www.kalimpong.info

The Telegraph

Kalimpong, July 31: GNLF leader and the chairman of the Kalimpong Municipality, C.K. Kumai, and his deputy, Karna Hang Subba, have resigned from their respective posts and as councillors, ending a six-month impasse at the civic body.

Another GNLF councillor, Aditya Rai, has also resigned from his seat. The trio submitted their resignations in separate letters addressed to the board of councillors.

“We received the letters last night where they have also mentioned that they are resigning from the GNLF,” said Norden Lama, a Gorkha Janmukti Morcha leader and councillor of Ward 7. (more…)

The Telegraph

RAJEEV RAVIDAS

Kalimpong, July 30: The DGHC is is yet to open the Rs 2 crore Kalimpong Science Centre, although quite a few months have passed since it was completed.

While the outgoing chief principal secretary of the DGHC, Rajesh Pandey, claimed that the delay was on account of the unfinished electrical work at the centre, others associated with the project said there were other reasons that were holding its inauguration.

The only electrical work that remains to be done is to fix lights in the small parking area in front of the main building and, maybe, decorative lights along the footpath to the outdoor park.

Given that the centre will be open to visitors only during the day, the reason given by the DGHC authorities for the delay in its opening does not hold much water. In fact, the little electrical work that needs to be done could be completed within days.

According to sources, there was definite talk about the centre being opened some time in June by Bengal governor Gopalkrishna Gandhi, but it was not to be.

Pandey, however, said although inviting the governor was pondered over, he was not approached formally.

He hinted that prevailing strife in the hills was causing the delay. But taking into account the fact that all major appointments for the centre were also done in September last year, the centre should have become operational not long after that, although the entire civil work still remained to be completed.

“We completed all civil construction work at a cost of Rs 1.27 crore by November last year and handed back the complex to the education department (of the DGHC),” said Yogesh Pradhan, the assistant engineer of the council’s Kalimpong engineering division, which executed the work.

Spread over five acres of land close to the Deolo tourist spot, the Kalimpong centre though designated as a sub-regional science centre, is understood to have exhibits which are on a par with those at regional centres.

The National Council of Science Museum, which has installed the paraphernalia at the centre, contributed Rs 1.70 crore for the project, while the DGHC’s share was Rs 30 lakh.

The centre will actually be a boon to students here as apart from the exhibits on display, such facilities are known to conduct regular educational activities like science seminars, dramas, nature study camps, quizzes etc, said Manoj Tamang, a science teacher at the local St Philomina’s School.

The Telegraph

Kalimpong, July 30: The Janmukti Secondary Teachers’ Organisation has suggested putting an end to certain traditions that have come to be associated with the Independence Day celebration here, including unnecessary holidays for schools — often extending to more than two days — after the event.

In a letter to the Independence Day Celebration Committee secretary Pranay Mani Shilal, the Kalimpong unit of the organisation said this was necessary in the interest of education and society at large.

“The Independence Day celebration should be a one-day affair as opposed to the past practice of extended holidays,” said Bhisan Roka, the publicity secretary of the teachers’ body.

Kalimpong celebrates August 15 on a grand scale with programmes at times spilling over to the next few days.

The festivity even draws people from outside the subdivision. Many believe that often these programmes hamper the studies of the schoolchildren.

“Declaration of unnecessary holidays should also be done away with and schools be allowed to resume normal classes (after August 15),” said Roka.

The organisation said the marching contingents from the different institutions should be asked to take part in their respective school uniforms since it becomes a burden for parents to buy one set of dress just for a single day.

According to another organisation suggestion, marchers should be allowed to sit and not forced to listen through the long-winding speeches of political leaders while standing under the sun.

“It will also help if the dignitaries restrict themselves to short speeches,” added Roka.

The Telegraph

Darjeeling, July 30: Hotel owners here are lining up Puja bonanzas to woo vacationers to the Queen of the Hills after getting an assurance from the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha that there will be no strikes during the festivities.

The next tourist season starts from September 15, but the main rush is during the fortnight-long Puja vacation. Hotel owners in Darjeeling can expect to rake in around Rs 3 crore in that period, an industry source said.

Sangay Tshering Bhutia, the president of the Darjeeling Gorkha Hotel Owners’ Association, said: “The association representatives met Morcha president Bimal Gurung last evening and he assured us that there would be no strikes during Puja.” (more…)

The Telegraph

Darjeeling, July 29: The Gorkha Janmukti Morcha has taken over Subash Ghisingh’s “palatial” two-storeyed house at his native village in Manju Tea Estate, around 15km from Mirik, and converted it into a unit office.

In the past three-four days, Morcha supporters have damaged and burnt down properties of GNLF leaders across the hills. The retaliatory attacks followed the incident on Friday in which a shot fired allegedly from Darjeeling GNLF president Deepak Gurung’s house killed a woman Morcha supporter, Pramila Sharma.

The Morcha leadership in Manju acted otherwise.

“Instead of vandalising Ghisingh’s house, Lepcha Villa, we decided to take it over. After all, the palatial building has been constructed with public money and now it rightfully belongs to the people. We took control of it on July 27,” said Roshan Thapa, the president of the Morcha’s Manju village unit. (more…)

The Telegraph

VIVEK CHHETRI

Darjeeling, July 29: Preliminary investigations suggest that three different guns were used to fire at Gorkha Janmukti Morcha supporters on Friday, police sources have said.

The volley of bullets that had come raining down, allegedly from the house of GNLF branch committee president Deepak Gurung, had killed Pramila Sharma, a 38-year-old Morcha activist.

“We recovered three types of empty cartridges from Gurung’s residence which clearly suggest that three different weapons were used in the firing,” a police source said. The cartridges are of 9mm, 0.22mm and 0.32mm calibre bullets. So far, 10 empty cartridges have been recovered. (more…)

Statesman News Service
SILIGURI, July 29: The state urban development minister Mr Asok Bhattacharya has asked the Gorkha Jana Mukti Morcha to exercise restraint in the Darjeeling Hills and reiterated the state government’s resolve to go ahead with the proposed tripartite negotiation to amicably settle the protracted Darjeeling imbroglio. He was addressing a DYFI convention in Naxalbari near Siliguri today. The state DYFI secretary Mr Abhas Roy Chowdhury also addressed the gathering.
Calling upon the youth of the Darjeeling district to work hard for peace and development of the region, the minister said that real development was possible only in a peaceful atmosphere. “There is no problem which cannot be solved within the democratic framework of mutual give and take,” Mr Bhattacharya affirmed. (more…)

www.thestatesman.net

DARJEELING, July 29: In the ongoing series of events that followed the violence on 25 July in Darjeeling, GJMM supporters today occupied fallen GNLF leader Mr Subash Ghisingh’s luxurious residence at Manju Tea Estate located around 15 km from Mirik. “Mr Ghisingh’s residence will now be a public property. It will be used as a GJMM office from now on. The residence will also accommodate guests when programmes are held in Mirik,” declared Mr Roshan Thapa, GJMM branch committee president in Manju Tea Estate. (more…)

www.thestatesman.net

DARJEELING, July 29: The police have recovered eight empty cartridges from the third floor of GNLF leader Mr Deepak Gurung’s residence following investigations after the firing that killed GJMM supporter Ms Pramila Sharma on 25 July.
According to the police, the cartridges found indicate that 9mm, .22 and .32 type of firearms had been used. Although the bullet that had struck the victim body and the firearm used in the offence have not been recovered, investigations are on. Mr Gurung, who was arrested from his residence along with 14 others from the GNLF party office at Dr Zakir Hussain Road, are lodged in the Darjeeling correctional home on murder charges.

The Telegraph

G.S. MUDUR

New Delhi, July 28: Darjeeling, known as the queen of the hills, has emerged as a new HIV hotspot with two persons infected in every 100, according to the latest snapshot of India’s HIV epidemic from the National AIDS Control Organisation (Naco).

The northern Bengal district is among nine across India newly identified by Naco as emerging hotspots with HIV prevalence rates of more than 1 per cent — a cut-off public health experts say indicates that the infection is spreading from high-risk groups into the general population.

“Nine new districts (with a prevalence of over 1 per cent) have popped up,” Naco director-general Kanuru Sujatha Rao said today. Patna, Banka and Sitamarhi in Bihar, Indore (Madhya Pradesh), Deogarh (Orissa), Kasargod (Kerala), Amreli (Gujarat), and Jangir-Champa in Chhattisgarh are the other additions to the club of 87 such high-burden districts. (more…)