more for commodities that come from other states. Meghalaya plans to close down the remaining 39 toll gates.

Dimapur to have an urban haat
DIMAPUR, the gateway to Nagaland, will soon have a new marketing outlet for villagers. This 8216;urban haat8217; will help artisans and also farmers whose agricultural and horticultural produce has so far found no buyers due to the absence of a marketing infrastructure.

Last week, the Nagaland Handloom and Handicraft Development Corporation, sponsors of the haat,announced plans to take the works of the tribal artisans to various states in the country.

Guwahati goes mobile
GUWAHATI may have found a place in the BSNL mobile phone network pretty late but things are moving quite fast after the first 1000 connections were released last month.

By April-end, 1,200 more connections will be released for Guwahati while by December, the whole of Assam will have as many as 15,000 customers talking on CellOne.

Nagaland University ties up with IIMC
STUDENTS in Nagaland will soon have a full time diploma course in developmental journalism. The Nagaland University last week tied up with the Delhi-based Indian Institute of Mass Communication IIMC to launch a one year journalism course from this academic year beginning July. More encouraging, perhaps, is the fact that the University will charge only half the course fee IIMC charges in Delhi.