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शिक्षक प्रमुखको लापारवाहीको कारण बेहाल अवस्थामा चम्पामाया प्रथमिक पाठशाला

पहाड़को प्रथमिक पाठशालाहरु एका एक बन्द हुनुमा सरकार पक्ष दोषी छ कि शिक्षक-शिक्षिकाहरुको लापारवाही? किन दार्जीलिङ पहाड़को शैक्षिक स्तर दिनोदिन खस्किन्दै गइरहेको छ? प्रथमिक शिक्षा बाल-बालिकाहरुको निम्ति महत्तवपूर्ण हुँदा-हुँदै पनि किन आजसम्म पहाड़को शिक्षा व्यवस्थामा सुधार आउन सकिरहेको छैन?

राजनीति गर्दिनँ भन्नु पनि अर्को राजनीति होः हर्कबहादुर छेत्री

मेरो अधिकारक्षेत्रभित्र पाँच बर्षको लागि जनताको हितको काम गर् भनेर मलाई भोट हालेको हो नि। मलाई थाहा छ यसले जनताको धेरै हित हुन्छ। यसले जनताको हितसँगै पार्टीको पनि हित हुन्छ, आन्दोलनलाई पनि सहयोग पुर्‍याउँछ भनेपछि एकदम निसंकोच भनेर अघि बढ्न सक्छु म। म त्यही काम गर्दैछु।

बघिनी फेरि पुरानै खोरमा

‘समयले मानिसलाई कहाँ कहाँ पुर्‍याउँछ,,,,,,’ कुनै समय रेडियो नेपालबाट बजिरहने यो चर्चित गीतले मान्छेको जीवनमा प्रणयसम्बन्धको आरोह अवरोहले पार्ने प्रभावलाई सुन्दर ढंगले व्याख्या गरेको छ। यो लोकप्रिय गीतको यही एक हरफ कुनै राजनीतिकर्मीको जीवनसँग गाँसेर हेर्दा के उत्तर पाइएला?

साहित्य अनि सर्जकलाई माया गर्ने घिसिङ

80 को दशकमा देशभरिका गोर्खाहरूलाई जातित्वको भावना उत्पन्न गराउने प्रथम नेता सुवास घिसिङको निधनले अहिले घड़ी सम्पूर्ण दार्जीलिङ पहाड़ नै स्तब्ध बनेको छ। गोर्खाहरूका हित अनि अस्तित्वका निम्ति छुट्टै राज्यको बहस लिएर सुवास धिसिङले त्यसताक पहाड़का प्रत्येक गाँऊहरूको भ्रमण गरेका थिए। 22 जुन 1936 सालमा मिरिकको मञ्जु चियाबगानमा जन्म लिएरका सुवास घिसिङले आफ्नो तर्क राख्न एकलै जनसभा गर्थे। घिसिङले सम्पूर्ण गोर्खाहरूलाई एकै शुत्रमा बाँध्न "गोर्खाल्याण्ड" शब्दको जन्म गरेका थिए।

निराश छन् विधायक डा. छेत्री

“बजट सत्रमा के कुराहरू उठान गर्नु पर्ने भन्नेबारे हामीले जीटीएबाट कहिले फिडब्याक पाएका छैनौं” डा छेत्रीले भने। डा हर्कबहादुर छेत्री मोर्चाका प्रवक्ता हुन् अनि कालेबुङका जनप्रतिनिधि। दुइवटा महत्वपूर्ण पदमा बसेका डा छेत्रीलाई अहिलेसम्म जीटीएको बैठकमा निम्ताइएको छैन, पार्टीको राजनैतिक लाइनबारे उनीसँग चर्चा र छलफल नगरिएको त झन कति भयो, उनैलाई हेक्का छैन।

28 Apr 2012

FODDER DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM & CASH INCENTIVE DISTRIBUTION AT BAC DENTEM & SORENG SUBDIVISION.

RANGPO-26TH APRIL12
State AH, LF&VS Department organized a day long program on fodder development with cash incentive distribution @ Rs 5000/ per beneficiary & for three hundred beneficiaries totoa fifteen lakh rs /.All the beneficiaries were selected from milk societies as regular member . They were from Maney- Bong Dentam, Gyezing -Bormiok, Soreng- Chakung, Daramdin & Rinchenpong constituency. The main objective behind the program was to promote dairy farming in the course of the milk production for regular income generation & subsequently to make each farmer financially independent as envisioned by HCM Govt. of Sikkim. As such basic needs in successful dairy farming, Goatery & Sheep Farming is feeds & fodders. Persistent varieties of fodders crops at private holding of such famers in the villages may increase potentiality of that area for sustainable livelihood by regular income generation by well fed milch cows. As we know in the present context live stock plays a major role in the economy of our State, as the majority of the rural people are primarily engaged in livestock farming.

The first phase of program was at BAC Dentam & was presided over by Hon’ble Area MLA Miss Chandra Maya Subba, Maneybong- Dentam Constituency, conducted by Jagat Gurung CLC president attended by project Officer Dr. N.T Bhuitia Krishi Vawan Tadong,Dr. D.S Tewari, Dr, S Pradhan from AH,LF&VS Deptt. West District along with Para veterinarian A.P Sharma Rinchenpong VD,D.B Gurung Bega V.D, Mohan Bhattarai, Dentam VH ,N. P Subba VD Hee Gaon & Gajen Gurung from Uttery V.D . From public participation all 150 beneficiaries & panchayats were present.

Dr. D.S Tewari J.D West started the program with welcome address.wherin he also highlighted on the mission & objective of Honourable CM on the development of villages by providing 70 % of State fund in different ways/means & through different sectors in the villages. He also aware people to utilize the fund as targeted. After this Dr. N.T Bhutia new project officer on the very outset apologized on delay in distribution of cash incentive for fodder development. He also informed the house about his tireless effort on streamlining the project to make it practical at grass root level. He also opined on his destination on result oriented program in the villages. He also informed about the need of weaver cooperative at Dentam for the production of garments originated from local wool with promotion of the previous one He also assured to make the venture operational to increase Market Avenue in domestic & foreign markets in the near future. After this Hon’ble area MLA Dentam. Started her deliberation with congratulation to each beneficiary at receiving hand in terms of cash as support for fodder plantation at their private land. She also expressed her gratitude to the Department to their effort in providing fund at their own village. She drew attention of the people about the mission of HCM to make Sikkim free from poverty up to 2015.She also advised people not to misuse the fund. After this she distributed cash to all the 150 beneficiaries. In total she distributed. & Rs 7, 50,000/ on that day.

Second phase of the program was conducted at Soreng Panchakanya Hall. Program was presided over by B.S Basnet Zilla Panchayat Soreng Malbasey & attended by Dil Kri Subba P- President Dodak GPU,B.P Sharma member Soreng GPU C.B Katual President Soreng GPU,C.B Gurung President Chakung GPU,together with Departmental authority as in Dentam,including V.O Soreng Dr Seema along with 150 nos. of beneficiaries from Sribadam,Dodak, Tharpu, Chakung ,Tiburbung, Chota Samdong & Buria khop. Dr Seema conducted the program. Chief Guest addressed the gathering & advised beneficiaries to utilize the fund as per specification. He thanked AH,Deptt, area MLA RB Subba & HCM also. After the distribution of Rs. 7, 50,000/ by chief guest program was over.

Minister blames Left for bandh fury

April 27: North Bengal development minister Gautam Deb today held the CPM and RSP responsible for the violence in the Dooars during the bandh called by the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha.

Deb told reporters in Jalpaiguri that he had specific information about who instigated the violence in Banarhat and Oodlabari.

“I had specific information that the violence had been masterminded by the CPM and RSP to embarrass the state government. They do not want us to carry out development in the Dooars. That is their design,” said Deb.

He also blamed a section of Intuc leaders who he said were openly supporting the forces opposed to the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration. “Some senior leaders of the Intuc have been openly siding with the anti-GTA forces,” said Deb. He was alluding to Darjeeling Intuc president Alok Chakrabarty, who has been holding joint media conferences with the Akhil Bharatiya Adivasi Vikas Parishad and the KPP, outfits that are part of an anti-GTA forum.

A district committee member of the Jalpaiguri CPM, Salil Acharya, said Deb’s statement was not based on facts.

“The Trinamul Congress has no base in tea gardens and they are trying to create trouble in the Dooars with the active involvement of the Morcha and the rebel faction of the Parishad to get a foothold in the region. The state government has ignored the sentiments of the people in the Dooars by leaving out the MLAs and MPs from the region from its high-powered committee looking into the Morcha’s territorial demand. That is why they had been opposing the bandh,” said Acharya.

RSP district president Sunil Banik also rubbished the Deb’s claim.

“By allowing Bimal Gurung and John Barla to hold public meetings in Kalchini yesterday, the state government had gone against the law. Now the minister is trying to create confusion by spreading canards against us,” Banik said.

A senior RSP leader said his party and Citu, the CPM trade wing, had suffered setbacks at Oodlabari in Malbazar and Banarhat in Kalchini, the two spots where the trouble had erupted.

“While the Citu and Intuc are virtually non-existent in Malbazar, the RSP and the Intuc have no base in Kalchini. Workers have switched allegiance either to the Morcha’s Darjeeling Terai Dooars Tea Workers’ Union or the Parishad’s Progressive Tea Workers’ Union. There had been further division in the Parishad’s union after John Barla decided to go with the Morcha. So it is incorrect to say trouble was fomented by the CPM and the RSP,” the leader said.

Former minister and CPM leader Asok Bhattacharya said in Siliguri that the withdrawal of the strike by the Morcha seemed like a “got-up game”.

“The decision of the Morcha to withdraw the strike after the administration allowed Bimal Gurung to hold public rallies in the Dooars yesterday is nothing but a got up game. The strike was called on the issue of denying the Morcha permission to hold public meetings and then the administration looked the other way while the meeting was held. We strongly believe that this was stage-managed by the state government and the Morcha,” Bhattacharya said.(TT)

Dooars ‘success’ fuels relay fast plan Hunger strike to keep tempo alive

VIVEK CHHETRI
Darjeeling, April 27: The Gorkha Janmukti Morcha, which believes that its Dooars movement has been “successful in generating enough enthusiasm”, is likely to start a relay hunger strike and low-scale rallies across the region from May 1.

The aim is to keep the momentum going for inclusion of more than 400 mouzas from the plains in the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration.

Morcha chief Bimal Gurung, who had been camping in the Dooars till yesterday, has returned to the foothills, touring Gorubathan and Samsing. “But the Joint Co-ordination Committee will hold a meeting soon to discuss the future course of action,” said Morcha assistant general secretary Binay Tamang.

Sources in the party said the committee, which was likely to hold its meeting either tomorrow or on Sunday, was expected to announce a relay hunger strike in the Dooars accompanied by small-scale rallies.

“The relay hunger strike to press for the inclusion of the plains mouzas in the proposed GTA will be held in front of various police stations. Small-scale rallies like the one party president addressed in the Dooars yesterday is also on the anvil,” the source added.

Senior party leaders who are monitoring the agitation believe that the Dooars stint has been a “success”. “Our feeling is that our Dooars stint has been very successful. Only yesterday we managed to hold public meetings in seven places till late in the evening and we could sense that the morale of our party supporters in the plains is on the high,” said Morcha spokesperson Harka Bahadur Chhetri, who is also the Kalimpong MLA.

The party believes that the district administration’s decision to deny the Morcha-led committee, which also includes an adivasi faction led by John Barla, permission to hold a public meeting in Nagrakata on April 22 had been a “blessing in disguise”.

The Morcha had called an indefinite strike from Monday to protest the government decision. Rhose supporting and opposing the bandh clashed in the Dooars for two days. The Morcha relaxed the strike first for 12 hours followed by 36 hours from Wednesday. Yesterday, the Morcha announced that the strike was being deferred, while it went ahead with at least two public meetings in the Dooars without permission from the government. The administration chose to look the other way and dismissed the gatherings as “indoor” interactions.

“There is no doubt that the district administration’s decision to deny us permission had been a blessing in disguise. Perhaps we could not have been able to generate enthusiasm among the supporters to the extent we manage to do in the aftermath of the denial. The decision to stay back in the Dooars has given enough confidence to our supporters that we are seriously pursuing the demand for the inclusion of the plains area in the GTA,” said Chhetri.

In fact, the Morcha camp is not in favour of calling any more general strikes immediately as “the purpose of getting the momentum” has been served.

“We will wait for a while (to demand permission to organise a major rally like the one planned in Nagrakata),” said Chhetri.

The Morcha feels that now the territorial committee led by Justice (retired) Shyamal Sen formed to consider the party’s demand for plains mouzas cannot ignore the developments that have taken place in the Dooars. “There was spontaneous support from many areas to our demand. It has been proved by the strike. The territorial committee cannot ignore these voices now,” said Chhetri.

Asked what would happen if the territorial committee’s recommendation fell short of the Morcha’s demand, Chhetri said: “It is too early to comment on the issue but then the committee cannot ignore places where supporters for inclusion of their areas in the GTA are in the majority.”(TT)

Welfare nod for tea labour

Calcutta, April 27: A cabinet sub-committee today cleared a proposal to extend panchayat benefits to tea garden workers in the Dooars.

Chief minister Mamata Banerjee has appointed a panel headed by home secretary Basudeb Banerjee to suggest steps on how benefits like the Indira Awas Yojana and 100 days’ work under national rural job scheme NREGA can be given to the workers.

“The tribal and Hindi-speaking workers in the tea gardens don’t get electricity, housing, drinking water and other facilities. The tea gardens were established on leased land. Our government has decided to extend to them the benefits of the panchayats. To make this possible, the government will take possession of some of the land for the workers,” Mamata said at Writers’ today.

The committee will submit its report in seven days, she added.

The announcement comes days after the violence in the Dooars that had prompted Mamata to send panchayat minister Subrata Mukherjee to the region to find a “long-term” solution to the problems plaguing the adivasis, 90 per cent of whom are garden workers.

“The previous Left Front government had brought the tea gardens under the jurisdiction of the gram panchayats. Those living in the workers’ lines of the tea gardens enjoy voting rights but they cannot be provided any facility because they do not possess the land they live on,” Mukherjee had said.

Officials said the tea gardens were set up on land leased to the owners and workers did not own the land on which they live. Once they get possession rights of the land, they can tap benefits like getting dwellings under the Indira Awas Yojana.

On his return to Calcutta, Mukherjee recommended to the chief minister that steps be taken to ensure that the tea workers, most of whom are tribals, get possession of the land they live on, officials said.

Mamata said today that the government would also hold talks with the garden owners. “We are not going to disturb the owners over the land leased to them. But the labourers have rights under the labour law and we will provide it to them.”

Mukherjee said the move would help over nine lakh tribals. “The committee members will hold talks with the garden owners. There are legal issues involved which would have to be settled.”(TT)

Fire kills 6 kids in a family

VIVEK CHHETRI
Darjeeling, April 27: Six children, siblings aged between 2 and 12, were burnt to death when a fire broke out in their home in a remote Mirik village last night.

The children were probably asleep at the time when the fire is suspected to have started in the kitchen of their two-room house whose main door was bolted from outside.

The sparsely populated Lower Zimba Gaon was unaware of the blaze till the electricity meter burst and woke up the nearest neighbour whose house is a five-minute walk from the home of Arjun and Shova Tamang, who lost their children.

“Six children were charred to death in the fire that broke out last night at Lower Zimba Gaon. We suspect the fire started from the kitchen,” said S. Chaki, the officer in charge of Mirik police station. Two of the children — Asit, 12, Sneha, 10, Kabir, 9, Sachin, 8, Baichung, 7 and Neha, 2 — were girls.

M.K. Tamang, the vice-chairman of the Mirik municipality who visited the spot today, said the children were alone as Arjun, a carpenter, had not returned home from work and his wife Shova had gone to another village to get medicine. “She was unwell and seemed to have gone to another village, Thapa Gaon, leaving the children at home. It was during this time that the house caught fire.”

Thapa Gaon is a 15-20 minutes walk from Arjun’s house. “At a distance of five-minute walk, there is this house of Kharkalal Tamang, who is a relative of the family. He, however, came to know of the fire only when the electricity meter burst. On hearing the sound he came out of the house. By then the blaze was unstoppable,” said Tamang.

The parents came back to find their home reduced to almost ashes, the civic chairman said. News of the fire reached the civic authorities this morning.

“The area is very remote. One can travel in a vehicle for half an hour till Bhar Peepal from Mirik after which one has to walk on foot for almost one-and-a-half hours,” said Tamang. The village is on the banks of Ranghbhang khola, about 10km from Mirik.

Both Arjun and Shova are in a state of shock but neighbours said the main door was bolted from the outside and the children were fast asleep.

“In villages, people go to sleep by 7-8pm. Since there were no neighbours in the vicinity, we learnt that the wife had bolted the only door of the house from outside. The children who were asleep probably could not jump out of the window,” said Tamang.

Mirik police have sent the bodies to North Bengal Medical College and Hospital in Siliguri for post-mortem.(TT)

Hong Kong home for Chronicles crooners

Gangtok, April 27: Rock band Girish N the Chronicles has relocated to Hong Kong after bagging a contract to play in the pub circuit there.

The four-member group reached Hong Kong yesterday and they will start performing from May 1.

Front man and vocalist Girish Pradhan had been in Hong Kong since November where he was performing with a Philippines-based band. He had returned to Gangtok earlier this week. On Wednesday, Girish, his brother and bassist Yogesh Pradhan, drummer Nagen Mongranti and lead guitarist Suraj Karki left for Delhi. “We got a contract from the same event management company that had hired Girish. We will be playing in the pub chain and performing gigs organised by the company,” Yogesh told The Telegraph.

He added that the contract from GraphitiXcape was for seven years and it would be renewed every six month. “It is up to us to extend it,” he said.

GraphitiXcape owns two pubs in Hong Kong.

GnC’s media manager Shyam Pradhan said: “Girish was very keen to have his band members there but the owners of the company were hesitant. Finally the band got an invitation to play at an annual rock event called Alive-Clash of the Titans in Hong Kong in February. The group also got an opportunity to perform at the local pubs. Its performances impressed the company and the band got the contract.”

According to the agreement, GnC would be performing from May 1.

GnC that was formed on October 18, 2009, is the only Indian rock band to have played at Montenegro in Europe in 2010 where it became the first runners up.

“Girish had been in Hong Kong for the past few months and we did not get a chance to perform as a band except for the February tour. Now we will be together,” said Yogesh.

He added that Hong Kong has a big market for rock music. “GnC is relocating for good. Hong Kong has a very good market for rock and other music genres. We will set up a base there and try to go to different parts of Asia. Our aim is to become an internationally renowned rock band and play in the USA and UK,” he said.

Yogesh said GnC would be the first Indian rock band to play professionally in Hong Kong.

Student held for impersonation - Examinee falls ill, tells junior to write paper at Siliguri College

Siliguri, April 27: A second-year Nepali (honours) student of Siliguri College was caught writing a university examination for his senior today.

While Jeet Kumar Rai was arrested for cheating and impersonation, police are looking for Indra Kami, a third-year student of the same subject in the college for whom he was writing the exam.

Kami’s family members said he couldn’t appear for the environmental science paper of North Bengal University today as he had fallen ill, but they didn’t know that he would ask another student to write the exam for him.

“The exam started at 9am and around 50 third-year BA students were writing the ENVS paper in room number 19 of the college. At 10am, the invigilator, Amitava Kanjilal, went around the room asking the candidates to sign on the attendance sheet. But a particular student gave his signature after much hesitation and the invigilator became suspicious. He immediately checked the student’s signatures for the previous exams and found that they did not match with today’s signature,” said college principal Malay Karanjai.

Since the admit card provided by the varsity did not have a photograph, the examinee was asked to produce his college identity card. But the student said he had forgotten to bring the ID card today.

Kanjilal informed the principal about the matter and the latter went to the exam hall along with a teacher of the Nepali department. “The Nepali teacher identified the particular student as Jeet Kumar Rai, a second-year student of his department, and not Indra Kami, who was supposed to write the exam. Jeet was carrying Indra’s admit card,” said Karanjai.

The undergraduate examinations of the NBU began on April 13. The ENVS paper is compulsory for BA, BSc and BCom students.

The college authorities procured a confession letter from Jeet and filed an FIR with Siliguri police station, complaining about cheating and impersonation by him and Indra.

“The police took Jeet into custody. We have also submitted a written complaint to the university’s controller of examination with a copy of the confession letter and the answer sheet seized from Jeet,” said the principal.

Jeet is from Kalimpong and lives in a rented accommodation at Jyotinagar on the outskirts of Siliguri. The police will produce him in the additional chief judicial magistrate’s court here tomorrow.

Relatives of Indra — a resident of Siliguri Junction — said he had taken ill last night. “Indra had appeared for all his papers since the exams began on April 13. He was suffering from diarrhoea and we admitted him to Matigara block health centre yesterday evening. We dissuaded Indra from appearing for today’s exam as his condition was bad. We had no knowledge that he had told another student to write the exam on his behalf. When we asked Indra about it, he said he feared losing a year if he did not appear for the exam and told Jeet to write the paper,” said a family source.

Indra was discharged from the hospital today and the police are looking for him.

Police sources said both the students had been booked under bailable sections 417 (punishment for cheating) and 419 (punishment for cheating by personation) of the IPC.

Legal sources said a person charged under Section 417 could be punished with a jail term of maximum one year or with a fine or with both. The Section 419 entails a punishment of a jail term that might extend to three years or a fine or both.

Sushanta Das, the controller of examinations at the NBU, confirmed receiving the complaint from the college and said the matter would be referred to the board of discipline — a statutory body of the university.

“The board of discipline will verify the documents and hold hearings for both the students as well as the college authorities. If found guilty, the students can be debarred from appearing for any exam conducted by the NBU for a year or two years or even for their whole life depending on the severity of the offence,” said Das.(TT)

27 Apr 2012

In the open, an ‘indoor’ meet - Morcha chief calls for unity in Dooars, govt silent on rallies

Alipurduar, April 26: Gorkha Janmukti Morcha leaders held two meetings attended by nearly 2,000 people in the Dooars today without any permission from the Jalpaiguri administration. The administration, however, dismissed the meetings as indoor sessions on which no embargo had been imposed.

The first halt of the Morcha leaders, including chief Bimal Gurung and Binoy Tamang, was the Dalsinghpara Durga Bari ground, 100km from Jalpaiguri town.

While Gurung claimed that it was a “simple get-together” for lunch hosted by Morcha supporters of Dalsinghpara, the Jalpaiguri district magistrate said it was an “indoor” event.

“There is no bar on indoor meetings. However, I have asked the police superintendent to look into the matter,” DM Smaraki Mahapatra, who was in Siliguri today, said when asked whether permission had been given to the Morcha to hold public meetings.

Gurung delivered speeches over the public address system. The Morcha chief was the last of the five speakers at Dalsinghpara where about 1,500 people were present. By the time John Barla, the adivasi leader who has joined hands with the Morcha, started speaking, Gurung had begun distributing laddoos among the crowd.

Gurung asked all communities — “the Bangali, Bihari, Muslim, adivasi and the Gorkhas to shout in favour of GTA for then only would development happen”.

“The politics of this state do not allow us to be united. Within a short time I will organise a meeting which will be participated by lakhs of people. It is a get-together and local people invited me for lunch. I have nothing against the chief minister but the government has wronged us,” Gurung told the crowd at Dalsinghpara.

His next halt was Beech tea estate where 500 people had come for the meeting.

A district intelligence official said the number of people attending the two meetings was around 2,000. “At Dalsinghpara, there were nearly 1500 people. The figure was less, around 500, in Beech,” he said.

A third meeting scheduled at the Satali Birsha Munda ground, also in Kalchini block, was cancelled because of shortage of time.(TT)

26 Apr 2012

कालेबुङमा सबला मेला स्वनिर्भर दलहरु उत्साहित

26 अप्रेल(कालेबुङ):- दार्जीलिङ जिल्लाका स्वनिर्भर दलहरुलाई प्रोत्साहन प्रदान गर्न कालेबुङमा बुधबारदेखि सप्ताहव्यापी सबला मेलाको आयोजना गरिएको छ। उत्तर बंगाल विकास मंत्री गौतम देवले यस मेलाको विधिवत उदघाटन गरे। दार्जीलिङ जिल्लाको महकुमाहरु दार्जीलिङ, खरसाङ, कालेबुङ अनि सिलगढीअन्तर्गतका 12 वटा खण्ड अनि तीनवटा नगरपालिकाहरुमा सक्रिय रहेका स्वनिर्भर दलहरुले मेलामा भाग लिएका छन। राज्य सरकारको स्वनिर्भर समूह अनि स्वरोजगार विभागले सबला मेलाको आयोजना गरेको हो। यो मेला आगामी 1 मईसम्म चल्नेछ। जिल्लाका स्वनिर्भर दलहरुले हस्तशिल्पद्वारा उत्पादन गरेको घरेलु सजावटका सामग्री, कृषि उत्पादनलगायत घरेलु उद्योगबाट निर्मित सर सामानहरु मेलामा प्रदर्शनी र बिक्रीको निम्ति राखिएको छ। स्वनिर्भर दलहरुद्रारा उत्पादित सामग्रीहरुको वजार व्यवस्थापन र बिपणनको निम्ति पनि विभागले पहल गरेको छ। क्षेत्रका स्वनिर्भर समूहका कर्मीहरु मेलालाई लिएर उत्साहित देखिएका छन। स्वनिर्भर दलहरुको उत्पादनको प्रचार प्रसार र बिपणनको निम्ति राज्य सरकारल क्षेत्रमा पहिलोपल्ट यस प्रकारको कार्यक्रम तय गरेको हो।

Crowd ban order lifted, markets shut Morcha message for garden workers

April 25: Prohibitory orders were from in five of the seven police station areas of Jalpaiguri after two days of violence in the Dooars, where bandh enforcers had announced a 36-hour relaxation from today.

Section 144, however, will be in force in Oodlabari and Banarhat, where shops and vehicles were set on fire in the past two days.

The Gorkha Janmukti Morcha leaders today visited three tea gardens in the party-dominated Kalchini block of the Dooars and interacted with the workers, explaining to them the reason behind relaxing the bandh.

The Morcha leaders told the garden workers that the strike had been relaxed after an appeal from the chief minister.

“We also feel that the relaxation would give an opportunity to the administration to sit with us and discuss our demand to hold meetings in this region,” Morcha spokesperson and Kalimpong MLA Harka Bahadur Chhetri told the workers.

“We also told them about today’s meeting with the SDO and our stand,” Chhetri told journalists.

Chhetri and Gurung, accompanied by other leaders, left the Rangamati forest bungalow around 1.15pm and visited the Central Dooars tea garden. After speaking to the assembled workers there, they visited Bhatpara tea garden followed by Rangamati tea garden, winding up the tour around 3.30pm.

In each garden, there were around 100 to 125 workers and schoolchildren, who had gathered near the shops located in the gardens. The workers, many of them women, stood encircling the Morcha leaders and listened to what they said. In all the three gardens, the labourers hardly asked the leaders any questions.

Khusimara Rai, a woman worker of the Central Dooars tea garden, said they were told this morning that the Morcha leaders would be visiting the the estate and would speak to us.

“We listened to them and they told us about the bandh and what they want to do in the future. We did not ask them any questions, we just listened,” Khusimara said.

The Morcha today rejected the administration’s plea not to renew the bandh after the expiry of the relief.

The administration said permission could be given to hold rallies in the Dooars only after a fortnight or so depending on the situation.

The Morcha-led Joint Action Co-ordination Committee which includes the John Barla-led breakaway faction of the adivasis, has turned down the offer and made it clear to the government that the 36-hour deadline stays and blamed the administration for the violence in the region in the past two days.

“The official asked us to withdraw the strike to restore peace in the region. We have made it clear that the administration was solely responsible for the violence in the Dooars. Had we been given permission to hold our public meeting, the violence could have been avoided,” Chhetri said.

The Morcha-led committee had called an indefinite strike in the Dooars and Terai from Monday after it was denied permission to hold a public meeting in Jalpaiguri’s Nagrakata.

The meeting was supposed to have been held to campaign in favour of the inclusion of the Dooars and Terai in the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration.

Chhetri did not comment on whether the strike would continue after the relief expired on Friday. But the Barla faction said the strike would resume. “If the administration does not give us permission to hold meetings, the indefinite strike will continue,” said Raju Bara, the spokesperson for the group.

The subdivisional officer of Alipurduar, Amal Kanti Roy, said he had held talks with the Morcha under “instructions from higher authorities”.Jalpaiguri district magistrate Smaraki Mahapatra said the prohibitory orders had been withdrawn from five police station areas in the Dooars.

“However, the orders are still in force in Banarhat and Oodlabari. As far as the arson in Banarhat is concerned, the administration will look into the matter of compensation only if a request is made in writing,” Mahapatra said.

The secretary of the Banarhat Byabsayee Samiti, Bijoy Barua, said the traders had downed shutters in the market today as a mark of solidarity with the 15 shopowners whose establishments were set on fire by the bandh supporters on Monday.

“We are holding meetings and we are going to meet the district magistrate and have sought an appointment. It was intelligence failure on the part of the police because of which violence and arson took place,” Barua alleged.(TT)

Panel push to counter plains agitation

Siliguri, April 25: The forum launched to oppose the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha’s territorial demand today formed an 11-member committee with the sole objective to counter the ongoing agitation by the hill party in the plains.

Leaders of the Dooars Terai Joint Action Committee, an umbrella organisation of 26 outfits, met at Shivmandir and announced the launch of the panel after a five-hour-long discussion.

Atul Roy of the Kamtapur Party and Rajesh Lakra of the Akhil Bharatiya Adivasi Vikas Parishad will be the convener and the joint convener of the panel respectively.

“The new committee was formed exclusively to monitor and organise our movement against the Morcha’s demands and their ongoing agitation in the Dooars. We will hold public meetings at Baghajatin Park in Siliguri and Gairkata or Malbazar in the Dooars on May 17 and 27 respectively to highlight the negative aspects of the GTA and our opposition to the inclusion of the plains mouzas in the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration. We will also demand that the high-powered committee (formed to make recommendations on the territorial jurisdiction of the GTA) be dissolved immediately,” Roy told journalists after the meeting.

The Morcha has been demanding that more than 400 mouzas in the plains be made part of the GTA as they are largely Gorkha dominated.

Lakra, who is also the secretary of the Dooars Terai unit of the Parishad, reiterated that the forum would thwart any attempt by the Morcha to hold a meeting in the plains.

“No area of the Dooars and Terai will be allowed to be brought under the GTA. We won’t let John Barla and the Morcha to hold meetings and rallies in the Dooars and Terai. If the administration grants them permission, we will resort to any form of agitation, be it road blockade or strike, to prevent the meeting to take place.”

The Parishad leader blamed the administration for the violence in the plains in the past two days.

“We strongly condemn the role of the administration that failed to check violence at Banarhat and Oodlabari. The breakdown in the law and order has not only affected the economy of the region but also created panic among the people,” said Lakra.

Earlier in the day, the state president of the Parishad, Birsa Tirkey, said he would seek an appointment with the chief minister to apprise her of the Morcha’s movement.

“I will seek an appointment with chief minister Mamata Banerjee next week so that I can tell her how the Morcha supporters went on the rampage in the Dooars, ransacking and setting fire to vehicles. We will also highlight the spontaneous response of the people to the Morcha’s strike call,” Tirkey said on the phone from Calcutta.(TT)

25 Apr 2012

Awareness program of NSS

Rangpo-25th april12
National Social Service Scheme (NSS) of Himalayan Pharmacy Institute, Majhitar, Rangpo, 40 Nos. of Student of Institute visited the villages Salghari, Tarpin, Rhenock Bazaar, and Rungdung East Sikkim as a part of the Scheme community Development and plantation program under the supervision of Mr. Abhinay Chhetri, Associate Director, Mr. Jaideep Sharma, Program Officer, NSS, and 3 other staff, along with Dr. N.R. Bhuyan, Principal of HPI. During their visit they interact with the villagers and gave message of health awareness, and distribute the first aid box for 20 houses. Street play themed drug abuse was shown in Rhenock Bazar by NSS volunteers of HPI unit. After the Plantation program at Rungdung was held first day program was end. During the Second day program at Rangpo Bazaar, they organized and participate in the mass cleanliness drive and distribute pamphlet to peoples regarding “contribute to keep country neat, clean and green.

मंत्रीको बैठकमा जनप्रतिनिधिहरु अनुपस्थित

25 अप्रेल(कालेबुङ):- दार्जीलिङ जिल्ला अस्पतालको संरचना र सेवामा विकास र सुधार ल्याउन आज डाकिएको बैठकमा दार्जीलिङका विधायक र नगरपालिका अध्यक्षको अनुपस्थितिले प्रश्न खडा गरेको छ। रोगी कल्याण समितिको अध्यक्षको हैसियतमा उत्तर बंगाल बिकास मंत्री गौतम देबले डाकेको सो बैठकमा दार्जीलिङका विधायक त्रिलोक देवान अनि नगरपालिका अध्यक्ष अमरसिंह राई आज अनुपस्थित थिए। यी दुवै जनप्रतिनिधिहरु रोगी कल्याण समितिको सदस्य रहे पनि आज बैठकमा उपस्थित नभएर मोर्चाले घोषणा गरेको सरकारी कार्यक्रमको बहिष्कार पालन गरेका हुन कि भन्ने प्रश्न खडा भाएको छ। आज सम्पन्न बैठकमा दार्जीलिङ जिला अस्पतालको मूलाधारहरुको बिकास र प्रशासनिक अनि स्वस्थ्य सेवामा सुधार ल्याउन सकिने सम्भावनाहरुबारे चर्चा गरिएको थियो। अस्पतालमा पानीको समस्या, आधारभूत संरचनाहरुको बिकास र सुधारसम्बन्धी बैठकमा छलफल भएको थियो। राज्य सरकारले डूवर्समा जनसभा गर्ने अनुमति प्रदान नगरेसम्म पहाडमा हुने सरकारी कार्यक्रमहरु बहिष्क़ार गर्ने मोर्चा प्रमुख बिमल गुरुङले केही दिन अघि घोषणा गरेका थिए। आजको महत्वपूर्ण बैठकमा क्षेत्रिय विधायक र नगराध्यक्षको अनुपस्थितिलाई यही प्रसंगमा हेरिँदैछ। यसबारे उत्तर बंगाल बिकास मंत्री गौतम देवले धेरै टिप्पणी गर्न चाहेनन। दुवै जनप्रतिनिधिहरुलाई बैठकमा निम्ताइएको भए पनि उनीहरु किन आएनन भन्ने कुराबारे आफू अनभिज्ञ रहेको मंत्रीले प्रतिक्रिया दिए।

बन्द बाट दुइ दिनको छुट,जनसभा गर्ने अडिगमा कमिटि

25 अप्रेल(कालेबुङ):- मोर्चा समर्थित जोइन्ट एक्शन को अर्डिनेशन कमिटिले आजदेखि बन्दबाट दुइ दिनको छुट दिए पनि डूवर्समा जनसभा गर्ने अनुमति दिनु पर्ने कुरामा अडिग रहेको छ। कमिटिले बन्दलाई बिहीबार साँझसम्मको निम्ति शिथिल गर्ने निर्णय लिएपछि आजदेखि तराई डूवर्स र पहाडको जनजीवन सामान्य बनेको छ। यधपि, डूवर्सको बानरहाटमा मोर्चाविरोधी संगठन र व्यापारीहरुले उत्तेजना सृष्टि गर्दा केहीबेर क्षेत्रमा तनाउ उत्पन्न भएको जानकारी पाइएको छ। मोर्चासमर्थित कमिटिले डाकेको बन्दको विरोध गर्दै आज बानरहाटका मोर्चाविरोधी तत्व र व्यावसायीहरुले क्षेत्रका व्यापारिक संस्थानहरु बन्द राख्ने प्रयास गर्दा तनाउ सृजना भएको थियो। आज बिहानदेखि तराई डूवर्सको जनजीवन सुचारु बनेको छ। यता, पहाडमा पनि आजदेखि समतलतिर जाने वाहनहरुको चलाचल शुरु भएको छ। बन्दबाट छुट दिइएको कारण पहाड घुम्न आएका पर्यटकहरु आफ्नो गन्तव्यतिर फर्किन आतुर देखिए। सरकारमाथि दबाउ बनाउन हिजोदेखि मोर्चाले पहाडका तीनैवटा महकुमाहरुमा शुरु गरेको धारावाहिक र्यामली र पथसभाको कार्यक्रम पनि दुइ दिनको निम्ति स्थगित गरेको छ। दुइदिनको छूट पुरा भएपछि मोर्चाको नयाँ अडान के हुने हो भन्ने कुराले पहाड र तराई डूवर्सका जनमानसलाई पिरोलिरहेको छ। डूवर्समा जनसभाको अनुमति नदिइञ्जेलसम्म बन्द जारी राख्ने कुरामा मोर्चा अहिले पनि अडिग रहेको छ।

Rage continues amid scurry to flee Arson and assault before bandh relief

April 24: Two persons were beaten up and a car and a scooter set on fire as bandh supporters in the Dooars tried to enforce a shutdown, a few hours before the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha announced a 36-hour relief.

An office of the Morcha, a constituent of the Joint Action Coordination Committee that had been trying to enforce the indefinite bandh, was ransacked by the anti-strike supporters in the afternoon. Later in the evening, a police team was attacked by a mob trying to defy prohibitory orders.

The Morcha, however, is determined to get permission to hold meetings and rallies in the plains to campaign for the inclusion of the mouzas of the Terai and the Dooars in the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA).

“The GTA is not the main issue. We are not stepping back one inch from our demand of statehood. I am blaming north Bengal development minister, Gautam Deb, for being responsible for what is happening now,” Morcha chief Bimal Gurung told reporters at Jaigaon, where he has been camping since Saturday night.

John Barla, the leader of the breakaway faction of the Akhil Bharatiya Adivasi Vikas Parishad, said relaxing the bandh did not mean that they were stepping away from the demand to include the 439 mouzas from the plains in the GTA.

“We demand that within these 36 hours the state government call us to the negotiating table. If not, we will be compelled to go in for an agitation from April 27 onwards. We are not concerned about what the Shyamal Sen committee recommends, we want our demand to be fulfilled,” said Barla, who was with Gurung.

Earlier in the day, there were reports of violence in the Oodlabari-Bagrakote area, 80km from Jalpaiguri town. Around 10.30am, alleged Morcha supporters first smashed a truck being loaded on the banks of the Ghish.

Three hours later, a group of about 80 bandh-supporters stopped a Maruti car near MES More at Bagrakote and thrashed its driver, Manik Roy, before setting it on fire. According to Anjana Sarkar, the wife of the owner of the car, the driver was returning after dropping off a patient at a Siliguri clinic.

As the news spread, anti-bandh supporters managed to grab the scooter of an alleged Morcha supporter whom they beat up. The rider fled and the mob took the scooter to the Bagrakote market and set it on fire. The number of bandh-protesters soon swelled to around 500 and they marched to Chuniyan Bustee, 2km away, and ransacked a Morcha office.

A large police force led by Mal subdivisional police officer, Arindam Sarkar, and subdivisional officer Debjani Bhattacharya went to the spot around 2.30pm, along with a fire engine. The crowd shouted slogans at the police against the violence.

Around 8.30pm, a team of 10 police personnel, was pelted with stones allegedly by the supporters of the Morcha from the Jharna Basti, 2km from Jaigaon.

Additional superintendent of police Anup Jaiswal said his force had to lathicharge to disperse the crowd. “They were defying Section 144,” he said. Earlier in the day, 2,226 Morcha supporters had been detained for violating Section 144. They were later released.

Prohibitory orders had been imposed in seven police station areas of Jalpaiguri last night.

Shops were shut today at Banarhat in protest against yesterday’s arson in which 15 shops were burnt.

The secretary of the Banarhat Byabsayee Samity, Bijoy Barua, addressed a public meeting there demanding the arrest of the culprits and compensation to those whose shops had been burnt.

“We have filed an FIR naming John Barla and six others and we demand their immediate arrest and also compensation for those who have lost their shops. We are relaxing the strike between 4pm and 5pm today. The markets will remain shut in Banarhat till the arrests are made and the compensation announced,” Barua said.

About 250 Morcha supporters, who had gathered at Kumani on the edge of the Kalimpong and Malbazar subdivisions were chased away by the police and were not allowed to enter Jalpaiguri district.

“There was some sporadic violence today, but by and large the situation is peaceful. The police are on high alert. If the bandh is relaxed from tomorrow, we might relax the prohibitory orders,” Jalpaiguri district magistrate Smaraki Mahapatra.

Deb, who set off for Darjeeling in the afternoon to attend a meeting there tomorrow, said in Siliguri that it was becoming more difficult to carry out development work in north Bengal than in Jungle Mahal. “Whenever we want to do some positive work there are strikes and counter-strikes. I am in constant touch with the chief minister who is closely monitoring the situation. I appeal to all to refrain from violence,” Deb said.(TT)

Check-out spree in Gangtok hotels

April 24: More than 1,000 tourists, half the usual number, left Gangtok today during the 12-hour bandh relaxation in neighbouring north Bengal.

Hotel owners complained that a check-out spree has hit the Sikkim capital, already reeling from the effects of last year’s earthquake and the drinking water scarcity early this month.

Sikkim, which is landlocked, is accessible only by road through Bengal. Any bandh or shutdown in north Bengal, which includes the Darjeeling hills and the Dooars, cuts off the Himalayan state from the rest of the country — a grouse that has often been conveyed to the Centre by the Sikkim government. Although NH31A, the only road leading out of Sikkim, has not been shut down, most tourists feared that blockades could be set up on the highway like the one on Hill Cart Road yesterday.

In Darjeeling, however, there were no major cancellations of bookings, the Darjeeling Association of Travel Agents said.

Tourist destinations in the Dooars like Lataguri, Gorumara and Dhupjhora started emptying out since the morning.

“Tourists have been thronging the taxi stand in Gangtok since morning. All vehicles plying to Siliguri are packed with tourists. We are getting numerous queries on taxi bookings,” said Ramesh Subba, a booking staff member at the taxi stand in Gangtok’s Deorali. “More than 100 vehicles have left for Siliguri. Each vehicle accommodates 10 passengers, so around 1000 tourists have left Gangtok so far,” said Subba around 3pm. That is when the last taxi leaves Gangtok. An industry sources said usually 400-500 tourists come down from Sikkim daily at this time of the year.

Nanda Ghosh and his family (of five), who had come from Calcutta’s Thakurpukur were among those eager to leave Gangtok. “We had come two days back for a weeklong package tour. We hardly saw any places in Sikkim when the news of bandh was published in newspapers. Since there is a relaxation of 12 hours, we are heading back to Calcutta. We don’t want to be stuck or harassed on the way,” Ghosh said. He was referring to the blockade set by the bandh enforcers led by the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha on Hill Cart Road yesterday. Tourists had to trudge almost a kilometre on foot with their baggage to cross the blockade.

Partha Sen reached the taxi stand at 5am only to find that all vehicles had been booked. “I had come here (taxi stand) in the wee hours so that I could catch the first vehicle to Siliguri but almost all taxis were booked. So I took a ticket of a taxi which is on the way to Gangtok from Siliguri,” he said. The taxi was expected here around 11am.

As soon as the news of bandh relaxation spread, there was a scramble to check out of hotels, whether in the Dooars or in Sikkim.

“The occupancy is zero now. The tourists who had checked in a day back also cancelled their bookings and left the hotel as news of the bandh relaxation trickled in,” said Rajen Chettri, the owner of a hotel in Gangtok with 20 double bed rooms.

Many tour operators said bookings to Changu Lake and Nathu-la, the main attractions of East Sikkim, were scrapped.

The secretary of the Lataguri Resort Owners’ Association, Kamal Bhowmick, said: “There are 38 private lodges in Lataguri and all of them are empty from the morning. These lodge owners have suffered a loss of Rs 5 lakh in just one day,” Bhowmick said.

Sikkim, which had been recovering from the earthquake that had scared away tourists, is now having to face the consequences of trouble in a neighbouring state because of its landlocked topography that makes it accessible only through Bengal.

“The tourism business was recovering gradually after the earthquake but again the political disturbances in Bengal have hit the sector badly. Around 30-40 per cent of the people of Sikkim are dependent on the tourism industry for their livelihood,” said Bhanu Pratap Rasaily, the president of Sikkim Hotel and Restaurant Owners’ Association. “Around 300 hotels in Sikkim are affiliated to the association and most of them are without tourists,” he said.

Lukendra Rasaily, the president of the Travel Agents’ Association of Sikkim, said in a circumstance like this, the tourism industry in the state suffers a loss of Rs 80 lakh a day. “A budget tourist in Gangtok spends nearly Rs 2,000 a day on an average. Sikkim gets around 4,000 tourists during the month of April which indicates a loss of Rs 80 lakh in a day,” he said.

Earlier this month, taps in Gangtok ran dry as lines supplying water from the only source were crushed by a landslide. Many tourists then had checked out of the hotels. It was three days before the water supply was normalised.

According to the data provided by the tourism department, 33,421 domestic tourists visited Sikkim this March, a sharp drop in the arrivals from the 62,438 people who came last year. “Sixty per cent of the domestic tourists to Sikkim are from Bengal,” a tourism official said.

“There has been a decrease of 30 per cent in tourist footfall this year. Although the season has just begun we are expecting to have more tourists in the next two months,” said tourism secretary R Telang. The official said he had considered the figures from January to April, though he could not divulge the numbers for this month.

The peak tourism season in Sikkim lasts from April to June. It picks up again in September and extends till November.

“I had spoken to the additional district magistrate of Darjeeling who is currently stationed in Siliguri to ensure that vehicles from Sikkim are not disrupted along the national highway. So far, no incident of stopping vehicles has been reported,” said district collector (East Sikkim) D Anandan.(TT)

24 Apr 2012

Member of lions club return back to sikkim from kolkata

RANGPO-24TH APRIL12
Five member’s delegates of lions club of Rangpo gateway of Sikkim after attending two days long multiple convention of lions club international 322 on 21st and 22nd April at science city Kolkata return back today. the team lead by Rangpo lions president lion chabilal Sharma along with past president lion pramod Prasad and lion sanjay Agarwal ,secretary lion bikash Prasad ,member lion julfikar khan has specially attended in the speech in the resource persons where renewed human resources personalities named Mr. ajay Agarwal and sanitation facility in country was deliberated by the resource person from Haryana.inagurated by Mr. somnath chattarjee ex lok sabha speaker the chief guest of the two days long function was lion Sunil wata wala international director of the club from sri lanka .the work done in favour of society and club was specially discussed and also discussed and planned to work for the year 2012 -13.till today in India the club has the branches at 6123 places having two lakh twenty two thousand members serving their work to society .in north Bengal Sikkim and Bhutan there is 2233 members at 71 places. Past international director lion bishnu bajhoria,lion prem laahoti ,lion k m goyal,lion a p Singh has also addressed the gathering of more than one thousand members present from fourteen states of the country.

अनिश्चितकालिन बन्दको दोस्रो दिन मोर्चा समर्थकहरुले दिए कोर्ट अरेष्ट, डुवर्स अशान्ति

24 अप्रेल(कालेबुङ):-अनिश्चितकालिन तराई डूवर्सको दोस्रो दिन आज कुनै हिंसात्मक घटनाहरु नभए पनि दिनभरि सम्पूर्ण डूवर्स उतत्प्त रह्यो। हिजो बन्द समर्थकहरुमाथि लाठीचार्ज गरिएको घटनाको प्रतिवादमा आज मोर्चा समर्थकहरुले डूवर्सका विभिन्न थानाहरुमा गिरफ्तारी दिए। पूर्व डूवर्सको जयगाँउ अनि कालचिनी क्षेत्रमा आज मोर्चा समर्थकहरु आक्रोशित देखिए। अहिले मोर्चा प्रमुख बिमल गुरुङ जयगाँवमा बसेका छन। आज उनका समर्थकहरुले जयगाँव थानामा हिजोको घटनाको विरोधमा नाराबाजी र धर्ना प्रदर्शन गरे। यहाँ लगभग पाँच हजार समर्थकहरुले थानामा गिरफ्तारी दिएको जानकारी पाइएको छ। यता, डूवर्सको कालचिनी क्षेत्रका समर्थकहरुले पनि थानामा गिरफ्तारी दिएको थाहा लागेको छ। हिजो बानरहाटमा भएको हिंसात्मक घटना पछि सम्पूर्ण डूवर्समा जलपाईगुडी जिल्ला प्रशासनले 144 धाराअन्तर्गत निषेधाज्ञा जारी गरेको छ। डूवर्सको नगरकट्टामा जनसभा गर्ने अनुमति नपाएको विरोधमा मोर्चासमर्थित जोइन्ट एक्शन को अर्डिनेशन कमिटिले हिजोदेखि डाकेको अनिश्चितकालिन बन्दले आज पनि यी क्षेत्रहरुमा जनजीवन प्रभावित पारेको छ। डूवर्सका अधिकांश क्षेत्रहरुमा दोस्रो दिन पनि बन्दले व्यापक प्रभाव परेको छ। बन्द समर्थक र विरोधीहरुबीचको राजनैतिक झडपले साम्प्रादायिक हिंसाको रुप धारण गर्न सक्ने कुरालाई केन्द्र गरी जिल्ला प्रशासनले कठोर सुरक्षा व्यवस्था र सतर्कता अपनाएको छ। हिंसाको सम्भावना भएका क्षेत्रहरुमा सोमबार रातीदेखि अर्धसैनिक बल पनि तैनाथ गरिएको जानकारी प्राप्त भएको छ। अर्कोतिर, बन्दको दोस्रो दिन पनि दार्जीलिङ पहाड र सिक्किमलाई आंशिक प्रभाव परेको देखिएको छ। पहाडबाट समततिर जाने वाहनहरुको चलाचल आज पनि ठप्प रहेको थियो। यता, राष्ट्रीय राजमार्ग 31एमा आज पनि बन्दले प्रभाव पारे पनि हिजोको तुलनामा आज सिक्किम सिलगडीगामी केही वाहनहरुको चलाचल रहेको थियो। सामान्य दिनको तुलनामा राजमार्गमा वाहनहरुको आवागमन खूबै कम्ति देखियो। आज बिहान टिस्टा पूलनजिक रबिझोडामा बन्द समर्थकहरुले वाहनहरु रोकेको अपुष्ट खबर प्राप्त भए पनि कालेबुङ पुलिसले खबरको खण्डन गरेको छ। तराईतिर जान राजमार्गमा भेला भएका समर्थकहरुलाई चाल्कहरुले आफै वाहन रोक्न थालेपछि यो हल्ला फैलिएको पुलिसको भनाई छ। बन्द्को कारण राजमार्गमा बाधा र तनाउ उत्पन्न हुन सक्ने डरले मानिसहरु आफै यात्रा गर्न नचाहेको हुनसक्ने कालेबुङ्की अतिरिक्त पुलिस अधिक्षक सोङमित लेप्चाले बताएकी छन।
यता, हिजो डूवर्समा भएको घटनाले पहाडका मोर्चा समर्थकहरुलाई पनि तताउन शुरु गरेको छ। मोर्चा समर्थकहरुमाथि लाठीचार्ज गरेको घटनाको प्रतिवादमा आज पार्टीको आह्वानमा दार्जीलिङ, खरसाङ, कालेबुङ अनि मिरिकमा प्रतिवाद जुलुश र पथसभाहरु सम्पन्न गरिएको छ। मोर्चाले राज्यको तृणमूल सरकारको तीव्र आलोचना गर्दै पूर्व माकपा सरकार र नयाँ सरकारमा कुनै भिन्नता नरहेको टिप्पणी गरेको छ। मोर्चाका महासचिव रोशन गिरीले राज्य सरकारप्रति आफ्नो रोष प्रकट गर्दै डूवर्समा जनसभाको निम्ति अनुमति दिलाउन मोर्चाले अब पहाडमा लगातार दबाउ बनाउने कार्यक्रम गर्ने बताएका छन।

Bandh fury & fire singe Dooars Strike relief for 12 hours

April 23: Shops were set on fire, a truck was burnt and a trader and three policemen were injured in the Dooars today as supporters of the indefinite bandh led by the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha clashed with their rivals.

Chief minister Mamata Banerjee appealed for peace. “I am asking both sides to maintain peace. No one should say anything that can disrupt peace,” she said.

Police lathicharged and burst tear gas shells to keep the mob at bay in Jalpaiguri’s Banarhat.

The Sashastra Seema Bal, a paramilitary force, has been deployed in the area since the afternoon. The supporters of the bandh, called to protest the denial of permission to hold a public meeting in the Dooars, had set up several blockades across the region.

Prohibitory orders were imposed tonight in seven police station areas of Banarhat, Malbazar, Kalchini, Birpara, Hasimara, Nagrakata and Metelli.

The strike, however, had little effect with tea labourers, who make up the bulk of the working class in the Dooars, joining duty in most gardens. Shops were open at Malbazar, Binnaguri, Banarhat, Nagrakata and Madarihat. Late in the evening, the Morcha announced that the strike would be relaxed for 12 hours, starting from 6am tomorrow.

The Joint Action Co-ordination Committee, led by the Morcha and a dissident faction of the Akhil Bharatiya Adivasi Vikas Parishad headed by John Barla, had called the indefinite strike from today in the Dooars and Terai after they were denied permission to hold a meeting in Nagrakata. They had been campaigning for the inclusion of 439 mouzas of the Terai and Dooars in the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration.

The first incident of violence was reported around 11.30am in Chamurchi in Banarhat. A group of bandh supporters reached the local market, asking shopkeepers to down shutters.

When the policemen stopped them, they resorted to brick-batting and attacked a group of bandh protesters who had assembled nearby. Soon, the other group retaliated, prompting the police to lathicharge and burst five rounds of tear gas shells.

The bandh supporters, traders alleged, attacked them while retreating. Abdul Kader, a businessman, was injured when bandh supporters hacked at his arm with a khukuri. He is under treatment at Jalpaiguri district hospital. They also set fire to the shops and at least 15 of them were gutted.

Another group of bandh supporters, picketing near Red Bank tea estate, 5km away, set fire to a truck carrying goods to the Northeast. Fire engines from Dhupguri and Binnaguri military station arrived to douse the flames as police dispersed the crowd.

A pro-bandh group that assembled at Odlabari ransacked a Maruti car on NH31, 30km from Banarhat. When the local people protested, there was a skirmish that allegedly left a bandh supporter injured. The police lathi charged to disperse the mob.

Bijoy Barua, the secretary of Banarhat Byabsayee Samiti, alleged that the administration had failed to do its job. “The administration should have clamped prohibitory orders. The police have failed to save shops. Fifteen shops were burnt,” Barua said.

District magistrate Smaraki Mahapatra said prohibitory orders were clamped tonight in seven police station areas. “They are Banarhat, Malbazar, Kalchini, Birpara, Hasimara, Nagrakata and Metelli,” she said.

Jalpaiguri police chief Sugata Sen said the situation was under control. “The bandh supporters had attacked a temporary police camp in Chamurchi and injured three policemen.”

In Calcutta, chief minister Mamata Banerjee said permission would be given to political parties to hold public meetings in the Dooars only after the situation returned to normal. “I am asking both sides to maintain peace. No one should say anything that can disrupt peace…The hills and the Dooars are both a part of Bengal so no one should disrupt peace.”

She said both sides should show restraint.

“Some people are trying to say that peace is being disrupted in the hills and the Dooars. But this is a manifestation of differences between two political parties that have been there for long. The administration has asked both sides to be restrained. Since there has been an agreement on the hills involving the Centre, the state and the Morcha, all sides will have to abide by it.”

John Barla, the adivasi leader who has joined hands with the Morcha, said his supporters were not involved in the violence.

Madhukar Thapa, a central committee member of the Morcha, said: “We held a meeting today and decided to relax the strike for 12 hours tomorrow, keeping in mind the inconvenience of the local people and tourists.”

Parishad leader Rajesh Lakra said: “The state must understand the pulse and immediately announce non-inclusion of the Terai and Dooars in GTA, irrespective of the recommendations of the committee.”(TT)

Test for Mamata and hill deal

April 23: The Mamata Banerjee government is facing a sensitive test in the Dooars after a little over a dozen shops and a truck were burnt today to enforce an indefinite bandh.

The shutdown was called by the spearheads of a campaign to bring some pockets in the plains under the jurisdiction of a council that will run the Darjeeling hills.

The violence was controlled before it could spiral — a trader and three policemen were injured — but the spark was a reminder of the tricky terrain that lay ahead as the date nears for the submission of a key report on territories. (See chart on left)

The administration has so far displayed a resolve not to yield to threats. It has stood its ground on not allowing meetings in the Dooars and the Terai where speeches in favour of territorial inclusion in the proposed Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA) could inflame passions.

Mamata added her voice to the efforts to maintain law and order. The chief minister made a fervent appeal for peace but added that meetings would not be allowed till normality returned.

The Gorkha Janmukti Morcha, the principal force in the hills that spearheaded the bandh call in a possible attempt to gauge its influence in the plains after allying with a breakaway group, appeared to soften somewhat tonight after the lukewarm response.

The Morcha “relaxed the strike for 12 hours tomorrow, keeping in mind the inconvenience of the local people and tourists”. The bandh coincided with the peak tourist season and several holidaymakers were held up.

The strike drew little spontaneous response. Tea labourers, who make up the bulk of the working class in the Dooars, turned up in most gardens.

Mamata is sending panchayat minister Subrata Mukherjee to the Dooars to find a “long-term solution” to the unrest among the tribals there, especially in the tea gardens.

The “short-term strategy” will be to open back-channel discussions with the Morcha leadership to persuade it to shun violence in the Dooars and let the Shyamal Sen committee, which is looking into its territory demand, submit its recommendations.

The government’s argument is that violence in the Dooars would only result in the Sen committee delaying in submitting its report which in turn would delay the formation of the GTA.

Mukherjee, who is leaving for Siliguri on Wednesday, said the prime reason for his visit would be to see how the benefits provided by the gram panchayats could be reached to the tea gardens since 90 per cent of the adivasis of the Dooars and the Terai are dependent on the tea gardens.

“The previous Left Front government had brought the tea gardens under the jurisdiction of gram panchayats. Those living in the workers’ lines of the tea gardens enjoy voting rights but they cannot be provided any facility,” Mukherjee said.

Officials said the tea gardens were set up on land leased out to the owners of the tea gardens. The workers do not possess the land on which they live in the gardens. Once they get possession rights of the land that they live on, they can tap benefits like getting dwellings under the Indira Awas Yojana.

For this to happen, the Tea Estate Act, under which the land has been leased to the gardens, will have to be amended. “The state government is considering getting in touch with the Centre on this issue,” an official said.

North Bengal development minister Gautam Deb was already holding talks with the Morcha leadership, which probably made the government feel earlier there won’t be violence and held it back from imposing prohibitory orders in the morning itself.(TT)

Trips cancelled in peak season - Stuck or forced to stay

April 23: Taxis today refused to ply in the Dooars and those travelling to and from the hills either demanded double the fare or stopped before they arrived at their destinations, forcing tourists to trudge with their luggage for at least a kilometre on a day bandh supporters and their rivals clashed in the region.

Nearly 5,000 tourists in the Dooars-Terai-Darjeeling hills circuit suffered inconvenience of some sort or the other. Of them, nearly 600 were forced to cancel their trips.

While those coming down from the Darjeeling hills were left stranded at the taxi stand for hours because of shortage of vehicles, some early morning travellers were stuck ahead of Panchanoi before entering Siliguri because of a blockade put up by the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha.

The blockade was lifted around 11.30am. Till then, tourists from the hills had to get out of the cars, walk on foot for at least a kilometre to cross the blockade and then take an autorickshaw or rickshaw to Darjeeling More. “From Darjeeling More, transport for Bagdogra or New Jalpaiguri station was available. Some tourists who were not lucky had to walk even 2-5km to reach Darjeeling More,” said a tour operator.

“Around 600-700 tourists scheduled to visit the Dooars stayed put in Siliguri. They had no plans to travel to the hills. It was a wastage of time and money,” said a tour operator based in the region.

In Darjeeling, many tourists were unaware of the call for an indefinite strike in the Terai and Dooars by the Joint Action Co-ordination Committee led by the Morcha and the John Barla faction of the Akhil Bharatiya Adivasi Vikas Parishad. The visitors were seen waiting for hours in front of the Darjeeling motor stand and the railway station.

“We came to know about the strike only this morning. We are unable to find a vehicle to ferry us down. A few taxis, which are plying, are charging anything between Rs 2,500 and 3,000,” said Santanu Das, a tourist from Barasat, who was waiting with his family at the Darjeeling taxi stand.

The normal fare between Darjeeling and Siliguri is between Rs 1,200 and Rs 1,500.

The taxi counter at the motor stand was shut. The Morcha affiliated All Transport Joint Action Committee, which is supporting the indefinite strike, did not open its office for bookings. The committee even plastered a poster at Chowk Bazar, stating that members would have to take their vehicles to Siliguri at their own risk.

“Only 100 cars from the hills came to Siliguri today. Usually, the figure is 300,” a tour operator said. He said though the number of people who went uphill was more, it was half the normal figure expected at this time of the year. “On an average, around 3,000 tourists leave Siliguri for the hills daily,” he said.

At taxi stands across Siliguri, tourists bound for the hills were found bargaining with drivers. Some changed their trips and headed for the hills, instead of the Dooars, as no vehicle was ready to take them to Gorumara National Park or Jaldapara Wildlife Sanctuary.

In New Jalpaiguri, Sudhir Oak, a resident of Mumbai, was found scouting for vehicles with three of his family members. “We came to know about the strike in the Dooars while on the train. Our plan was to visit the Dooars first and then go to the hills. Now we have to change our plan,” Oak said.

“Today, we will head for Kalimpong as vehicles are going to the hills. Later, we might visit the Dooars if normality is restored.”

One reason for the dearth of taxis in Darjeeling was that most of them did not come uphill. Taxi drivers said the ride from the outskirts of Siliguri to the entry point of the hills — a distance of 8-10km — was troublesome. “We didn’t want our cars to be damaged. We were worried about the 15km stretch from the outskirts of the town till Sevoke. We have nothing to fear in the hills or in Siliguri,” said a representative of the Taxi Owners’ Association.

Some tour operators also risked night drives — a strict no-no in the hills with their hairpin bends — to reach tourists.

“I sent two buses with tourists to Siliguri at 2am today. Drivers face risk when they ply vehicles during strike and I sent my office staff as escorts till Siliguri. We are anxiously waiting for the government to intervene as there are many tourists visiting the Darjeeling-Dooars-Sikkim area at this time,” said Pradip Tamang, the general secretary of the Darjeeling Association of Travel Agents (DATA) today.

Vehicles heading for the hills had an uninterrupted trip but those coming downhill to reach NJP or Bagdogra had to drop passengers near Salbari and Sukna till noon because of the road blockade at Panchanoi. But the road was cleared after police arrested 20 bandh supporters.

Raj Basu, adviser to the Eastern Himalaya Travel and Tour Operators’ Association, said any form of disruptive activity was a cause of concern in the peak tourist season. “This is the time for tourism. Forests will shut for four months from mid-May and there would be a slack in tourist arrival in the Dooars. Nobody visits the hills during the rain,” said Basu.

Yesterday, Basu had said at least six persons were dependent on one tourist directly or indirectly for their livelihood. During the peak summer season starting mid March and extending for two months, nearly 20,000 tourists are present in the region, including the hills, on an average a day.

“We were trying our best to revive the tourist-friendly image of this region. We had seen the tourist footfall drop by at least 60 per cent during the turmoil earlier. We don’t want that to happen again,” Basu said.(TT)

Ringtang deadline extension

Darjeeling, April 23: The administration has decided to extend the deadline for the reopening of Ringtang tea garden by another week after the management failed to comply with the directive to start operations from today.

“I have decided to write to the management asking them to open the garden by April 30,” DM Saumitra Mohan said. He did not specify any reason for the extension. Sources said the DM wanted to give time to owner Sushil Chowdhury before taking further steps so that there was no room for complaint. The garden has been shut for 16 years.(TT)

23 Apr 2012

अनिश्चितकालिन बन्दको प्रथम दिन डुवर्स अशान्ति

23 अप्रेल(कालेबुङ):- डूवर्समा जनसभा गर्ने अनुमति नदिएको प्रतिवादमा मोर्चासमर्थित जोइन्ट एक्शन को-अर्डिनेशन कमिटिले आजदेखि डाकेको अनिश्चितकालिन बन्दको पहिलो दिन डूवर्सका विभिन्न क्षेत्रहरुमा हिंसात्मक घटनाहरु भएको जानकारी पाइएको छ। बन्द समर्थक र विरोधीहरुबीच डूवर्सको बानरहाट झडप हुँदा यहाँका सातवटा दोकानहरु जलाइको छ। बन्दको विरोधमा बानरहाटका केही व्यापारीहरुले दोकान खुला राख्ने निर्णय लिँदा बन्द समर्थकहरुले तनाउ सृष्टि गरेका थिए।
यस घटनाले निकै ठूलो रुप लिने अवस्था देखा परे पछि पुलिसले लाठीचार्ज र अश्रु ग्यास छोडेर स्थितिलाई नियञ्त्रणमा लिएको थियो। यता, डूवर्सको मालबजार अनि ओदलाबारीमा पनि बन्दलाई केन्द्र गरी समर्थक र विरोधीहरुबीच तनाउ उत्पन्न भएको थाहा लागेको छ। अनिश्चितकालिन तराई डूवर्स बन्दको पहिलो दिन आज यी क्षेत्रहरुमा बन्दले जनजीवन व्यापक रुपले प्रभावित भएको छ। बन्दले तराई र सिलगढीका क्षेत्रहरुमा आंशिक प्रभाव पारे पनि डूवर्समा भने बन्द असरदार रह्यो। आजदेखि शुरु भएको अनिश्चितकालिन बन्दले दार्जीलिङ पहाड र छिमेकी राज्य सिक्किमलाई समेत असर परेको छ। मोर्चाको भातृ संगठन जनमुक्ति चालक महासंघले बन्दको समर्थन जनाउँदै पहाडी क्षेत्रबाट आज डूवर्स र सिलगडीगामी वाहनहरुको चलाचल ठप्प पारेको थियो। जसले गर्दा आज समतलतिर जाने यात्रीहरुले कडा असुबिधाको सामना गर्नु पर्योर। यता, राजमार्ग 31ए मा पनि बन्दको प्रभाव देखियो। राजमार्गमा बन्दको प्रभावको कारण आज सिक्किम सिलगढीगामी टेक्सी अनि सरकारी यात्रीवाहनहरुको आवगमन ठप्प थियो। दार्जीलिङ-कालेबुङ्बाट सिक्किमगामी वाहनहरुको चलाचल भने सामान्य रहेको थियो। सर्वोच्च न्यायालयले बन्दबाट राजमार्ग 31एलाई अक्षुण्ण राख्ने स्पष्ट आदेश दिएको भए पनि आज बन्दको कारण राजमार्ग प्रभावित भएको थियो। यस सम्बन्धमा मोर्चा महासचिव रोशन गिरीको बयान लिन चहाँदा उनले यो निर्णय मोर्चाको नरहेको बताएका छन। बन्दमा राजमार्गमा बाधा सृजना गर्ने मोर्चाको कुनै कार्यक्रम नरहेको गिरीले जयगाँउबाट फोन मार्फत जनाएका छन। यता, ज़ीटीएबारे मोर्चा समर्थित मञ्चलाई डूवर्समा जनसभा गर्ने अनुमति नदिने राज्य सरकारको निर्णयले मोर्चा प्रमुख बिमल गुरुङ क्षुब्ध बनेका छन। मोर्चा अनि जोन बारलापंथी आदिवासी बिकास परिषदको अगुवाईमा यहाँका 36वटा संगठनहरुको सहयोग लिएर गठन गरिएको जोइन्ट एक्शन को अर्डिनेशन कमिटिले आजदेखि डाकेको अनिश्चितकालिम बन्दको पहिलो दिन डूवर्सका अधिकांश क्षेत्रहरु बन्द रहे।कमिटिको पकड दूर्बल रहेका केही क्षेत्रहरुमा बन्दको आंशिक प्रभाव देखा परे पनि बाक़ी क्षेत्रहरुमा बन्द असरदार र सफल भएको को अर्डिनेशन कमिटिका प्रचार सचिव कृष्ण छेत्रीले दावी गरेका छन।
बन्दको अवधीमा आज डूवर्सका व्यापारिक, बित्तिय अनि शैक्षिक संस्थानहरु पूर्णरुपले अचल रहेका थिए भने आपतकालिन सेवाबाहेकका अन्य सरकारी कार्यालयहरुमा पनि बन्दको व्यापक प्रभाव देखियो। डूवर्स क्षेत्रमा आज यातायात सेवा पनि पूर्नरुपले ठप्प थियो।यता, डूवर्सका अधिकांश चियाकमानहरुमा कामकाज हुनसकेन। ज़ीटीएको सम्झौता गराएर पहाड अनि तराई डूवर्समा शान्ति पुनर्बाहाली गरिएको दाबी गर्ने राज्यकी मुख्यमंत्री ममता बेनर्जीलाई आजको घट्नाले नयाँ समस्यासँग सम्मुखिन बनाएको छ। तराई डूवर्सको अन्तर्भुक्तिमा अडिएको मोर्चाले आफ्नो कार्यक्रमलाई डूवर्स केन्द्रित गरे पछि अब राज्य सरकारको निम्ति क्षेत्रमा कानून व्यवस्था र साम्प्रादायिक सदभावना कायम राख्न नयाँ चुनौतिहरुको सामना गर्नु पर्ने देखिन्छ। (प्रदीप लोहागुणको रेपोर्ट)