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RAJEEV RAVIDAS

Kalimpong, Oct. 29: With the recently-formed United Gorkha Liberation Army (UGRA) trying to make its presence felt in the subdivision, residents of the area fear that violence may return to the hills, nearly two decades after the Gorkhaland agitation.

Their anxiety can be sensed from the fact that since the UGRA rebels gunned down a GNLF activist on Tuesday, not a day has passed without rumours of fresh killings.

The Telegraph spoke to five residents to gauge the mood. Here go their thoughts:

Prafulla Rao (former air force officer):

“We have just emerged from a long, dreary monsoon. Now, I would hate humans to take over where nature left and again pour misery into our lives.

But more seriously, the tourist season is in full swing, schools are busy readying the students for their final exams and horticulturists are preparing their stocks for export. I certainly think it to be foolish getting into a fratricidal war where no one will win.”

Bharat Mani Pradhan (a social worker):

“As a citizen of Kalimpong and India, one wonders how many more deprived and marginalised citizens of this country will have to shed their blood before the authorities concerned fulfil their written commitment. Will they still dilly-Delhi or sign yet another MoU on a piece of cheap newsprint, while a tranquil part of Mother India is poised for a blood-bath. No blame game here. We know where the black buck stops.” (more…)

Source: Outlookindia.com
Kalimpongwallahs, her aunt included, take offence at Desai’s dark portrait of their idyll
JAIDEEP MAZUMDAR

Kiran Desai may have put Kalimpong on the world map by making it the setting for her Booker prize-winning novel The Inheritance of Loss. But no one in Kalimpong is thanking her for that. They are upset by Desai’s dark portrait of this sleepy town in the Darjeeling Hills, which comes across as a squalid, divided place in her book. No one will bar Desai from revisiting Kalimpong—it’s not that kind of place—but the new literary sensation has not won herself any fans here.

“The truth is apparent,” says Desai in her book. All one needs to do is to “reach out and pluck it”.

A short distance from Kalimpong’s Main Road is Lark’s, the store Desai mentions in her book and which still sells cottage cheese and lollypops.

But a visitor to this charming town, with its quaint British-style structures, and the majestic Kanchendzonga towering above it, may end up “plucking” a very different truth from the one Desai writes about. Kalimpong comes across as an easygoing rather than the hate-filled place Desai’s novel suggests it to be.
It’s the kind of town whose people still have time for others because, as Wing Commander (retired) Prafulla Rao says, “Time gently quivers to a halt on entering Kalimpong.”

Rao, who wouldn’t dream of trading life in Kalimpong for anywhere else in the world, has just started reading Desai’s book. He is yet to form an opinion on its literary merit, but says he is already dismayed by the negative portrayal of his beloved town in the book. So is Barun Chetri, a taxi driver who ferried Desai from the marketplace to Sukhtara, the elegant cottage where she stayed for six weeks in 2002 to research her novel. (more…)

www.telegraphindia.com

Kalimpong, Oct. 26: The GNLF today said the killing of its activist Yonsingh Lepcha reflected badly on the state government.

The party had called a 24-hour bandh in the subdivision today to protest against the murder. “There wasn’t any untoward incident. Traffic on NH31A (the road that connects Siliguri to Sikkim) was not affected,” said Rajesh Subarna, superintendent of police, Darjeeling.

The unit president of the Kalimpong GNLF, Dawa Pakhrin, said it struck him strange that a handful of men could operate so freely despite the presence of state machinery in the hills. “It is the duty of the state to protect the ordinary citizens and in this case it has failed miserably. The government should hand over the home department to the DGHC and we will show them how to go about it,” said Pakhrin. (more…)

PTI

SILIGURI (WB): The Gorkha National Liberation Front (GNLF) called 24-hour bandh affected normal life in Kalimpong sub-division of West Bengal’s Darjeeling district on Thursday.

Shops, markets and business establishments were closed while vehicles were off the road in the sub-division, Superintendent of Police Rajesh Subarno said.

Government offices were open but attendance was very thin, the SP added.

The GNLF had called the Kalimpong bandh to protest the killing of GNLF panchayat member of Algarah and also Convenor of Algarah-Santhuk GNLF Committee Yoan Singh Lepcha by miscreants on Wednesday.

www.telegraphindia.com

Kalimpong, Oct. 25: Nearly two months after announcing the launch of an armed struggle for the separate state of Gorkhaland, the nascent United Gorkha Revolutionary Army (UGRA) drew first blood last night, killing GNLF activist Yonsingh Lepcha at Lower Santuk, about 20 km from here.

Condemning the murder, the GNLF has called a 24-hour bandh in the subdivision tomorrow to protest against the incident.

The murder took place almost at the stroke of midnight when UGRA militants descended on the house of Lepcha, a member of the local panchayat, and forced him to open the door of the room where he was sleeping. Three militants then entered and shot him point blank.

“An improvised weapon was used in the attack,” said Rajesh Subarna, superintendent of police, Darjeeling.

According to Subarna, the chief of the UGRA, Ajay Dahal, is understood to have taken part in the attack, and was one of the three who had entered Lepcha’s room. (more…)

From www.telegraphindia.com
Kiran Desai’s Booker-winning novel is set, in part, in Kalimpong. Debashis Bhattacharyya visits the town — and discovers that the town’s residents are less than ecstatic about the way Kalimpong has been written about lost inheritance:

In Kalimpong, two dots were part of the Himalayan landscape in the 1950s, moving up and down, often disappearing behind a sharp mountain curve. Those who could afford it, hopped into these moving dots — as the red and the white taxis looked from a hilltop, residents say — to go from one edge of the town to the other. The journey was short and, in the words of an old-timer, ended before the passengers could roll up or roll down the windows — so small was the town.

Bhim Bahadur Pradhan, the 75-year-old owner of a local nursery, who frequently travelled in these two cabs back then, cannot help but recall “those days” when he passes through the town’s main artery, now clogged with an assortment of vehicles.

To be sure, Kalimpong has evolved — like many of its Himalayan cousins — from being a quiet and quaint hill town to a near bustling subdivision headquarters, now jointly administered by the West Bengal government and the Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council. Officially, Kalimpong has a population of nearly 43,000 people, not counting another 60,000 or so living on its fringes, Kalimpong municipality chairman C.K. Kumai says. Yet the town’s heart — some call it soul — remains unchanged, residents insist. (more…)

Some information and a special message to all readers of kalimpong.info from HANDS.
Please read and help their noble effort. Contribute generously.
Thank You
-Administrator

HANDS, an organization to spread awareness on HIV/AIDS and tackle the explosive rise in drug abuse in Kalimpong subdivision was started in June 2006 by a group of prominent citizens of Kalimpong.

The main objectives of HANDS are:-

• To organize training facilities , seminars and workshops in order to disseminate information on AIDS and drug abuse as a part of adult education programmes.
• To organize training facilities , seminars and workshops in order to disseminate information on AIDS and drug abuse as a part of school AIDS and drug abuse education programme.
• To provide counseling to drug/alcohol addicts and their families in order to help them deal with their addiction.
• To conduct therapeutic input sessions among the addicts.
• To conduct outreach programmes, i.e. to reach addicts at their homes and streets in order to bring them to the day care centre.
• In the long term, to set up a Rehabilition Centre at Kalimpong where addicts from the subdivision may obtain treatment at the most affordable rates.

HANDS in the few months of its existence has scored a number of successes with regard to the above goals:-

• The HANDS team has conducted awareness lectures in a number of schools at Kalimpong. This is an ongoing programme.
• Outreach programme conducted by HANDS has brought in almost 20 drug abusers to the day care centre to receive counseling and therapeutic input session.
• Adult education on AIDS and drug abuse is being pursued vigorously.
• Most importantly, realizing the absolute necessity of an organization such as HANDS in Kalimpong, the MLA, Mr Gaulan Lepcha has decided to hand over the Rehabilitation Centre at 4th Mile, Kalimpong to HANDS as and when it is complete. The HANDS team visited the site a month ago and was pleasantly surprised to see the ground floor of the structure was already complete and consisted of 5 rooms. The Centre also has a small compound around it.

The members of HANDS are:

• Mrs. Sharda Mukhia – Owner, David Gas and Bethlehem Lodge
• Mr. Amod Yonzone – Owner, Park Hotel
• Drs. Salomi and Sangay Zimba – Medical Practitioners
• Wg Cdr Prafulla Rao (retd)- Owner, Odyssey Internet Cafe
• Mr. Sandip Jain – Owner, Himalayan Stores
• Mr. Nereus Mukhia of David Gas
• Mrs. Pratistha Pradhan of Everest Nursery
• Mrs. Zorami Vuite – Social Worker.

Whereas HANDS is already committed to the above goals and has made tangible progress in the few months of its existence, it is critically short of funds. For example, having been assured of handing over charge of the Rehabilition Centre at 4th Mile, Kalimpong by the MLA in the near future, we desperately need at least Rs 4-5 lakhs to furnish the place, to get staff and so on, in order for the place to start functioning as a Rehab Centre. Till that happens, many young addicts from Kalimpong will continue to languish because treatment outside Kalimpong is expensive and unaffordable to many.

We at HANDS appeal to you to help us help these people. Please donate towards this cause. Those interested in charitable donations may contact the administrator of this website (at admin @ kalimpong.info) for further details.

Thank you.

via darjeelingtimes.com

UGRF has a connection with Maoist of Nepal – Police

Oct 21,2006

Kalimpong: Darjeeling District Police has claimed here that Mr. Ajay Dahal, Chief of United Gorkha Revolution Army (UGRA), might be hidden in Nepal and has a connection with Maoist of Nepal. And eight hardcore members have been identified and Ajay Dahal, Rudra Acharya and Suk Bahadur are trained to use and make the sophisticated Arms and Ammunitions. Behind the UGRF’s source of income, there are Political, Associations and Entrepreneurs of Sikkim and Assam.

Police has so far detained 8 persons in this regards but Mr. Ajay Dahal claimed that only 2 detainees are their members, rest all are innocent civilians. Police claimed that findings are the outcome of interrogation with detainee Mr. Philip Lepcha and others.

According to the Police source Mr. Ajay Dahal and Rudra Acharya had a meeting with Mr. Puspa Kamal Dahal, Maoist Chief of Nepal on 22 August. But is not sure about their meeting in Siliguri during recent visit of Mr. Prachanda and Baburam Bhattarai, Maoist Leaders of Nepal.

Source: Himalaya Darpan

www.telegraphindia.com

Kalimpong, Oct. 20: As the hills gear up for the long dry winter months, residents here are worried over the prospects of living without adequate potable water. Given that even during monsoon people had to make do with half-an-hour of water supply — that too on alternate days — their fears are not unfounded.

“The outdated distribution system for drinking water is creating an artificial scarcity, even during the rainy season, because of countless leaks and illegal water connections,” said dental surgeon Tilak R. Takhtar of East Main Road.

The hundred-odd people who live on R.C. Mintri Road have submitted memoranda to various authorities, including subdivisional officer Shakeel Ahmed, municipality chairman C.K. Kumai, Kalimpong GNLF president Dawa Pakhrin and the local PHE office, demanding a permanent solution to the long-standing problem of water scarcity. (more…)

www.telegraphindia.com

Kalimpong, Oct. 18: A bridge coming up over the Kakuley jhora (stream) is expected to directly connect a cluster of villages under Sangsey gram panchayat to Kalimpong town and reduce travel time by half.

Organic vegetables and spices grown in the villages can now be brought straight to markets here, rather than being taken to the haat in Malli on the Kalimpong-Sikkim border.

The 20/12 RCC structure is being constructed by the villagers themselves with help from World Vision, an NGO, which has so far spent about Rs 10.5 lakh on it. A kutcha approach road to the bridge has also been built from Khadka village to Bimbong. “The villagers provided bamboo and wooden planks for the structure and free labour,” said Uttam Karthak, programme coordinator of World Vision.

The bridge is tentatively scheduled to open on November 3. “It will also enable our children to attend schools in Kalimpong from home,” said Joseph Lepcha, secretary of a development organisation active in the area.

The distance to the town via the new bridge will be 8-10 km, shorter than the present route with the detour through Deorali. “As more than half the distance to Deorali has to be covered on foot, it takes one-and-half hours to reach Kalimpong now, said Lepcha. “But with the bridge and the kutcha road, it will take no more than 45 minutes.”

www.telegraphindia.com

Kalimpong, Oct. 16: The recently-formed NH 31A Bachao Committee has demanded a high-level inquiry into the causes of the landslide at 27 Mile two months ago that led to frequent disruption of traffic on the highway.

In a memorandum mailed to the Union environment minister A. Raja, the committee also demanded that until the inquiry panel submits its report, National Hydroelectric Power Corporation (NHPC) should stop all construction work of its Teesta Low Dam Project, Stage III, which allegedly caused the slide.

“We further demand a review and reassessment of the environmental impact (of the dam),” said committee convener P.T. Bhutia at a news conference held here today.

Quoting a report prepared by the Eastern Himalayan Tourist and Travel Organisations’ Association, committee members alleged that certain relevant portions of the geological and geotechnical investigations undertaken by the Geological Survey of India “were suppressed” in the final environmental impact assessment report on the project at Reang near Rambi. (more…)

via darjeelingtimes.com

Oct 13,2006
Source: Himalayan Darpan

Kalimpong; Mr. Manoj Lepcha, who had been wounded during the Police encounter, is not the member of the UGRF (United Gorkha Revolutionary Front) as claimed by the Police, said Mr. Dahal, Chief of UGRF.

Except two persons, Asish Rai, given membership just day before his arrest and Ram Rai, was holding membership of UGRF just few days back, rest all are innocent civilians, and possession of armes by them as claimed by Police is not true, said Mr. Dahal.

We have preserved our muscle and days will come to demonstrate our capabilities, warned Mr. Dahal.