Agartala, Jan 9 - With Bangladesh continuing its crackdown against militants active in northeast India, 10 more terrorists, including four women, have fled from that country and surrendered to Indian authorities this week, officials said here Saturday.

Four All Tripura Tiger Force (ATTF) guerrillas fled from their camps in Khagrachari in Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) in southeast Bangladesh and surrendered to the Border Security Force (BSF) in west Tripura Friday, the officials said.

The four surrendered tribal guerrillas include publicity secretary of the banned ATTF Raj Kumar Debbarma, 38, and ATTF supremo Ranjit Debbarma's private secretary Biswajit Debbarma, 36.

Agartala, Jan 8 : The Mizoram government will begin a fresh initiative to take back the 35,000 Reang tribal refugees from Tripura, refugee leaders said Friday after meeting the Mizoram chief minister in Tripura.

Reang tribal refugees have been sheltered in six north Tripura camps since 1997 after they fled Mizoram following ethnic clashes with the majority Mizos.

Agartala, Jan 6 : A two-day business summit on north-east India will begin in Kolkata Friday to attract investment to the region, Tripura Industry and Commerce Minister Jitendra Choudhury said here Wednesday.

The ministry of development of north-eastern region (DoNER) and the Indian Chamber of Commerce are jointly organising the summit, where investors from Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Singapore, Thailand, Myanmar and Cambodia are expected to participate.

Agartala/Kohima, Jan 4 : A section of Congress leaders and legislators in Tripura and Nagaland have revolted against their state party chiefs and have demanded their immediate removal, party sources said Monday.

The Congress is the main opposition party in Tripura and Nagaland and is in power in the remaining five northeastern states -- Assam, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Arunachal Pradesh and Manipur.

Agartala, Jan 01 : A week-long film festival organised by Cinedelve Film Society ended here on Thursday.

A cultural extravaganza marked the ending of the festival that showcased 27 films from across the globe, including three productions of Tripura.

The organizers opined that the film is one of the strongest mediums in the world, and it not only reflects the society, but also plays a vital role in moulding it.

"In Agartala, a good number of films are produced these days. People are not only interested in watching good movies but also are involved in making them and in this process, we are just lending a helping hand by giving a platform to showcase their films in this film festival," said Tapan Dey, one of the organizers.\

Agartala, Jan 1 - The central government will provide 90 percent of the amount required to enroll and educate high school students in the northeastern states, a minister said here Friday.

The students in the age group of 15-16 years will be enrolled under Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA).

Agartala, Dec 29 - The wife of Tripura assembly speaker Ramendra Chandra Debnath's brother and her paramour have been arrested for killing the woman's husband, police said here Tuesday.

"Tripura assembly speaker's brother Sushil Debnath, 46, was murdered by his wife and her lover, a police constable, Saturday at Kumarghat in northern Tripura," said police official Sudeshna Bhattacharjee, who is investigating the sensational murder.

Agartala, Dec 29 - Public sector exploration major Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) has found a huge gas deposit in the northeastern state of Tripura, officials said here Tuesday.

"The new gas pool was discovered at Sundalbari structure in southern Tripura," a senior ONGC official told IANS.

"On initial testing, the low resistivity sand perforated in the interval of 2164-68 metre produced gas at the rate of 160,000 million cubic metre per day."

Agartala, Dec 28 - As part of its rectification efforts, the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) will form an inquiry body at the central level to identify "non-Communist behaviour and fraudulent acts of party men" and give a report to the politburo for taking action, party sources here said Monday.

"More or less most of the party men have non-Communist behaviour. We want to rectify those non-Communist acts," said CPI-M central committee member Bijon Dhar.

Agartala, Dec 26 : Paramilitary troopers have apprehended eight heavily armed tribal guerrillas including a young woman in Tripura, officials said Saturday.

"During a counter-insurgency operation, Assam Rifles troopers Friday night detained eight dreaded terrorists of banned National Liberation Front of Tripura (NLFT) in north Tripura's Kanchanpur area," said Assam Rifles spokesman Dinesh Thakur.

A large cache of arms and ammunition including US-made carbines and revolvers were recovered from the eight.

Agartala, Dec. 24 : With Tripura gradually moving towards normalcy and peace returning, local people here are in a joyous mood on the occasion of Christmas, the biggest festival of the world commemorating the birth of Lord Jesus Christ.

People irrespective of their religious identities were busy on Thursday evening with last minutes purchasing of gifts and greeting cards to wish their near and dear ones while a lot of them were interested in buying X-Mass Cakes.

Agartala, Dec. 22 : The Meitei Manipuri people in Tripura, who have settled and made this State their homeland, celebrated Lai Haraoba recently with pomp and show after a gap 30 years since peace has started returning to Tripura.

The objective of the celebration was to keep alive the cultural heritage of Manipuris who are living away from their home State and let the new generation know about their cultural heritage.

A team from Manipur was invited to conduct this special programme.

Agartala, Dec 22 : The Tripura Gramin Bank (TGB), one of India's 84 Regional Rural Banks (RRB), is appointing business correspondents and opening mobile bank branches to provide banking services in villages and far-flung areas, officials said here Tuesday.

"We have already engaged 25 farmers' club as business correspondents and engagement of 20 retired bank officers as business facilitators is under process," TGB chairman Nilmani Gangopadhyay told reporters.

Agartala, Dec 19 : State-owned exploration major Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) will provide funds for conservation, renovation and restoration of the monuments of Ahom kings in Sibsagar in eastern Assam, an official said here Saturday.

''ONGC would fund and collaborate with Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) in the conservation works,'' an ONGC official said.    

Agartala, Dec 17 : Seven more tribal separatists from the outlawed National Liberation Front of Tripura (NLFT) have surrendered to security forces after fleeing their camps in Bangladesh, police said Thursday.

"The Bangladesh-trained tribal guerrillas led by their self-styled captain Ramsai Reang, 34, surrendered before senior officers of the Tripura State Rifles (TSR) and Assam Rifles Wednesday," a police spokesperson said.

Agartala, Dec 16 : The Congress, the main opposition party in Tripura, Wednesday announced its boycott of Chief Minister Manik Sarkar until he withdraws his comments or apologises for his "baseless, unfounded and false allegation against the party (Congress)".

The Congress announcement was followed by an unprecedented bedlam for the third day Wednesday in the state assembly, which is meeting in its winter session here now.    

Agartala, Dec 16 - West Bengal has undertaken an ambitious Rs. 12,000 crore project to protect and develop the Sundarbans, the world's largest mangrove forest and a World Heritage site, a senior official said here.

"The detailed project report (DPR) of the project would be ready by March next year," said West Bengal Green Energy Development Corporation (WBGEDC) chairman-cum-managing director Shanti Pada Gon Chaudhuri.

Agartala, Dec 15 : Proceedings in the Tripura assembly were disrupted Tuesday and the house finally adjourned for the day without transacting any business as opposition members vehemently protested Chief Minister Manik Sarkar's comments on a nexus between outlawed terror groups and political parties.

Slogan shouting Congress legislators led by Leader of Opposition Ratan Lal Nath demanded withdrawal of the chief minister's comments and sought an apology from him for his "baseless, unfounded and false allegation against the Congress (party)".

Agartala, Dec 14 : The central government may amend the North-Eastern Areas (Reorganisation) Act, 1971, to set up a separate high court in Tripura, Chief Minister Manik Sarkar said here Monday.

All the seven northeastern states, excluding Sikkim, come under the jurisdiction of the Guwahati High Court. Sikkim has a separate high court.

All parties in Tripura have been demanding a separate high court in Tripura for the past three decades.

Agartala, Dec 10 : State-run Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) Thursday said workers of a private telecom company cut off its huge underground cables here, disrupting its communication network between Tripura and the rest of India.

"We (BSNL) have filed an FIR (first information report) with the police against a private service provider whose workers cut off huge underground cables in Agartala," BSNL general manager Deb Kumar Chakraborty said.

He added that the telecommunication network between Tripura and other states had been temporarily restored Thursday afternoon after initiating "measures on war-footing".