www.kalimpong.info

www.telegraphindia.com

SUJAN DUTTA

Dec. 12: The Indian Army is relocating a division of troops to North Bengal from Jammu after the security establishment has taken stock of a Chinese move into a high plateau in Bhutan named Dolam.

Major elements of the 27 Mountain Division have already moved out and among these are units of the 164 Mountain Brigade based in Kalimpong, an army headquarters source has confirmed to The Telegraph.

A Chinese move into Dolam means that India’s border with China gets distorted at Sikkim’s tri-point with Bhutan. It also means that Chinese forces move a few kilometres south from where they originally were. It brings them closer to North Bengal’s Siliguri Corridor. China has always laid claim to Dolam. There is a suspicion that it has now extended its claim line. (more…)

www.telegraphindia.com

RAJEEV RAVIDAS

Kalimpong, Dec. 12: Save The Hills (STH), a conglomeration of different hill-based organisations, has called for the setting up of a nodal agency to deal with disaster management in Darjeeling district.

In a letter faxed to chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee yesterday, the conglomeration said the agency was necessary because at present both the Bengal government and the DGHC were handling disaster management separately in the hills.

“We were informed that prevention of disaster was not the responsibility of the district magistrate (alone) since many of the departments concerned with preventive work were not under them (him). This is contrary to the (provisions of the) Disaster Management Act 2005,” read the letter.

The act says all aspects of disaster management will come under the purview of a district authority headed by the district magistrate.

STH convener Praful Rao said the letter was drafted after discussion on disaster management with member organisations after the September landslides.

The conglomeration came into being in November and is yet to be registered.

Since September, the members made field visits to many landslide-affected areas. The STH had also assisted a two-member team of the Geological Survey of India during their 10-day study trip to Kalimpong that concluded yesterday.

The STH in its letter to the chief minister has also suggested the inclusion of the Darjeeling district in natural disaster surveys carried out in Sikkim.

www.telegraphindia.com
RAJEEV RAVIDAS

The house in Kalimpong from where the institute is run. Picture by Chinlop Fudong Lepcha

Kalimpong, Dec. 11: With no students and limited staff, an uncertain future awaits Chitrabhanu, a training centre for art and craft run by the directorate of technical education.

The 43-year-old institute is housed in a cottage at Atisha Road that once was the summer home of Rabindranath Tagore. Chitrabhanu provides training to women from the age group of 18 to 30 years, in ten disciplines like drawing, painting, designing, housecraft and music.

The institute conducts one-year certificate courses for a minimum of 10 students at a time. In July only three candidates — two outstation and one local — enrolled for the course. Subsequently, the local trainee discontinued for personal reasons, while the other two left because of political disturbances and have not yet reported back.

The subdivisional officer of Kalimpong, P.T. Sherpa, said: “Chitrabhanu is the second institute of its kind in the state after the one in Calcutta. It’s adequate infrastructure, including hostel facility, must not go waste.”

Besides lack of students, the institute is severely handicapped by shortage of staff. Other than the officer in-charge, there are no permanent teachers. Even the post of matron has been lying vacant for almost three years. The other permanent employees of the institute are two office clerks, a peon and a night guard.

“For many years now, the courses here are imparted by part-time teachers, hired on daily basis. This probably is the reason behind the fall in the number of trainees enrolling on the institute,” said a source.

The directorate of technical education is toying with the idea of introducing a two-year diploma in vocational courses like craft. “They are planning to sanction 15 seats for vocational courses. Candidates completing these courses will find employment in high schools as work education teachers,” said the source.

www.telegraphindia.com

Darjeeling, Dec. 10: The president of the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha, Bimal Gurung, was today granted anticipatory bail by the court of the sessions judge here in a case related to an attempt on the life of GNLF leader Kul Bahadur Gurung.

Kul Bahadur, who was attacked with khukuris in Darjeeling on November 23, had named Bimal, along with a few others, in the FIR lodged after the incident.

Following the complaint, police had started a case against Bimal and the others. The charges against them include Sections 307 (attempt to murder) and 326 (causing grievous injury) of the IPC, which are non-bailable (that is, once the accused are arrested, the police cannot let them go and they must be produced in court before the question of bail arises). This forced Bimal to go for an anticipatory bail plea.

The order by sessions judge B.C. Paul says: “It appears that the witnesses who were examined did not disclose the name of the accused (Bimal).” The Morcha president was granted anticipatory bail with a surety of Rs 1,000 and asked to surrender in court on or before December 19.

In another development, Buddha Lama, the president of the Pashupat unit of the GNLF, has alleged that Morcha supporters damaged his vehicle last night and threatened to kill him. The police have arrested six persons.

Pashupat is located about 30km from Darjeeling town.

www.telegraphindia.com

Siliguri, Dec. 9: Good news for motorists. The Centre has given the green signal to four projects that promise to improve the road network in north Bengal and Sikkim.

The projects include construction of new roads, widening of existing ones and a new bridge over the Teesta at Sevoke. The landslide-prone areas on NH31A will also be strengthened so that Kalimpong and Sikkim do not get cut off from the rest of the country, especially during the monsoons.

The minister for shipping, road transport and highways, T.R. Baalu, made the announcements during a brief stopover at the Bagdogra airport this afternoon. He said Rs 900 crore has been sanctioned for the projects.

“Given the present condition of NH31A, the Union cabinet has approved the proposal to renovate and rebuild the highway connecting Sevoke with Gangtok,” Baalu told reporters at Bagdogra.

The governments of both Sikkim and Bengal have been harping on the need to refurbish the route, especially after the frequent landslides this year that led to disruption in traffic for days.

The renovated road would be 5.5m-7m wide with 1.5m of extra space on both sides, the minister said. (more…)

www.telegraphindia.com

Darjeeling, Dec. 9: Dawa Narbula, the Congress MP from Darjeeling, has demanded that the Standing Committee listen to all regional parties here before compiling its report on the bill conferring Sixth Schedule status on the hills.

“I met Sushma Swaraj and told her that all regional parties from the hills should be given a proper hearing,” Narbula told The Telegraph over the phone from Delhi. “I have told them that apart from the GNLF, the other parties in Darjeeling are the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha, ABGL, Gorkha Rashtriya Congress and CPRM.” (more…)

www.telegraphindia.com

Sukna, Dec. 9: The Gorkha Janmukti Morcha wants some portions of the Siliguri subdivision and the entire Dooars to be made part of the separate state of Gorkhaland that the party is demanding.

At the Morcha’s meeting here today, its leaders claimed that the plight of the Nepali population in the plains was no better then their counterparts in the hills.

“Lakhs of Nepalese live in the Dooars and the Terai. Their socio-economic condition is no better than those in the Darjeeling hills,” said Roshan Giri, the general secretary of the Morcha. “So we have decided to fight for them as well and will demand that these areas be brought under Gorkhaland.”

The Gorkhaland demand of the newly floated party has come as a challenge to Subash Ghisingh’s GNLF, which had been fighting for the Sixth Schedule status for the hills. The bill on the special status, however, was shelved last week after it was referred to a parliamentary Standing Committee.

Since then a smug Morcha has been claiming that they have won the first round. (more…)

Peace March in Kalimpong, 8th Dec 2007, 11am.
From www.savethehills.blogspot.com

All pictures and captions by Mr. Praful Rao

Statesman News Service

SILIGURI, Dec. 7: Additional police personnel have been deployed at Panighata in Naxalbari area following a clash between the GNLF and the GJMM supporters last night.

Three GJMM activists sustained minor injuries as the GNLF supporters clashed with them while the former was holding a meeting at Panighata last night. The meeting was underway at the residence of a GJMM sympathiser, and the GNLF supporters allegedly forayed into the venue. Both the parties have lodged FIRs against each other at the Mirik police station. The police however, are yet to arrest anyone in this connection.

Meanwhile, tension erupted at Panighata once again this morning after miscreants tore down GJMM posters announcing an open meeting at Sukna on 9 December. The police intervened immediately and quelled situation from escalating. GNLF leader, Mr Deepak Gurung has warned that if the police do not take action against the GJMM ‘miscreants’ spreading violence, the party activists would take charge themselves.

Statesman News Service

SILIGURI, Dec. 7: The Gorkha National Liberation Front has resolved to revive the demand for a separate Gorkhaland state in case the Centre failed to clear the Darjeeling Sixth Schedule Bill in the next session of Parliament.

The resolution was adopted at the GNLF’s branch committee meetings, held simultaneously in Darjeeling, Kurseong, Kalimpong and Mirik today. While the meeting in Darjeeling held was presided over by the branch committee president, Mr Deepak Gurung, at Kurseong, Kalimpong and Mirik the meetings were chaired by Mr Indra Narayan Pradhan, Mr Dawa Pakhrin and Mr LB Rai, respectively.

“All the branch committees have unanimously resolved to serve the Centre an ultimatum for it to clear the Bill in the next session of the Parliament, failing which, the GNLF would revive the agitation for a separate Gorkhaland state,” Mr Deepak Gurung said.

Accusing the Centre of backtracking from the in-principle agreement, Mr Gurung said: “By signing the tripartite memorandum of settlement in December 2005, the Centre had committed to grant the Darjeeling hills a Constitutional guarantee under the Sixth Schedule.

“If it fails to live up to the agreement two years later, it should stay prepared to face the Gorkhaland agitation once again.”
A delegation of the GNLF branch committee leaders is scheduled to meet the party supremo Mr Subash Ghishing tomorrow, to apprise him of the unanimous decision.

“We are confident that Mr Ghishing would also put his seal on the decision,” Mr Gurung said. Although placed in the winter session of the Parliament that concluded today, the Union government failed to ratify the Bill as the BJP declined to back it without a thorough discussion.
The Bill has now been referred to a Parliamentary Standing Committee, which is expected to visit Darjeeling late this month to assess public opinion on the proposed Sixth Schedule status.