Don’t brush past her - Clean your teeth, Karma has free paste

Gangtok, April 5: It would be fair to tell a child in Sikkim, “brush your teeth or Karma auntie will come, with her brush and paste”. Karma Chaden Bhutia, a medical officer and physician at Tokal Bermoik primary health centre in South Sikkim, has started distributing toothbrushes and toothpaste among students of remote government schools across the state to create awareness about oral hygiene, something she thinks kids in her state lack. The initiative, which began last year, has become popular and now around 400 students of 10 schools brush everyday on the school premises before their morning assembly. “This is a personal initiative with help from my staff and friends to provide free brush and toothpaste to students who never brush or who share one brush in the family,” said 37-year-old Bhutia. The medical officer has set up a booth at the health exhibition that began in Paljor Stadium in Gangtok today. During the five day exhibition, Bhutia would request local people to donate a toothbrush and tubes of paste. “The idea is to provide students with free supply of brush and paste for a year or two so that they inculcate the habit of brushing everyday,” Bhutia said. The first time she came across children who had never brushed their teeth was during a camp at Thang Sing Government Junior High school in South Sikkim last year. The programme was under the chief minister’s annual health check-up programme. “I was shocked to see that children were never taught about brushing their teeth by parents who themselves are ignorant about oral diseases. The students had bad oral hygiene. Most of them had tooth decay. I found it necessary to spread awareness about oral hygiene and bought toothpaste and brush for Rs 1,000 and distributed them among children,” Bhutia said. She added that her friends helped her distribute more than hundred toothpaste tubes and toothbrushes in Thang Sing Government Junior High school. Bhutia also encouraged teachers and parents to make students brush everyday. “I held a meeting with the parents and the teachers who promised to support my venture. Later, the programme reached other schools,” she added. Bhutia has also formed a group on a social networking site to garner support for her initiative. “I started a group in Facebook called Brush and Toothpaste,” she added. The group has 256 members. Bhutia said in February, a toothpaste and toothbrush company sent 1,000 toothbrushes and toothpaste tubes to her for distribution among children.“It is not a government-sponsored program. But her effort is being well appreciated,” chief medical officer Bimal Rai said.

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GNLF musters 5000 for foundation day

Simulbari (Kurseong), April 5: The GNLF today managed to gather nearly 5,000 supporters at Simulbari, located at the border of the hills and plains, for a show of strength on its foundation day. The rally at Simulbari, 20km from Siliguri, is not the GNLF’s first in the last three years since its leader Subhash Ghisingh was driven out of the hills but today’s supporter presence was the largest the GNLF managed since 2010. The rally has happened at a time the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha, the ruling force in the hills, has fallen out with the state government. Of late, a trickle of Morcha activists in the hills and the Dooars has started moving towards the GNLF and the state’s ruling party, Trinamul Congress. Ghisingh, who was banished from the hills in 2010 and has since being living in Jalpaiguri, did not attend today’s meeting. His party today demanded Sixth Schedule status for the Darjeeling hills that allows autonomy to a specific geographic area with constitutional validation. “We observed the foundation day of our party as the Gorkhaland Namkaran Sthapna Diwas to remind people that it was the GNLF and its chief Subash Ghisingh who had raised the demand of statehood on April 5, 1980, that is 33 years back,” said Mahendra Chhetri, president of the Terai regional unit of the GNLF and a central committee leader of the party. “We wanted to make sure that people understand the superiority of the Sixth Schedule, which if conferred would have constitutional validation,” Chhetri said. “The meeting is a part of the exercises taken up at the preparatory phase. Our principal leader (Ghisingh) will soon address people in public and will also go to the hills within next four to six weeks.” The Rohini and Pankhabari roads were supposed to have been shut to traffic from 9am to 3pm today but police did allow vehicles to pass. Police said around 5,000 people came to the rally. Since morning, GNLF supporters assembled from different corners of Terai and Kurseong, where Simulbari is located. Though in the hill subdivision, Simulbari is at the border of the plains, the last point before vehicles enter the hills. Chhetri said the state government and the administration were “maintaining the law and order in a proactive manner” in the hills. “We also appreciate the announcements made by the chief minister to form development boards for Lepchas and Buddhists in the hills,” he said. The Morcha staunchly opposed the formation of the Lepcha board under the state government. “Forming such councils or bodies for conservation and promotion of different tribes and their cultures dwelling in hills has been mentioned in the Sixth Schedule…. We thus appreciate the decision,” Chettri added. Chhetri, Tshering Dahal, a woman GNLF leader from Sukna, and other leaders termed the GTA illegal. Some supporters of the Morcha and the CPM today joined the GNLF, which put their number at 650. The veracity of the GNLF claim could not be confirmed independently. The GNLF also managed to mobilise about 500 supporters for a rally in Mirik. Around 2,000 Morcha supporters, too, brought out a rally in Mirik. The attendance of GNLF supporters in Mirik, observers believe, was significant given the fact that the party has not been able to function freely. In Darjeeling, nine Morcha supporters also joined the GNLF at a party meeting organised at Barbotey, about 15km from Darjeeling town. The meeting was attended by more than 100 GNLF supporters. Morcha meeting In Darjeeling town, the Morcha held a march at almost the same time. Except for one incident of vandalism about 50km from Darjeeling — alleged Morcha supporters threw away household items of a GNLF supporter — there were no reports of violence. According to Morcha sources, 8,000 people attended the march from Darjeeling station to Chowk Bazar. In Kurseong, Kalimpong and Mirik, too, the Morcha held rallies. The entire town was shut for the duration of the march between 10am to 1pm. In Kalimpong, about 5,000 supporters of the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha took out a rally through the streets of the town.

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the big racket of running illegal business of prohibited drugs from Rangpo goshkhan belt

RANGPO-4TH APRIL 13 Rangpo police busted the big racket of running illegal business of prohibited drugs from Rangpo goshkhan belt .according to the news Rangpo police in charge Mr. tshring Sherpa received an information from the reliable source regarding entering the huge quantity of prohibited drugs from Rangpo check post last night by some of the youth of Rangpo goshkhan lane of Rangpo .today the Rangpo police in charge Mr. Sherpa along with huge force of police has interrogated and started search operation at the area found the prohibited drug of more than one lakh rs from the three house of the goshkhan bent and sungurey basti .from thev three house police has seized 366 bottle cough syrup .400 tablet n ten and 1430 capsules of spemoproxivion .in connection with the case police has arrested two lady named urmila Sherpa and doma Sherpa registering the case under Sikkim anti drugs act 2006. .police is searching two youth named Sunil Sherpa and dorjee Sherpa who is suspected as a main mastermind behind running this illegal business. Till the news send police was searching the said youth in all over area but was not arrested. the house where the drugs was seized was fully covered with drugs like in utensils ,boxes ,and roof of the house was used by them to hide the said illegal goods .first time the such type of big illegal prohibited drugs is being seized by the police .the residents of Rangpo ,ngos clubs ,associations has appreciated the police for such type of search operation and seizure of illegal drugs .

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Hill traffic clampdown on rally day - Traffic off Darjeeling town & key roads when GNLF, Morcha hold rallies

Kalimpong, April 4: Several hill traffic shutdowns are expected to inconvenience residents and tourists in Darjeeling tomorrow when the Morcha and the GNLF will hold several meetings. In Darjeeling, the All Transport Joint Action Committee, an affiliate of the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha has decided not to run vehicles in the town for two hours from 11am in view of the party’s rally at Chowkbazar, near Chowrastha, tomorrow. The police have also decided to block Pankhabari Road and Rohini Road from 9am-3pm and the road to Darjeeling via Mirik for some time depending on the flow of traffic. Tour operators said visitors would suffer because of the traffic clampdowns. The GNLF will hold foundation day meetings at Simulbari and Barbotey, about 20km from Siliguri, and Mirik, about 5km from Siliguri between 9am and 3pm. The Yuva Morcha would also hold rallies around the same time, but the venues for these have not been announced yet. Although the Yuva Morcha has claimed its meetings have nothing to do with its rival’s programmes, it is known that the Morcha generally organises programmes on April 5 to put a spanner in the GNLF’s plans for its foundation day. Also, GNLF supporters may find it tough to reach the party’s public meetings at Simulbari, which is close to Rohini Road, and Barbotey, close to Darjeeling town. The Mirik meeting turnout could also be affected if the police block traffic on that route. Kunal Agarwal, the superintendent of police of Darjeeling district, said vehicles plying between Darjeeling and Siliguri will have to take the Mungpoo and Teesta routes. “The Mirik route will be closed for some time. Depending on the flow of traffic, we will regulate movement on the route,” he said. The Mungpoo and Teesta routes increase the travel time between Siliguri and Darjeeling by about an hour and a half. Usually, it takes around three-and-a-half hours to travel between Siliguri and Darjeeling. Contingents of the CRPF and the Indian Reserve Battalion would be deployed at the GNLF meeting venues, the police said. “We will deploy the IRB (Indian Reserve Battalion) and CRPF personnel in possible trouble spots. The CRPF personnel will be deployed in Simulbari, Mirik and Barbotey where the GNLF have got permission to hold meetings,” Agarwal said. Police sources said they apprehend that Morcha and GNLF activists may try to create trouble at each other’s rallies. “The disruption of vehicular movement will affect the tourists the most, especially those who are returning home and have to catch flights and trains (from Bagdogra and New Jalpaiguri),” said a tour operator who did not wish to be named. Pankhabari Road is the a road tourists take to go down to Siliguri. Industry sources said around 7,000-8,000 tourists are in the hills now. Apart from three public meetings, the GNLF supporters will put party flags atop their houses to mark the foundation day. “The party flags will be hoisted at different places throughout the hills tomorrow. We have only scheduled three public meetings at Simulbari, Mirik and Barbotey. Simulbari will probably witness the largest turnout of about 10,000 people,” said Arjun Rai, the convenor of the GNLF’s Mirik unit. The Morcha will also hold a rally in Kalimpong tomorrow.

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