your house is Burgled- sikkim cups

RANGPO-2ND JUNE12
First time in the history is that the police has informed that your house is burgled .according to the news .police staff in check post duty at Rangpo check post shown the vehicle coming from Gangtok side taking one passengers only plying towards siliguri and in suspension the police staff checked the vehicles and started interrogating with the alone passenger travelling in the vehicles .he was carrying one beg too and when the beg checked huge quantity of ornaments seen inside the begs .the police bring him to the check post and when questioned he clearly asked that he along with one friend has burgled one house at Gangtok and was on the way to siliguri .Rangpo police informed Gangtok police and given the details of the house provide by that thieves .when police reached that house they has shown that the house was burgled .the house was of babulal malu .they was out of station from some days and the thieves has totally clear their house in the midnight of 1st June .Rangpo police has arrested one youth named bidhan khatri of sayari Gangtok along with approx 25 tola gold,40 tola silver ,25 wrist watches ,and other miscellaneous items total amount more than thirty lakh from the beg .according to the information provide by arrested youth from Rangpo check post Aryan alias bikash was also arrested by Gangtok police from Gangtok.

Read More

sikkim started development work in turism sector

RANGPO-2ND JUNE 12
State government has started the developmental work in west Pandam in tourism sector to make the area famous in spiritual tourism sector .the infrastructural development of budang Gadi has been started and road has been reached and the statue of mata kali construction is on stream line .Rangpo indrakil prayag project has also been started .in first two phase approx three crore amount has been sanctioned by the state government for the development of Rangpo indrakil prayag .Mrs. niru sewa area mla cum minister industries was addressing the meeting at Rangpo indrakil prayaag specialy requested all the local residents ,public ,ngo ,club ,association ,industrial units to support and come forward to make the area a modal area .Mrs. sewa addressing the meeting also appealed with the public of Rangpo to show good hospitality ,cleanness etc as Rangpo is the main gateway of Sikkim and state images is totally depend upon the Rangpo .meeting conducted by mr ganga ram guragai of Pandam Mr. bikash Prasad councillor Rangpo nagar Panchayat ,mr rudra pokhrel Panchayat Duga gram Panchayat unit ,Mr. swaminath Prasad president Sikkim bihari jagran manch central committee and others participated from whole west pandam area has commented their views over the agenda of the meeting .

Read More

Steps planned against overcharge

AVIJIT SINHA

Siliguri, June 1: The increase in the incidents of tourists being overcharged by sections of taxis and hotels during the current season has prompted the tour operators in north Bengal and Sikkim to plan steps that could put an end to such illegal practices.

The Eastern Himalaya Travel and Tour Operators’ Association said a campaign against the unethical practices in the tourism sector would be launched among the taxi drivers and hoteliers once the summer season was over.

“Once the tourist rush comes down in the next two weeks, we will seek the intervention of Bengal and Sikkim governments to end the overcharging of passengers by taxis and overpricing of hotel rooms. We will sit with the associations engaged in tourism and urge them to carry out campaigns among their members against the fleecing of visitors,” said Raj Basu, the advisor to the tour operators’ association. The tour operators also plan to bring about transparency in various rates charged by the taxis and hotels. The operators will ask lodges and hotels to display room tariffs in front of the buildings.

“We will also display taxi fares at tourist entry points like Bagdogra airport, NJP, Tenzing Norgay Central Bus Terminus in Siliguri, and taxi stands in Darjeeling and Gangtok,” said a tour operator.

A hotel manager was arrested in Darjeeling last week for overcharging a tourist. The manager of Hotel Swati was arrested for charging Rs 6,000 per day for a room, while the police felt the rate should have ideally been Rs 1,000.

The tour operators said they had also suffered losses because of the overpricing of rooms by the hotels. “We had made hotel bookings and reserved vehicles in advance for our clients at standard rates,” said Partha Pratim Guha, a Siliguri-based tour operator.

“But during this season, many of us had to pay extra amounts to hotels and taxis because of the unprecedented inflow of tourists. We had to pay from our pockets to keep our commitments.”

Read More

Scan on fleecing of tourists by taxis - Action against six cabs in Gangtok

NIRMAL MANGAR

Gangtok, June 1: Sikkim police today launched a crackdown on taxis overcharging passengers in the peak tourism season. One vehicle was taken into custody and documents seized from five other cabs.

Traffic police personnel were deployed at five points along NH31A and they checked each taxi carrying tourists to Siliguri.

The East Sikkim police swung into action following unofficial complaints that tourists were fleeced by taxis trying to exploit the shortage of cabs and ignorance of the visitors about the actual fares.

The superintendent of police of East district, Mandeep Tuli, said the law enforcers had been keeping tabs on the Mainline Taxi Stand at Deorali from the morning.

“We have been receiving complaints from the tourists that they are being forced to cough up charges double the rates fixed by the government. A team headed by subdivisional police officer of Gangtok conducted a checking at the Mainline Taxi Stand in Deorali this morning. We have also deployed two police personnel there to check the tickets bought by the passengers and ask them how much they have paid. If we find that any tourist has been fleeced, immediate action will be taken against the errant driver,” Tuli told The Telegraph.

The SDPO, Ongmu Bhutia, said the police had seized a cab from the Mainline Taxi Stand during the drive. “The taxi was taken into custody for refusing to ferry passengers to Siliguri if they didn’t pay higher fare. Besides, we also seized driving licences and other documents from five taxis for overcharging the tourists,” he said.

Apart from Deorali, the police also conducted checking at Tadong, Ranipool, Singtam, and Rangpo to find out if any passenger was overcharged by the cabs. The East district SP said fines would be slapped on drivers who duped passengers under the relevant sections of the Sikkim Motor Vehicle Act.

Some tourists have complained that drivers asked them for almost double the actual rate (Rs 150) fixed by the motor vehicle department for carrying a single person from Gangtok to Siliguri (110km).

“One driver asked me to pay Rs 5,000 to hire the entire taxi to travel from Gangtok to Siliguri. We tried to negotiate with the driver to reduce the fare, but he refused to ferry us at a lower rate. Later, we learnt that the rate of hiring the entire taxi (Tata Sumo) was only Rs 2,500,” said Shekhar Roy from Raiganj in North Dinajpur.

The crackdown has also targeted the touts at the Mainline Taxi Stand. The police warned them against loitering near the stand and exploiting the unsuspecting tourists.

The police said although the tourists always alleged that the taxis were overcharging them, none had ever come forward to lodge a complaint.

“We are here to help the tourists and commuters, but nobody comes forward and lodges the complaints. If the harassed tourists approach the police for action against the drivers, such illegal practices could be stopped,” said Bhutia.

The main reason for the commuters being taken for a ride by the taxis is the shortage of cabs during the peak season. So, the police have written to the Sikkim Nationalised Transport to operate two additional buses till the tourism season gets over. “We have requested the SNT to ply at least two more buses between Siliguri and Gangtok for the next 15 days. As of now, the SNT operates 10 buses between Sikkim and Siliguri,” said Tuli.

Around 200 cabs are available in Gangtok for trips to Siliguri.

Police in Siliguri had also launched a drive against taxis overcharging the tourists on the way to the Darjeeling hills and Sikkim. Around 30 taxis were fined and four touts arrested during the crackdown last week.

The treasurer of the Mainline Taxi Drivers’ Association, B.B. Chamling, said: “Although there is a growth in the tourist flow to Sikkim every year, there is no corresponding increase in the number of taxis. Its difficult to provide vehicles to 1,000 tourists everyday during the season and added to that, there are traffic jams on the highway because of the road widening work. We appeal to the tourists to buy tickets from the counters and avoid touts.”

Some tourists, however, felt that there should be a police help booth at Mainline Taxi Stand.

“We learnt that the nearest police outpost is almost 500 metres away. If the Sikkim police set up a kiosk at the stand, it would be more convenient for the commuters to lodge a compliant,” said a tourist from Cooch Behar. (TT)

Read More