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Kalimpong, April 27: The hill town is set to take the first tentative step towards becoming a centre of higher technical education.

With help from the Bengal and central governments, Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council (DGHC) has decided to set up an engineering college here, which will start functioning from 2008. Dawa Pakhrin, the president of the Kalimpong unit of the GNLF, said the institution would be spread over five acres of land at Jorpokhri near Deolo, around 5 km from the town (see map). “The total cost has been pegged at Rs 14.5 crore, of which the state government has already released Rs 5 crore that was sanctioned by the Centre earlier,” Pakhrin told The Telegraph over phone from Calcutta. “The state has also agreed to move the Centre for the release of the remaining Rs 9.5 crore.” (more…)

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Kalimpong, April 25: A cleaner Teesta river may soon be on view, thanks to a group of nature worshippers.

Rong Ong Prongzom, a Lepcha youth organisation, plans to conduct a clean-up drive on the Teesta river banks at Triveni and Reang on Sunday. It will be part of the preparations for Tendong Lho Rum Faat, the annual Lepcha puja of Thedong Hill near Namchi, Sikkim, held on August 8.

Triveni, the confluence of the Teesta and Rangeet rivers located 16 km from here, is a favourite spot for picnickers. Reang at 27 Mile on NH 31A, on the other hand, is where the National Hydroelectric Power Corporation is currently executing Stage III of the Teesta Low Dam Project.

“Both places are heavily littered, which is why we want to clean them, especially since the Teesta is our holy river,” said Azuk Tamsangmoo, an adviser to the youth organisation and coordinator of Pum Sezom, the apex body of the community.

The nature-worshipping Lepchas are the original inhabitants of Sikkim and the Darjeeling hills. According to figures available with the Indigenous Lepcha Tribal Association, there are about 40,000 of them in the Kalimpong subdivision and another 35,000 or so in Sikkim.

“No Lepcha marriage is solemnised without invoking the name of the Teesta. We won’t be able to do so anymore if we continue to destroy the river as we have been doing till now,” said the coordinator.

Apart from cleaning the riverbed, the youth organisation will also conduct an awareness campaign against the desecration and destruction of the Teesta. “We will put up signboards near the river, urging people not to litter the place,” said Tamsangmoo.

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Kalimpong, April 24: Kalimpong Municipality has agreed to hand over the maintenance of all the roads leading to Durpin to the army .

The total stretch of roads is 18.8 km. The army has a station in Durpin, 3 km from the town centre.

The decision regarding the hand-over was taken at a joint meeting held here today and attended by representatives of the civic board, the army, the subdivisional administration and Kalimpong Engineering Division, which maintained the roads till a year ago. (more…)

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Darjeeling, April 24: Thousands of CPRM members are expected to converge on Kalimpong, the hometown of Chattrey Subba, on May 1 to demand a speedy trial of the former self-styled commander of Gorkha Liberation Organisation.

With the CPRM planning to bring 10,000 to 15,000 members for the two-day programme, the rally is expected to be one of the biggest political gatherings ever held in the subdivision headquarters.

Subba has been behind bars for the past five years on charges of masterminding an attack on GNLF chief Subash Ghisingh on February 10, 2001. Once a lieutenant of Ghisingh, Subba had created an image of a leader who would accept nothing short of a separate state of Gorkhaland. (more…)

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Kalimpong, April 24:

Three persons were arrested this morning at Suntale, 25 km from here, with nine gelatin sticks and 22,000 l of petrol, diesel and kerosene. An oil tanker was also confiscated. Police had conducted a raid in the area, which comes under the Rambhi outpost, after they received a tip-off.

Kalimpong additional superintendent of police Humayun Kabir said a search of the houses of Krishna Gupta and Rammey Chhetri revealed underground tanks where the fuel was stored.

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Kalimpong:

About 100 members of the Himalayan Farmers’ Front gheraoed two officials of Himalayan Milk Cooperative Producers’ Union Limited (Himul) at their residences at Tandrabung and Gitkulbung here on Monday. The farmers demanded an increase in the price of milk from Rs 6 and Rs 8.50 per litre to a minimum of Rs 12 per litre.

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Kalimpong, April 22: East Main Road continues to be a road, but only on paper. Lack of repair has reduced it to a bundle of metalled shreds.

However, all this could change if Kalimpong Municipality agrees to a proposal of the local army station at Durpin. The army would like the civic body to hand over the road along with three others to it for maintenance. (more…)

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Kalimpong, April 18: The ABGL’s decision to reinstall the statue of its leader Damber Bahadur Gurung at Damber Chowk here is threatening to snowball into a controversy.

The bust of Gurung, which had replaced that of Queen Victoria in the early 70s, was removed by unidentified persons in the next decade.

The current crisis began when the GNLF-controlled Kalimpong Municipality issued a directive to the ABGL on April 12, asking it not to install the statue of Gurung at the chowk, or the town centre. The board of councillors said it would hinder freedom of speech as the place is used as a podium to address the public by various organisations, including political parties.

But the ABGL has pointed out that the land belongs to the Darjeeling Improvement Fund, not the civic body. “We will file a writ petition in the high court if the municipality does not budge from its position,” said Pratap Khati, a politburo member of the party.

The CPM, on its part, has objected to the municipality’s claim that the queen’s bust was stolen by “miscreants”. “In fact, it was removed by the leaders of Kalimpong as part of the nationwide trend of doing away with symbols of the British Raj,” said party leader Tara Sundas.

Civic chairman C.K. Kumai could not be contacted.

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Kalimpong, April 18: The ABGL’s decision to reinstall the statue of its leader Damber Bahadur Gurung at Damber Chowk here is threatening to snowball into a controversy.

The bust of Gurung, which had replaced that of Queen Victoria in the early 70s, was removed by unidentified persons in the next decade.

The current crisis began when the GNLF-controlled Kalimpong Municipality issued a directive to the ABGL on April 12, asking it not to install the statue of Gurung at the chowk, or the town centre. The board of councillors said it would hinder freedom of speech as the place is used as a podium to address the public by various organisations, including political parties.

But the ABGL has pointed out that the land belongs to the Darjeeling Improvement Fund, not the civic body. “We will file a writ petition in the high court if the municipality does not budge from its position,” said Pratap Khati, a politburo member of the party.

The CPM, on its part, has objected to the municipality’s claim that the queen’s bust was stolen by “miscreants”. “In fact, it was removed by the leaders of Kalimpong as part of the nationwide trend of doing away with symbols of the British Raj,” said party leader Tara Sundas.

Civic chairman C.K. Kumai could not be contacted.

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Sudipta Chanda
SILIGURI, April 18: A podium is creating one large controversy in Kalimpong and caught in the net are the Kalimpong municipality, the CPI-M and the Akhil Bharatiya Gorkha League.
To honour its founder president Dambar Singh Gurung, the AIGL, which would be celebrating its 65th raising day on 15 May, had decided to reinstate a statue of the late leader at the hill town’s principal square, known as Dambar Chowk after him.
The square was known as Maharani Chowk after Queen Victoria till before the AIGL leader’s statue was installed in it sometime in the 70s. The statue was vandalised during the statehood movement in the 80s and now the AIGL wants to reinstall it.
The AIGL’s proposal has, however, met with a flat refusal from the Kalimpong municipality. “Reinstalling DS Gurung’s statue at the podium could cause social unrest and disturbance in Kalimpong. The AIGL has therefore been intimated not to reinstall the statue at the podium,” the Kalimpong municipality chairman Mr CK Kumai, said today.
According to the chairman, the decision to deny permission for the reinstallation of the statue was taken at civic body’s board meeting on 12 April. “The decision was unanimous,” Mr Kumai added.
The AIGL is frustrated with the decision and has decided to take legal steps against it. “The land in question does not belong to the Kalimpong municipality. It belongs to the District Improvement Fund. The Kalimpong municipality is in no position to deny us the right to reinstall the statue. If stopped, we shall file a writ petition,” AIGL politburo member and president of Tarun Gorkha Mr Pratap Khati, said.
The Kalimpong municipal authorities are resolute. Admitting that the land belonged to the DI Fund, Mr Kumai said: “The municipality maintains the land and the podium. We are not averse to the AIGL installing the statue elsewhere in the town but at Dambar Chowk since every political organisation uses it.”
Not against the installation of the AIGL leader’s statue at the intended site, the Kalimpong CPI-M has expressed strong reservation against the municipal authorities’ comments on how Queen Victoria’s statue was removed from the spot.
According to the 12 April board meeting’s minutes, the bronze bust of the queen installed during the days of the British raj was “stolen by miscreants.”
“The statement is defamatory,” alleged Kalimpong CPI-M leader Mr Tara Sundas. According to him, the statue was removed when the United Front was in power in West Bengal.
“Artefacts and locations named after British notables were being replaced by Indian names at the time. Responding to the wind of change, noted locals like RN Dahal, LS Sundas, Prof BD Basnet, Bharat Thapa supported by different students’ unions removed the queen’s statue with full honour and handed it over to the Kalimpong police station. The statue was received by the then officer-in-charge KM Lepcha,” Mr Sundas claimed.
“Under the circumstances, stating that miscreants had stolen the statue is a slur against the local distinguished persons. The municipality will have to take it back,” the CPI-M leader claimed.