| AVIJIT SINHA & SUBHASH CHANDRA BOSE | ||
April 6: The state government has for the first time invited a forum of outfits opposed to the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha to the talks table next week after the two rival camps called a almost back-to-back 96-hour strikes to counter each other’s demand on added hill territory. The proposed meeting of the Terai Dooars Joint Action Committee, the forum for 19 organisations, with ministers Partha Chatterjee and Gautam Deb will be in Siliguri on April 8. Tour operators are looking forward to the government intervention, for any form of agitation may hit the number of summer visitors to the Dooars and Terai. But the anti-Morcha committee said it was determined to go ahead with its 48-hour strike starting April 10 and subsequent agitation if the government did not assure in writing that the jurisdiction of the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration would not extend to the plains. The invitation to the talks was sent to forum convener, the KPP’s Atul Roy, by the north Bengal development department headed by Deb. The rival camp led by the Morcha has called a two-day strike from April 18. “The letter, signed by an assistant secretary of the north Bengal development department reached Atul Roy (KPP president and convener of the committee) yesterday. This is the first time that the government has called us to the talks table. State ministers Partha Chatterjee and Gautam Deb will hold a meeting with us at the office of the north Bengal development department in Siliguri on April 8,” said Rajesh Lakra, general secretary of Terai Dooars Regional Unit of the Akhil Bharatiya Adivasi Parishad. “Although no agenda has been fixed, it seems the state representatives will ask us to withdraw the 48-hour strike from April 10 and the agitation that we had planned.” The forum held a meeting of its constituent organisations at Jalpaiguri’s Nagrakata today to decide on the next course of action. “Unless the state gives us in writing that not an inch of the Terai and Dooars will be made part of the GTA, there is no question of withdrawing,” said Lakra. Minister Deb has confirmed the meeting with the forum. “Yes, Partha Chatterjee will be travelling to Siliguri on Sunday to meet members of the Adivasi Vikas Parishad. We believe that in a democracy, talks are the only way to find solutions to problems. He has some other meetings lined up as well.” To counter the move of the forum, the Morcha along with the rebel faction of the Parishad led by John Barla has formed another joint action committee, which has announced a 48-hour strike from April 18 and has lined up rallies and meetings till May 31. To mount pressure on the forum, the Morcha-led committee has demanded that 40 more mouzas of the Terai and Dooars must be added to the GTA. “Recently, we had written to the high-powered (Justice Sen) committee with a list of these 40 mouzas where tribals are the majority. These areas should come under the GTA along with the 399 mouzas for which we had made the initial demand, otherwise we will launch a movement,” said Barla today. The government has appointed a committee led by retired Justice Shyamal Sen to look into the Morcha demand that Gorkha-dominated areas of the Dooars and Terai be brought under the GTA. Tour and travel operators fear that business may be hit like in 2007 when the statehood agitation had engulfed the hills. “For the past one year, tourist movement has shown steady rise in all seasons. But now that organisations and political parties are planning agitation again, we fear a huge loss. An air of uncertainty always pushes away tourists,” said Deepak Gupta, general secretary of Eastern Himalaya Travel & Tour Operators’ Association (EHTTOA). Asked about the footfall in the region at this time, Gupta said it was difficult to give any number. “The concept now is touring in circuits. No one comes to Dooars or Terai or Darjeeling separately. They tour an entire circuit like the Dooars-Terai-Darjeeling-Sikkim.” Nearly 3.5 lakh tourists visit Darjeeling annually and 60 per cent of them prefer the March-June season. Raj Basu, the chairman of the EHTTOA advisory board, said even party meetings and rallies hit businesses. “We will face problems transporting tourists as all vehicles will be booked by the parties,” he said.(The Telegraph) |
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।
7 Apr 2012
Anti-Morcha forum called to talks table - 96-hour strike calls spurs govt invite
Hail hits Darjeeling, snow higher up - It’s April but tourists enjoy snowfall in Sandakphu
April 6: The upper reaches of Darjeeling got a snowfall at midnight, rare at this time of the year, while the hill town itself was covered with a white blanket of hailstones after a storm this morning.
In Darjeeling, the skies were clear in the morning and a snow-draped Sandakphu-Phalut could be easily seen. But from around 11am dark clouds gathered over the town, followed by a hailstorm and heavy rain.
Pema Dhondup Sherpa, the owner of a hotel on the Nepal side in Sandakhphu, confirmed that the entire area was covered in snow. “It did snow here for about four hours from midnight yesterday. The snow was one-and-a-half-inch thick. There are a lot of tourists and everyone is enjoying their stay,” said Sherpa over the phone from Sandakphu at 12,000 feet.
Bharat Prakash Rai, the secretary of the Federation of Societies of Environmental Protection, an NGO which works in the Sanadkphu-Singalila area, also confirmed the snowfall.
“I had called up my colleagues in the region and they, too, said it did snow about one-and-a-half inches at night. They told me that the snowfall was a bit heavy in Phalut at night but in the morning there was only a hailstorm,” said Rai.
The in-charge of Sikkim Meteorological Centre, G.N. Raha, said he had not received any report of snowfall from Sandakphu.
But he did not rule out the chances of snow in the higher altitudes of sub-Himalayan Bengal around this time of the year as a western disturbance was currently crossing over to eastern part of the country from Jammu and Kashmir.
“A western disturbance had hit Jammu and Kashmir around three days back which is now crossing over to the eastern part of the country. The cyclonic circulation over Bangladesh and Bengal is also an effect of the western disturbance. Although I have not received any reports of snow from Sandakphu, the region could have received light snowfall as an effect of the western disturbance,” Raha said.
Western disturbance is a phenomenon in which clouds bearing moisture form over the Mediterranean Sea and then move east to reach India. They cause thundershowers in low-lying areas and snowfall in higher altitudes.
Subir Sarkar, the in-charge of the weather centre at North Bengal University, agreed.
“The western disturbance had brought snowfall to higher altitude areas of Jammu and Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh. It is likely that Sandakphu may have received light snowfall,” he said.
In Darjeeling, the residents could neither recall such a heavy hailstorm nor snow in Sandakphu-Phalut in April.
“I had only heard of a snowfall in Sandapkhu in late February or sometimes in early March,” said Dipesh Tamang, a resident of the hill town. Mahesh Thapa, another resident of the hill town, said the hailstones were not very big but many. “They covered the roads, rooftops and pavements for almost half an hour before melting.”
The Darjeeling tea industry had a lucky escape as the hailstorm did not destroy the first flush crop.
“Since the hailstorm were confined to a limited area, garden crop was not affected. According to information that I have, only Orange Valley tea garden experienced hailstorm for about 7-8 minutes. We are happy that the region experienced the much needed rain,” said Sandeep Mukherjee, the principal adviser to the Darjeeling Tea Association.
The rain that accompanied the half-an-hour hailstorm, however, made life difficult for the people of the town as drains overflowed into the roads.
The ground floor of a four-storied building near Motor Stand was completely submerged by the overflowing water from a nearby jhora.
Amar Singh Rai, the chairperson of the Darjeeling municipality, said the civic body was caught unawares by the sudden downpour.
“We had started cleaning one jhora a week every Thursday since last week in preparation for the monsoon. The rain was unexpected and this is why most of the drains overflowed,” said Rai.(The Telegraph)
In Darjeeling, the skies were clear in the morning and a snow-draped Sandakphu-Phalut could be easily seen. But from around 11am dark clouds gathered over the town, followed by a hailstorm and heavy rain.
Pema Dhondup Sherpa, the owner of a hotel on the Nepal side in Sandakhphu, confirmed that the entire area was covered in snow. “It did snow here for about four hours from midnight yesterday. The snow was one-and-a-half-inch thick. There are a lot of tourists and everyone is enjoying their stay,” said Sherpa over the phone from Sandakphu at 12,000 feet.
Bharat Prakash Rai, the secretary of the Federation of Societies of Environmental Protection, an NGO which works in the Sanadkphu-Singalila area, also confirmed the snowfall.
“I had called up my colleagues in the region and they, too, said it did snow about one-and-a-half inches at night. They told me that the snowfall was a bit heavy in Phalut at night but in the morning there was only a hailstorm,” said Rai.
The in-charge of Sikkim Meteorological Centre, G.N. Raha, said he had not received any report of snowfall from Sandakphu.
But he did not rule out the chances of snow in the higher altitudes of sub-Himalayan Bengal around this time of the year as a western disturbance was currently crossing over to eastern part of the country from Jammu and Kashmir.
“A western disturbance had hit Jammu and Kashmir around three days back which is now crossing over to the eastern part of the country. The cyclonic circulation over Bangladesh and Bengal is also an effect of the western disturbance. Although I have not received any reports of snow from Sandakphu, the region could have received light snowfall as an effect of the western disturbance,” Raha said.
Western disturbance is a phenomenon in which clouds bearing moisture form over the Mediterranean Sea and then move east to reach India. They cause thundershowers in low-lying areas and snowfall in higher altitudes.
Subir Sarkar, the in-charge of the weather centre at North Bengal University, agreed.
“The western disturbance had brought snowfall to higher altitude areas of Jammu and Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh. It is likely that Sandakphu may have received light snowfall,” he said.
In Darjeeling, the residents could neither recall such a heavy hailstorm nor snow in Sandakphu-Phalut in April.
“I had only heard of a snowfall in Sandapkhu in late February or sometimes in early March,” said Dipesh Tamang, a resident of the hill town. Mahesh Thapa, another resident of the hill town, said the hailstones were not very big but many. “They covered the roads, rooftops and pavements for almost half an hour before melting.”
The Darjeeling tea industry had a lucky escape as the hailstorm did not destroy the first flush crop.
“Since the hailstorm were confined to a limited area, garden crop was not affected. According to information that I have, only Orange Valley tea garden experienced hailstorm for about 7-8 minutes. We are happy that the region experienced the much needed rain,” said Sandeep Mukherjee, the principal adviser to the Darjeeling Tea Association.
The rain that accompanied the half-an-hour hailstorm, however, made life difficult for the people of the town as drains overflowed into the roads.
The ground floor of a four-storied building near Motor Stand was completely submerged by the overflowing water from a nearby jhora.
Amar Singh Rai, the chairperson of the Darjeeling municipality, said the civic body was caught unawares by the sudden downpour.
“We had started cleaning one jhora a week every Thursday since last week in preparation for the monsoon. The rain was unexpected and this is why most of the drains overflowed,” said Rai.(The Telegraph)
Civic body scan on Sikkim plaza
Gangtok, April 6: The Gangtok Municipal Corporation is preparing to crack down on shop owners who have sublet their holdings at the Kanchenjungha shopping complex that the civic body took over on April 1.
The cleanup that is likely to start from May is scheduled be over in a month’s time.
The state urban development and housing department was in charge of the five-year-old complex. But recently the administration of the plaza was handed over to the two-year-old GMC.
There are around 350 hawkers and 225 shops in the four-storied complex.
“The first work of the corporation would be to scrutinise the documents of those who have been given trade and hawker’s licences in the shopping complex. We have received unofficial information that many licence holders and shop owners have sublet their shops. Necessary action, including cancellation of licences, will be taken if anyone is found guilty,” said Gangtok mayor K.N. Topgay.
According to sources, the urban development and housing department rented out shops at Rs 12 per square feet. By that calculation, the average monthly rate of a shop at the plaza ranges between Rs 1,200 and Rs 1,500.
But the licence holders have sublet the units for a monthly rent of Rs 5,000 to Rs 8,000.
“The state is having to incur heavy losses because of this practice,” Topgay said. He, however, did not specify the loss incurred.
Sources at the municipality said the government has also lost around Rs 2 crore as shopowners had not paid licence renewal fees for the past two years.
“Payment of trade licence renewal fee was a matter of great concern as the handing over of the shopping complex took place two years after the civic body was formed. So far there was confusion regarding whom to pay the fees for the renewal. But now, since the hand over has taken place, we will be paying the dues to the GMC,” said Lakpa Sherpa, the vice-president of the All Sikkim Hawkers’ Association.
Although the complex was formally under the urban development department, it did not collect the renewal fees.
“A temporary office will be set up in the complex so that traders can renew their licences without hassles,” Topgay said. GMC sources said all renovation, repair and the beatification work at the plaza would be done from the amount raised through the licence renewal fees.
Lakpa said the traders have welcomed the move. “There are many people who have government jobs and still own shops here. We want the GMC to cancel their licences so that the shops can be handed over to others who do not have any other source of income.”(The Telegraph)
The cleanup that is likely to start from May is scheduled be over in a month’s time.
The state urban development and housing department was in charge of the five-year-old complex. But recently the administration of the plaza was handed over to the two-year-old GMC.
There are around 350 hawkers and 225 shops in the four-storied complex.
“The first work of the corporation would be to scrutinise the documents of those who have been given trade and hawker’s licences in the shopping complex. We have received unofficial information that many licence holders and shop owners have sublet their shops. Necessary action, including cancellation of licences, will be taken if anyone is found guilty,” said Gangtok mayor K.N. Topgay.
According to sources, the urban development and housing department rented out shops at Rs 12 per square feet. By that calculation, the average monthly rate of a shop at the plaza ranges between Rs 1,200 and Rs 1,500.
But the licence holders have sublet the units for a monthly rent of Rs 5,000 to Rs 8,000.
“The state is having to incur heavy losses because of this practice,” Topgay said. He, however, did not specify the loss incurred.
Sources at the municipality said the government has also lost around Rs 2 crore as shopowners had not paid licence renewal fees for the past two years.
“Payment of trade licence renewal fee was a matter of great concern as the handing over of the shopping complex took place two years after the civic body was formed. So far there was confusion regarding whom to pay the fees for the renewal. But now, since the hand over has taken place, we will be paying the dues to the GMC,” said Lakpa Sherpa, the vice-president of the All Sikkim Hawkers’ Association.
Although the complex was formally under the urban development department, it did not collect the renewal fees.
“A temporary office will be set up in the complex so that traders can renew their licences without hassles,” Topgay said. GMC sources said all renovation, repair and the beatification work at the plaza would be done from the amount raised through the licence renewal fees.
Lakpa said the traders have welcomed the move. “There are many people who have government jobs and still own shops here. We want the GMC to cancel their licences so that the shops can be handed over to others who do not have any other source of income.”(The Telegraph)
6 Apr 2012
sikkim girls in Bhojpuri Film
RANGPO-6TH APRIL12
Ranipool residents tulasha Sharma has received an opportunity to play a lead role in the Bhojpuri film ladai .according to the news just a ccouple of month she has played in a nepali film kanchi launey rahar and after that she has received an opportunity to play a lead main heroine role in the Bhojpuri film ladai produced and directed by upendra kumar .the film is purposed to be suit in the various state of the country.tulasha Sharma while talking with this correspondent has asked that this is a memorable turn in my life and shall do good and better performance in this film.
Ranipool residents tulasha Sharma has received an opportunity to play a lead role in the Bhojpuri film ladai .according to the news just a ccouple of month she has played in a nepali film kanchi launey rahar and after that she has received an opportunity to play a lead main heroine role in the Bhojpuri film ladai produced and directed by upendra kumar .the film is purposed to be suit in the various state of the country.tulasha Sharma while talking with this correspondent has asked that this is a memorable turn in my life and shall do good and better performance in this film.
