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The Telegraph

Kalimpong, Aug. 29: A former DGHC councillor from Gorubathan said he was ready to leave his home town if it helped the statehood cause after the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha served an ultimatum asking him to quit the hills.

“They asked me to leave and I have obliged. This is my way of extending support to the Morcha,” said K.N. Subba, the former GNLF councillor.

Subba had left Gorubathan, 65km from here, a day after a Morcha supporter was killed in Darjeeling allegedly by a shot fired from a GNLF leader’s house on July 25. “Even though I have always been a strong supporter of Gorkhaland, I am not attached to any political party right now,” Subba said over the phone.

The local units of the Morcha and its youth and women’s wings had pasted a notice on one of the two houses owned by Subba in Gorubathan on Wednesday, asking him and his family to leave the place within 96 hours. “We served him the notice since in all these years of being a councillor, Subba did nothing but abuse the rights of the people,” said Mahendra Rai, a local Morcha leader.

Subba’s wife, however, is still living in Gorubathan. “She has been pleading with the Morcha wing to allow her to stay,” said a source.

The Telegraph

New Delhi, Aug. 27: Higher education monitor UGC today said North Bengal University was acting against rules when it rejected the minority status certificate the National Commission for Minority Educational Institutions had granted Kalimpong’s Cluny Women’s College.

India’s laws don’t allow a state government or its universities to refuse to accept minority status granted by the Centre, the UGC said. The matter came up at a hearing at the commission on a complaint by the college, which has been denied minority status by NBU despite an NCMEI certificate.

NBU says it wasn’t consulted before the college applied for the status. The UGC said it would “inquire” into the case, whose outcome is crucial as it’s the first time a university has refused to accept a minority certificate from the NCMEI.

The Statesman

Mrinalini Sharma

DARJEELING, Aug. 27: Indigenous style is replacing western fashion in Darjeeling ever since the GJMM made it mandatory for the people to dress in traditional attire for a month starting from 7 October.

Dhaure suruwal and chowbandi choli have sidelined fancy tank tops and trousers so much so that stocks are falling short of the current demand for these materials. “Sales have doubled in the past few weeks but our present stocks will not be able to meet the demand that is bound to increase by the day. We have ordered for more stock which will arrive in a day or two,” said Mr Rajendra Pradhan, owner of a shop that sells Nepali traditional goods. (more…)

The Telegraph

Kalimpong, Aug. 26: The Gorkha Janmukti Morcha members today occupied the first floor of the four-storied building owned by former GNLF councillor Roshan Rai.

The Morcha’s partial takeover of the property comes a day after a poster asking Rai and his family to leave the hills was seen pasted on the building located at Lower Gumbahatta here. (more…)

The Telegraph

Siliguri, Aug. 26: GNLF leader Dawa Pakhrin, who fled Kalimpong with his family on July 26 after his house was torched by Gorkha Janmukti Morcha supporters, today said he was feeling insecure in Darjeeling and was leaving the region.

“There is no security for me and my family in the hills as the Morcha leaders are openly threatening me and many other GNLF supporters. So I am leaving today the region, probably Bengal too,” Pakhrin told journalists at a hotel here before leaving Siliguri. “I do not want to disclose my destination, as it is a threat to my security,” he said. (more…)

Statesman News Service

SILIGURI, Aug. 25: National Hydroelectric Power Corporation (NHPC) has agreed to construct an alternative road from 27th Mile near Rambhi to Takdah in Darjeeling sub-division. However, the concerned locals will have to wait for at least another eight to ten months before their alternative lifeline becomes a reality.

The nearly 2 km long road is to pass through the Riang reserve forests under the Darjeeling forest division and, hence, a mandatory clearance from the Union ministry of environment and forests (MoEF) is needed before the road project gets the green signal.
“After we get the detailed project report (DPR) from NHPC, we will require at least a month to complete the paperwork before forwarding the same to the state forest authorities in Kolkata. The state authorities will then send the DPR to the MoEF in New Delhi for their consideration. The decision of the MoEF will return by the same channel. The whole process will take at least six months, if not more,” Darjeeling DFO Mr GP Chhetri said today after conducting a preliminary survey for the proposed road. (more…)

The Telegraph

Kalimpong, Aug. 22: Supporters of the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha today let themselves in through the rear side and occupied the sprawling bungalow of GNLF leader Dawa Pakhrin, planting flags atop the building and its main gate.

About 50 supporters from the Morcha’s five units in the area entered the compound at Hilltop, 1.5km from here, through a broken boundary wall after the lone policeman appointed by the administration to guard the property refused to open the main gate.

Today’s raid was in response to Morcha president Bimal Gurung’s call to convert all houses of GNLF leaders, who have left the hills, into public properties. (more…)

The Telegraph

Pedong, Aug. 21: Bimal Gurung today asked all communities to wear their traditional dresses during the tourist season to show that the Darjeeling hills were different from the rest of the state.

The dress code will be in force for a month starting October 7, the day the Morcha was formed in 2007.

Tourists, who are expected to visit the hills during the festival period, will get to see the difference, Gurung told a meeting here, 30km from Kalimpong town.

Terming the dress code a “cultural movement”, the Morcha president said all the communities in the hills were free to wear their traditional dresses. However, while school students are “exempt”, college students will come within the loop of the “cultural movement”. (more…)

The Statesman

SILIGURI, Aug. 20: The state forest authorities have received a formal application from the National Hydroelectric Power Corporation (NHPC) seeking the transfer of lands required to build an alternative road between 27th Mile near Rambhi and Takdah block in Darjeeling sub-division. (more…)

The Telegraph

Kalimpong, Aug. 19: The 500-odd primary students of Scottish University’s Mission Institution will soon have access to clean sanitation on the school premises through a rainwater harvesting system that will ensure uninterrupted supply of water.

The project, which entails a cost of Rs 10 lakh, is expected to be completed in six months. In all, 17 urinals and 10 toilets with modern amenities will be built. The rainwater harvesting units to be set up in the school compound as well as on the terrace of the nearby Disha building, which, like SUMI, is run by the Church of North India, will ensure uninterrupted supply of water.

The money for the project was raised by Rotary Club of Kelso in Scotland, Rotary Club of Kalimpong and Rotary Foundation.

The foundation stone for the construction of toilets, along with the rainwater harvesting system, was laid at a ceremony held in the institution here today.

Rajen Raghavan, the club’s public relations in-charge, said the club chose SUMI for the project in view of the school’s contribution in the field of education.

In its 117 years of existence, SUMI has been able to spread the light of education not only in Darjeeling and other parts of Bengal, but also in Northeast, Nepal and Bhutan.

Nava Ratna Pradhan, the principal of SUMI, has thanked Rotary Club for implementing the project in his institution. The primary school building and the facilities there are over 100 hundred years old and are badly in need of repair.

Rotary’s assistant district governor Rajesh Chhetri said children-centric projects were part of the thrust area identified by Rotary International in its Make Dreams Real theme for this year.