Sikkim No.1 Dance

RANGPO-14TH APRIL12
Dance no i competition organised by badhai cha creation in association with proud to be sikkimese and basibiyalo Singtam started from today at Singtam nepali dharmaasala.inagurated by mr saran Pradhan Singtam nagar Panchayat president was attended by councillor mr anita tamang ,basibiyalo founder Mr. Mohan Pradhan neeraj,programme chairman Mrs. indra kumari Pradhan was specially present in the programme .organising committee president Mr. Praveen Pradhan talking with this correspondent asked that the main concept to organise competition is to provide good platform to the hidden talents of the state. the competition is organised in two category .junior level is for 7 to 14 years and for senior its more than 14 years .today the junior level competition is organising and tomorrow senior category competitions shall held. it’s an auditions round and on may month the final round shall held .top three finalist in junior category shall receive an attractive certificate along with cash prize of rs 5000,3000 and 1000 and in senior category top three finalist shall receive rs 8000,5000 and 3000.today in junior category eighty participants has performed and for tomorrow more than seventy participants has already enrolled their names .

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Whiff of CPM revival plan in May 1 meet

Darjeeling, April 13: The CPM has decided to organise May Day celebrations in Darjeeling after four years, an indication that the party is trying to make a comeback in the hills when other outfits opposed to the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha have become inactive.

The CPM had last celebrated May Day in the district headquarters in 2007 after which the party did not organise any event to mark the day following the emergence of the Morcha as a political power in the Darjeeling hills.

Saman Pathak, a former Rajya Sabha member of the CPM, today said: “We had actually wanted to hold a public meeting in Darjeeling on May 1. But we learnt that other political parties had also plans to hold meetings at Chowk Bazar and as it was difficult to get permission for the use of the public address system, we have decided to organise an indoor meeting at the Gorkha Dukha Niwarak Sammelan Hall.”

The CPRM has obtained permission to organise the May Day function at Chowk Bazar. The Morcha affiliated Janmukti Unorganised Sector Labour Union, also plans to organise an event on May 1. Police said they would give permission to all parties to hold May Day events at different locations in town.

K.B. Wattar, the district secretariat member of the CPM, said after the 2007 May Day meeting in Darjeeling, the party had restricted itself to organising low-key functions at other places in the hills.

The CPM’s decision is seen as an indication that the party now feels that the atmosphere in the hills is conducive to resume its political activities after the Morcha agreed to the formation of the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration.

“In the past, the Morcha was riding high on the emotional issue of identity and statehood. It was difficult for other parties to organise any event. Since, the emotional factor has in a way waned with the party agreeing to form the GTA, we think we can restart our activities,” said a CPM leader.

Wattar, in fact, today talked of the CPM’s plan to consolidate its strength in tea gardens. “We have some presence in 21 (of the 87) tea gardens in the hills now. The party has started a membership drive in another 10 gardens. Our target is to form units in at least 50 per cent of the estates.”

During the May Day celebration, the CPM will speak on issues like granting land rights (patta) to garden workers and demand that all tea planters start the construction of houses for labourers.

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Eye on record in descent - ‘Death zone’ glide beckons everest climber

Darjeeling, April 13: The principal of Himalayan Mountaineering Institute in Darjeeling has set an ambitious target of becoming the first Indian to paraglide from the “death zone” of Mt Everest to reach a base camp around 9,000ft below after scaling the peak next month.

The region beyond 26,000ft is known as the “death zone” as it is one of the most challenging stretches to cover on the mountain. The area has very little oxygen and low atmospheric pressure, about a third of that in the sea level.

According to mountaineers, it takes more than 12 hours to trek 1.72km in the stretch.

An 11-member team led by HMI principal Col. Neeraj Rana will scale Mt Everest next month and during the descent, Rana will paraglide to the base camp at 17,700 feet.

“Our expedition has been cleared by the ministry of external affairs and we plan to leave for Kathmandu on April 14. The team comprises 11 members, five of whom are army instructors and five others are civilian instructors at the HMI,” Rana said over the phone from Delhi.

The group is scheduled to reach a camp on the base of Mt Everest on April 29 after trekking for more than eight days from Namchi Bazaar in Nepal.


The HMI team on Mt Makalu in May 2009. File picture
Rana said the main objective of the expedition was to train the instructors. “We plan to conduct a training session for four-five days at Khambu glacier after reaching the base camp,” said the climber in the mid 40s.

During the ascent, the team will set up camp I at 20, 336ft, followed by camp II at 22, 304ft, camp III at 24,600ft and camp IV at 26,000ft.

“Camp IV will be in the death zone. During our descent, I plan to paraglide for 20-23 minutes from there to the base camp (at 17,700ft). I believe this would be an Indian record. No Indian has attempted to paraglide from this altitude in the Everest,” Rana said.

The first man to achieve the feat was Jean Marc Boivin from France who had paraglided from the Everest on September 26, 1988.

Rana said his team planned to scale Mt Everest during the “window period”.

“The window period for climbing the Everest is usually considered between May 17 and May 25. But this year given the climatic conditions prevailing in the Himalayas, the window period will probably get delayed by about a week.”

He added that the “window period” was the most favourable time to scale the mountain.

Rana holds the world record of being the first person to paraglide from an altitude of 22,468 to 18,000 feet in Mt Makalu on May 12, 2009.

The cost of the Everest expedition by the group stands at Rs 1.5 crore, Rana said.(Telegraph)

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Paila baisakh with grand traditional programme at Majhitar

RANGPO-13TH APRIL12
Sarwamanya Majhitar samaj east Sikkim welcomed nepali new year 2069 or paila baisakh with grand traditional programme at Majhitar. Programme started with the lighting of diyo by the hand of Mr. raj k shresta renewed writer as a chief guest ,Mr. Mohan Pradhan neeraj basibiyalo Singtam founder ,Mr. Praveen Pradhan president spark ngo,mr sheetal Pradhan editor proud to be sikkimese ,social worker Mr. p anand Thapa ,Mr. hement Thapa as a special guest of the programme. between colourful cultural programme performed by Majhitar junior high school, new vision school,sarwamanya samaj and several other ngo,club associations and school grand sovayatra was organised at the Majhitar which moves from upper Majhitar to lower Majhitar ,smit and return back to upper Majhitar .shrinking water bottles provided by the organising committee and rasoi ghar has make relief in this hot climate for all the participants of sovayatra. Musical nite was also organised by the committee was performed by renewed artist Mr. ganga mukhia ,zee tv sa rey ga ma pa artist miss prakiti giri,miss sushma dahal,north east key super star winner miss remanti rai and mimicry Mr. Mahindra bagdas from kalimpong.

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