kalimpong 8th Nov. (Telaiza): Regional CPIM leader Tara Sundas has decided to take parts in coming municipality election. As the nomination process has begin from today. while talking to media person he announce that he competing from ward no. 10 of kalimpong municipality .In the political atmosphere most of the opposition party in the hills are silence regarding election.Only the GJMM are active to take forward their positions in the hills.But once the process of candidate selection started controversy arising their head within the GJMM in such a condition how the oppositions will play their role and how the GJMM will settle downs their all this and that.Only the time will bring till then wait and see.
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।
8 Nov 2011
Rangpo Mining cricket ground changed into the jungle due to the negliency of the department
6:34 pm
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RANGPO/SANJAY AGARWAL- Rangpo mining cricket ground the lone ground of cricket provides by Sikkim sports department is changed into the jungle due to the negliency of the department. In the decade of 90 the said ground was handed over to the cricket associations to encourage the cricket game in the Sikkim. For some year the ground was cleaned and was also succeeded to organise the match in the said ground .but from some year the ground is not maintained and a scene is like a jungle as huge big grass is in the ground. The ground is totally covered by fencing and big door with lock at the main entry point so that no one can enter into the ground. when the ground was opened before the decade of 90 many players of state and national level was born from the Rangpo area as in the morning and evening the teenagers and students was habit to go to ground every morning and evening .but when there was no proper ground in the area it was seen and believed that many persons has seen the packet of prohibited drugs in the hand of teenagers and students as there is no any type of entertainment facility in the Rangpo area. what a shameful scene that the teenagers and students was compelled to take the packet of prohibited drugs just for entertainment and such type of behaviour has make the society and state image negative .in other side there is another small ground at Rangpo main market .one of the private sector company has also assured to support to construct the mini stadium also .but some persons has politicalise the issue and till today the work is pending. In favour of the local residents, teenagers and student the playground is most necessary and is suggested to open the mining cricket ground for all type of game and also make possibility to construct the mini stadium at Rangpo.
How the Army salvaged quake-struck Sikkim
6:29 pm
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It is now over a month since rescue and evacuation efforts began following the September 18 earthquake in north Sikkim. Relief and reconstruction work by the Indian Army, Indian Air Force (IAF), Border Roads Organisation (BRO), Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP), in tandem with the local administration, continues unabated despite many adversities of weather and inhospitable terrain conditions.
The scale of rescue and relief operation is so far unseen in Sikkim; the presence of the Indian Army and BRO in the region; the strategic ability of the IAF to mobilise resources and relief from anywhere in the country within a short notice. The swift operation proved a “life-saver” for the quake victims. The people of Sikkim also deserve special kudos for small but useful efforts.
Immediately after the 6.8 magnitude earthquake at about 5.15 pm on September 18, the Indian Army swung into action by sending small teams for rescue and humanitarian assistance across Sikkim. Soon after, the Army’s operation, code-named Trishakti Madad, involved nearly 5,500 Army troops and 700 ITBP personnel, totalling 105 Army columns of varying sizes.
They were engaged in the rescue, restoration and reconstruction efforts in the quake aftermath, which resulted in 25 road blockages and five major landslides on the NH-31A, between Siliguri and Gangtok. With the hypocentre reported as 20.7 km, the quake caused massive damage in India, Nepal and Tibet. It was also felt in Bangladesh and some damage was reported from Bhutan. Aftershocks measured 5.7 and 5.3 on the Richter scale and bad weather only delayed the operation.
Detachments of Army combat engineers and Border Roads Organisation (BRO) teams with road-opening equipment were moved from Siliguri and Binaguri to clear the road blocks. There was substantial damage to the Army properties in these areas.
Two fatal casualties to Army persons in north Sikkim was also reported. Few thousand civilians were accommodated in eight Army relief camps in Gangtok, Chungthang, Pegong and Darjeeling and some more in ITBP relief camps. Thirty doctors were heli-dropped at Mangam in north Sikkim as roads were cut-off, leaving people stranded.
By September 19 evening, 21 engineering columns of the Army had restored one-way traffic and telecommunication and power lines partially. Two-way traffic was restored within 24 hours, paving way for easier rescue and communication to areas in north Sikkim.
Director-general, Border Roads Organisation, Lt. Gen. Ravi Shankar told this writer that BRO made National Highway 31A operable in record time by clearing 14 major landslides and 14 minor ones. The Army suffered one fatal casualty and one was injured. “The areas near the epicentre of the earthquake, Mangan, are totally damaged. The roads from Gangtok to Mangan are blocked by massive landslides on at least 14 places,” he said following an aerial survey in the area.
The Army engineering columns and the BRO cleared blockages on NH 31A, which connects Sevoke Road to Gangtok, paving one-way traffic movement. The other road links cleared include the Lebong-Darjeeling axis, North Sikkim Highway (NSH), the Jawaharlal Nehru Marg (JNM) axis used by both tourists and Army personnel to reach Nathu-La, the Himalayan pass, at 14,140 feet.
Heavy rains hampered the rescue operations but affected civilians were accommodated in tents pitched by the Army, with cookhouses set up for providing food to all. The Army’s Medical Corps deployed 34 medical detachments and relief camps at various places in Sikkim, treating nearly 250 out-patients daily. A concerted effort to treat more casualties if need be, is being augmented and complemented by the medical supplies that the Army helicopters have been bringing in every possible sortie. Apart from the necessary advanced life-saving treatment at the Army’s “158 Base Hospital” at Bengdubi, patients were also given psychological counselling at the hospital to overcome post-traumatic stress.
With the Army and the IAF reportedly being forced to divert significant number of helicopters and personnel for visits of various VVIPs, the Army is reported to have conveyed an unusual but important suggestion to the defence ministry that VVIPs should desist from touring earthquake-affected areas. About 36 helicopters of the IAF and the Army ran hundreds of sorties for rescue and relief.
The Army eventually had 214 columns, that included two “special forces” columns who slithered down from hovering helicopters to reach the inaccessible and completely cut-off villages of Sakkyong, Phontong and Be. GOC-in-C, Eastern Command, Lt. Gen. Bikram Singh and Corps Commander Lt. Gen. Vinod Bhatia visited several forward areas and, in meetings with senior formation commanders, took stock of the state of operational functionalities, including damages to the Army’s forward defence lines, which thankfully remained largely unaffected.
Speaking to this writer, Lt. Gen. Singh said, “Our forces deployed on the border continue to man their defences as resolutely and vigilantly as ever in spite of the vagaries of the weather conditions and the tough terrain.”
Army troops covered over 106 villages along the major axis of Mangan, Chungthang, Lachung, Chhaten, Dikchu, Geyzing and Zema, undoubtedly among the worst-affected regions in north Sikkim. A total of 971 tourists, including 12 foreigners, were among those evacuated by air or taken to safer locations by alternate modes.
One of the exceptional and innovative move that saved lives was that of Lt. Col. R.K. Saini’s. Commanding a field workshop of the electrical and mechanical engineers (EME) battalion in the outer perimeter of Gangtok city, his personnel saved the life of a young woman, Sanu Tamang.
She was travelling in a car with her husband and her brother when a combination of earth, stones and an uprooted tree came crashing down on it. Her brother Kamal lay crushed in the car driven by her husband Dhanraj Tamang. Col. P. Kapoor, commanding officer of the EME battalion, managed to get in touch with the BRO and requisitioned additional excavator and bulldozer to the site. He further reinforced fork-lifters and pillar lights to facilitate rescue operations by night.
Showing exemplary courage and presence of mind to arrive at a quick decision, Lt. Col. Saini decided to cut open the vehicle into several parts. Meanwhile, a giant crater was dug on one side of the car to offset any possibility of the vehicle tipping over. By 1.30 am, the team, that worked relentlessly all through the night, had managed to safely bring out the passengers alive.
Saved after a near five-hour death-defying ordeal, Sanu and Dhanraj, married this July, say they can never forget the invaluable and extended assistance of the Army personnel. Sanu suffered deep wounds around her stomach, massive crush injuries in her pelvic region and lower limbs. She needed specialist treatment and was advised to be shifted to a Siliguri hospital. Unable to produce documents of her domicile status, Sanu was ineligible for free treatment. Her husband Dhanraj, who is a driver by profession, had already lost his only means of livelihood, the crushed car which he used as taxi. He then decided to approach the same officers of the EME battalion who had earlier saved their lives, pleading for help. The officers did not disappoint him.
With a little intervention, they persuaded the state authorities handling the medical relief in the quake-affected areas to extend help to the beleaguered couple. But without fuel, which was already in short supply at Gangtok after the earthquake, the hospital ambulance was of little help. Realising the grave danger to Sanu’s life the EME officers refuelled the ambulance from their own reserves, enabling her to be taken to Siliguri and thereafter continued to monitor Sanu’s progress and assisted Dhanraj in every way possible to alleviate their problems.
Road clearance work is still going on along the Toong-Chungthang, Chungthang-Lachung and Chungthang-Lachen axis. Even the robust, 10-inch-thick iron girders laid on some of the stretches on the Toong-Chungthang axis to prevent soil and rock giving away beneath, failed to hold the weight of the fractured rocks, mangling them beyond usefulness.
The BRO’s task, unenviable as evident from the pictures taken recently from the air, remains hugely cut out. “With a little luck” (referring to the clear weather) and “with dedication of a few of my good men, the Chungthang-Lachung road should be open in a week’s time,” said Col. P.H. Reddy, commander 758 BRTF (Border Roads Task Force) at Chungthang, on October 13, 2011.
With road conditions still a far cry from safe for quick and safe transportation of relief materials to Chungthang and beyond, the use of the yet-to-be-commissioned, 18-km-long Teesta stage-III Urja hydro-electric project tunnel, by the Army will go down as perhaps one of the most innovative usage of the Urja project tunnel to tide over the crisis.
The horseshoe-shaped reinforced-concrete tunnel, measuring an average 7.8 metres in diameter, and wide enough for restricted vehicular movement proved to be the life-saver and reportedly suffered no damage in the recent earthquake.
By early October, the death toll reported was 112.
Sikkim’s chief minister Pawan Chamling said the state has suffered an estimated `1 lakh crores of damage in the wake of the unprecedented earthquake. The Sikkim government has disbursed `14.21 crores as relief among quake-hit people in Sikkim.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh reportedly sanctioned an ex-gratia of `2 lakhs from the Prime Minister’s National Relief Fund to the deceased and `1 lakh for every injured person. Mr Chamling expressed his gratitude to the government of India and the Army for their prompt action in launching rescue and relief operations and restoration of road commutation on National Highway 31A.
Anil Bhat, a retired Army officer, is a defence and security analyst based in New Delhi.
The scale of rescue and relief operation is so far unseen in Sikkim; the presence of the Indian Army and BRO in the region; the strategic ability of the IAF to mobilise resources and relief from anywhere in the country within a short notice. The swift operation proved a “life-saver” for the quake victims. The people of Sikkim also deserve special kudos for small but useful efforts.
Immediately after the 6.8 magnitude earthquake at about 5.15 pm on September 18, the Indian Army swung into action by sending small teams for rescue and humanitarian assistance across Sikkim. Soon after, the Army’s operation, code-named Trishakti Madad, involved nearly 5,500 Army troops and 700 ITBP personnel, totalling 105 Army columns of varying sizes.
They were engaged in the rescue, restoration and reconstruction efforts in the quake aftermath, which resulted in 25 road blockages and five major landslides on the NH-31A, between Siliguri and Gangtok. With the hypocentre reported as 20.7 km, the quake caused massive damage in India, Nepal and Tibet. It was also felt in Bangladesh and some damage was reported from Bhutan. Aftershocks measured 5.7 and 5.3 on the Richter scale and bad weather only delayed the operation.
Detachments of Army combat engineers and Border Roads Organisation (BRO) teams with road-opening equipment were moved from Siliguri and Binaguri to clear the road blocks. There was substantial damage to the Army properties in these areas.
Two fatal casualties to Army persons in north Sikkim was also reported. Few thousand civilians were accommodated in eight Army relief camps in Gangtok, Chungthang, Pegong and Darjeeling and some more in ITBP relief camps. Thirty doctors were heli-dropped at Mangam in north Sikkim as roads were cut-off, leaving people stranded.
By September 19 evening, 21 engineering columns of the Army had restored one-way traffic and telecommunication and power lines partially. Two-way traffic was restored within 24 hours, paving way for easier rescue and communication to areas in north Sikkim.
Director-general, Border Roads Organisation, Lt. Gen. Ravi Shankar told this writer that BRO made National Highway 31A operable in record time by clearing 14 major landslides and 14 minor ones. The Army suffered one fatal casualty and one was injured. “The areas near the epicentre of the earthquake, Mangan, are totally damaged. The roads from Gangtok to Mangan are blocked by massive landslides on at least 14 places,” he said following an aerial survey in the area.
The Army engineering columns and the BRO cleared blockages on NH 31A, which connects Sevoke Road to Gangtok, paving one-way traffic movement. The other road links cleared include the Lebong-Darjeeling axis, North Sikkim Highway (NSH), the Jawaharlal Nehru Marg (JNM) axis used by both tourists and Army personnel to reach Nathu-La, the Himalayan pass, at 14,140 feet.
Heavy rains hampered the rescue operations but affected civilians were accommodated in tents pitched by the Army, with cookhouses set up for providing food to all. The Army’s Medical Corps deployed 34 medical detachments and relief camps at various places in Sikkim, treating nearly 250 out-patients daily. A concerted effort to treat more casualties if need be, is being augmented and complemented by the medical supplies that the Army helicopters have been bringing in every possible sortie. Apart from the necessary advanced life-saving treatment at the Army’s “158 Base Hospital” at Bengdubi, patients were also given psychological counselling at the hospital to overcome post-traumatic stress.
With the Army and the IAF reportedly being forced to divert significant number of helicopters and personnel for visits of various VVIPs, the Army is reported to have conveyed an unusual but important suggestion to the defence ministry that VVIPs should desist from touring earthquake-affected areas. About 36 helicopters of the IAF and the Army ran hundreds of sorties for rescue and relief.
The Army eventually had 214 columns, that included two “special forces” columns who slithered down from hovering helicopters to reach the inaccessible and completely cut-off villages of Sakkyong, Phontong and Be. GOC-in-C, Eastern Command, Lt. Gen. Bikram Singh and Corps Commander Lt. Gen. Vinod Bhatia visited several forward areas and, in meetings with senior formation commanders, took stock of the state of operational functionalities, including damages to the Army’s forward defence lines, which thankfully remained largely unaffected.
Speaking to this writer, Lt. Gen. Singh said, “Our forces deployed on the border continue to man their defences as resolutely and vigilantly as ever in spite of the vagaries of the weather conditions and the tough terrain.”
Army troops covered over 106 villages along the major axis of Mangan, Chungthang, Lachung, Chhaten, Dikchu, Geyzing and Zema, undoubtedly among the worst-affected regions in north Sikkim. A total of 971 tourists, including 12 foreigners, were among those evacuated by air or taken to safer locations by alternate modes.
One of the exceptional and innovative move that saved lives was that of Lt. Col. R.K. Saini’s. Commanding a field workshop of the electrical and mechanical engineers (EME) battalion in the outer perimeter of Gangtok city, his personnel saved the life of a young woman, Sanu Tamang.
She was travelling in a car with her husband and her brother when a combination of earth, stones and an uprooted tree came crashing down on it. Her brother Kamal lay crushed in the car driven by her husband Dhanraj Tamang. Col. P. Kapoor, commanding officer of the EME battalion, managed to get in touch with the BRO and requisitioned additional excavator and bulldozer to the site. He further reinforced fork-lifters and pillar lights to facilitate rescue operations by night.
Showing exemplary courage and presence of mind to arrive at a quick decision, Lt. Col. Saini decided to cut open the vehicle into several parts. Meanwhile, a giant crater was dug on one side of the car to offset any possibility of the vehicle tipping over. By 1.30 am, the team, that worked relentlessly all through the night, had managed to safely bring out the passengers alive.
Saved after a near five-hour death-defying ordeal, Sanu and Dhanraj, married this July, say they can never forget the invaluable and extended assistance of the Army personnel. Sanu suffered deep wounds around her stomach, massive crush injuries in her pelvic region and lower limbs. She needed specialist treatment and was advised to be shifted to a Siliguri hospital. Unable to produce documents of her domicile status, Sanu was ineligible for free treatment. Her husband Dhanraj, who is a driver by profession, had already lost his only means of livelihood, the crushed car which he used as taxi. He then decided to approach the same officers of the EME battalion who had earlier saved their lives, pleading for help. The officers did not disappoint him.
With a little intervention, they persuaded the state authorities handling the medical relief in the quake-affected areas to extend help to the beleaguered couple. But without fuel, which was already in short supply at Gangtok after the earthquake, the hospital ambulance was of little help. Realising the grave danger to Sanu’s life the EME officers refuelled the ambulance from their own reserves, enabling her to be taken to Siliguri and thereafter continued to monitor Sanu’s progress and assisted Dhanraj in every way possible to alleviate their problems.
Road clearance work is still going on along the Toong-Chungthang, Chungthang-Lachung and Chungthang-Lachen axis. Even the robust, 10-inch-thick iron girders laid on some of the stretches on the Toong-Chungthang axis to prevent soil and rock giving away beneath, failed to hold the weight of the fractured rocks, mangling them beyond usefulness.
The BRO’s task, unenviable as evident from the pictures taken recently from the air, remains hugely cut out. “With a little luck” (referring to the clear weather) and “with dedication of a few of my good men, the Chungthang-Lachung road should be open in a week’s time,” said Col. P.H. Reddy, commander 758 BRTF (Border Roads Task Force) at Chungthang, on October 13, 2011.
With road conditions still a far cry from safe for quick and safe transportation of relief materials to Chungthang and beyond, the use of the yet-to-be-commissioned, 18-km-long Teesta stage-III Urja hydro-electric project tunnel, by the Army will go down as perhaps one of the most innovative usage of the Urja project tunnel to tide over the crisis.
The horseshoe-shaped reinforced-concrete tunnel, measuring an average 7.8 metres in diameter, and wide enough for restricted vehicular movement proved to be the life-saver and reportedly suffered no damage in the recent earthquake.
By early October, the death toll reported was 112.
Sikkim’s chief minister Pawan Chamling said the state has suffered an estimated `1 lakh crores of damage in the wake of the unprecedented earthquake. The Sikkim government has disbursed `14.21 crores as relief among quake-hit people in Sikkim.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh reportedly sanctioned an ex-gratia of `2 lakhs from the Prime Minister’s National Relief Fund to the deceased and `1 lakh for every injured person. Mr Chamling expressed his gratitude to the government of India and the Army for their prompt action in launching rescue and relief operations and restoration of road commutation on National Highway 31A.
Anil Bhat, a retired Army officer, is a defence and security analyst based in New Delhi.
First tourism blueprint for Darjeeling
8:52 am
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Darjeeling, Nov. 7: The state government has brought in RITES to draw up a comprehensive tourism master plan for Darjeeling in the next two months, the first such effort for the Queen of the Hills.
Mamata Banerjee’s decision to come up with the master plan is probably propelled by her announcement to turn Darjeeling into Switzerland.
The chief minister had made the promise during her visit to the hills in September last year, months before she was voted to power.
The survey comes at a time when both the state government and the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha, signatories to the agreement to set up a new administrative arrangement for the hills, seem to be in a hurry to start some development projects in the region.
Soon after signing the agreement for the formation of the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration, Morcha chief Bimal Gurung had brought architects from Delhi to see what they had to say about increasing the tourism prospects of Darjeeling.
RITES, under the aegis of the railways which was formerly under Mamata and now under another Trinamul minister, offers consultancy services and has agreed to draw up the master plan for a fee of Rs 64 lakh.
Jitu Sharma, an economist with RITES, said work had started on the project. “We are preparing a master plan for the tourism sector and our people are visiting existing tourist sites and are inspecting potential niches that can be developed,” Sharma said over the phone from Gurgaon.
Representative of RITES are also interviewing individuals from across the hills to know their opinions on what they want. “We will also hold a meeting with the district officials on November 10,” said Sharma.
The master plan will be chalked out according to the findings of the survey but RITES is known to have expertise in implementing tourism-related projects too, including setting up of ropeways, urban planning and marketing. In fact, RITES, has operational experience of working in 62 countries in Africa, Southeast Asia, West Asia and Latin America.
RITES is looking at completing the master plan within the next two months. “We should be able to come up with the plan in the next two to three months,” said Sharma.
The district administration too is working on a war footing to come up with projects in the hills. The Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council, which is soon to be replaced by the GTA, has already floated a tender to build a multi-level car parking near Darjeeling Government College, the cost of which is likely to touch the Rs 17-crore mark.
The DGHC has also started the process of floating tenders for construction of another car park along NH55 near the District Reserve Centre godown and for an open-air theatre at the Janga Bahadur Park at the Mall or Chowrastha, Darjeeling’s famous promenade.
“The open-air theatre is part of the beautification plan for the Mall but I cannot tell you the total cost of the projects till the tender process are completed,” said DGHC administrator Anil Verma. The district administration has also sanctioned Rs 3 crore for the upgrade of the Gorkha Stadium at Lebong.
