www.kalimpong.info

The Telegraph
RAJEEV RAVIDAS

Kalimpong, Dec. 31: The West Bengal Information Commission has showcaused a public information officer for failing to provide disaster management-related information to Save The Hills (STH), an NGO.

In its notice dated December 18, the commission has asked the state public information officer of the disaster management authority, posted in Darjeeling, to explain within seven days from the receipt of the letter why he has failed to respond to the queries of Praful Rao, the president of STH.

It has also threatened to impose penalty on the officer according to the provisions of the the Right to Information (RTI) Act. Under Section 20 of the act, the failure to comply with an RTI request can lead to a fine of Rs 25,000 as well as disciplinary action.

The Kalimpong-based organisation, through an application under the RTI Act on August 19, had sought to know the long and short-term measures contemplated by the district disaster management authority to mitigate landslide hazards in the district. The NGO had also wanted to know whether or not most landslide-prone areas had been identified and the money allocated and spent on disaster management in the district.

Rao said he was compelled to approach the state commission after the district authorities failed to respond within the stipulated one-month period. “Hopefully, something positive will emerge from the commission’s notice,” he said.

Describing the RTI Act as an effective tool to extract information from the government, Rao said STH’s experience had shown that it was almost difficult to get it on time.

“The RTI Act stipulates a time limit of 30 days for questions to be answered, but even after more than four months of submitting the application, we are yet to get any response,” Rao said.

The NGO was formed after landslides caused severe damage in the hills in September last year.

When contacted, the information officer, Biswanath Barik, said: “We have received the notice. We will respond to it in the next three-four days.”

The Telegraph

Dec 30, 08
Kalimpong

Look no further than Jopa Restaurant if you are in Kalimpong and plan to party on New Year’s Eve.

For one, no other hangouts in town have scheduled any programmes on the night.

Having said that it would be wrong to walk into the Chinese joint — touched up in flaming red all over — with a we-are-here-because-we-had-no-choice feeling.

The restaurant on Main Road plans to make the bash a night that will be remembered in the year to come.

“We are expecting around 100 guests,” said Akhoi Wong, the young owner of Jopa.

The entry fee will be Rs 250 for stags and Rs 200 for couples. Every guest will be greeted with a Jopa Special Punch cocktail. Food charges will be extra.

“The party will swing to the music churned out by talented DJs,” said Wong. Rupe, a local DJ, will be the special draw.

Guests can hit the dance floor as early as 5pm, although the party will continue well past midnight. The music plus the well-stocked bar should help ensure the spirit never slackens.

The restaurant also plans to offer a handful of cocktails of Polynesian mix for connoisseurs among the revellers. Charges will be extra.

While the food on offer will be the regular Chinese fare in the restaurant’s menu, it plans to serve some interesting snacks to go with the drinks.

“Items like spring chicken, Goldchurian Fish and a Jopa special pork should suit every taste bud and keep mouths watering,” said the owner.

The Telegraph

Kalimpong, Dec. 25: The Gorkha Janmukti Morcha has included two Adivasis and a solitary Rajbangshi in the delegation for the tripartite talks. The strength of the team has been increased to 17 from the 13 declared yesterday.

Announcing the team that will take part in the December 29 meeting in New Delhi, Morcha general secretary Roshan Giri repeated what president Bimal Gurung had said earlier.

“The country is facing a war-like situation and we completely understand that. We will require many more rounds of talks to achieve Gorkhaland,” Giri said here today. (more…)

time passes, and a great many things just become a clutter of memories . some days i think of days past and remember things from my childhood. the many treks and hikes down to the valleys where our two rivers flowed..relli on the east and teesta on the west. the many paths and trails in the woods and forests that led to our secret swimming holes. aah, then the rivers were pristine, their waters clear and cool and we spent magical summer days diving off the rocks basking in the sun wishing the day never came to an end. and innocence would last forever.

along the way we often came across the most gorgeous butterflies .They seemed to be everywhere. So many that the national geographic magazine once did a long article on it under the banner “the valley of butterflies”. then sometime beginning in the late 60′s the butterflies vanished. they say the great floods of 68 was responsible.likely. what remained swiftly became a collectors treasure hunt. and they came from all over the world with butterfly nets and trophy boxes,and for a while it seemed like these winged creatures of such exquisite beauty too would be driven to extinction.

Almost four decades ,and it seems somewhere in the hidden shades of the remaining forests and under the warm moist rocks of the river bends, the butterflies have made a slow but definite comeback. i don’t know how long it will last this time. the nhpc with their grandiose plans to build hydroelectricity dams are clawing away in the valley; and human colonisation of forest lands, the butterflies are making their last stand here.

i took these pictures over the last two summers. butterflies are very difficult subjects. their flight patterns are absolutely freaky. and most times they land and stay still just long enough to tease you. i had some very interesting moments getting these shots and will tell you about it some other time. for now hope you enjoy these pictures as much as i enjoyed taking them.

chuck

Wishing all readers a Merry Christmas.

Here are some photographs from the Carol Fest and Christmas processions in Kalimpong during the Christmas week.

The Telegraph

Kalimpong, Dec. 24: Putting an end to the uncertainty over its participation in the second round of tripartite talks on its demands, Gorkha Janmukti Morcha president Bimal Gurung today said a 13-member team will attend the New Delhi meeting scheduled for December 29.

Addressing a news conference at Gorubathan, about 60km from here, Gurung said the delegation will include representatives from the Adivasi and Rajbangshi communities of the Dooars and Terai.

“We will first discuss the names at our central committee meeting in Kalimpong tomorrow before making a formal announcement,” he added.

The Morcha president admitted that he was not hopeful of any meaningful outcome from the second round of talks, given the preoccupation of the Centre with more pressing national issues.

“However, the next round should be at the political level, and not at the secretary- level,” he stressed. Gurung said apart from Gorkhaland, the only other issue on the agenda of the month-end meeting would be the transfer of K.L. Tamta from the post of the inspector general of police of north Bengal.

The Morcha president also made it clear that the party would not support the Congress MP from Darjeeling, Dawa Narbula, during the general election slated for next year.

Statesman News Service

GORUBATHAN (KALIMPONG), Dec. 24: The Gorkha Jan Mukti Morcha today withdrew the 72-hour bandh call in the proposed area of Gorkhaland scheduled from 27 December. The party also announced that it will participate in the 29 December tripartite talks in New Delhi on the statehood demand. Party chief Mr Bimal Gurung is likely to lead the delegation to New Delhi for the talks.

Mr Gurung today also announced here the suspension of the ongoing relay hunger strike with effect from 6 p.m. today. Both the programmes were adopted to demand the arrest of those involved in the alleged attack on GJMM activists at Kalchini in the Dooars recently. Talking to the media at Gorubathan in Kalimpong sub-division today, the GJMM chief said the party has formed a 13-member delegation for the tripartite talks involving the Centre, the West Bengal government and the GJMM and there was “every possibility” of his attending the talks in New Delhi. “There is an 80 per cent chance that I would attend the 29 December tripartite talks but I would make a final announcement on this within a day or two,” Mr Gurung said. He added that the 13-member GJMM delegation would include two representatives from the Adivasi community and one from the indigenous Rajbanshi community of north Bengal.

According to him, the GJMM central committee would meet in Kalimpong later in the evening to discuss issues pertaining to the delegation’s impending Delhi tour. “Since the police have arrested most of the accused, we have decided to withdraw the bandh. But the course of our future agitation would depend on the outcome of the 29 December talks,” he said, announcing that the GJMM youth activists would hold rallies across the proposed Gorkhaland areas on 26 December and would resume the relay hunger strike from 27 December morning to press for the success of the Delhi negotiations.

Criticising the IGP north Bengal, Mr KL Tamta, for his alleged biased role, Mr Gurung said: “He (the IGP) is a thief and a corrupt officer. He has got about 150 youths into betel-nut smuggling and is onto politics. He is working at the behest of minister Mr Asok Bhattacharya and is trying to incite violence against the GJMM. We demand his immediate removal and the demand would also figure during the 29 December tripartite talks.” The GJMM president said that the party would demand future tripartite talks to be held at the political level. The first round of tripartite talks on the Darjeeling statehood demand was held in New Delhi on 8 September.

A mild earthquake was felt at around 5:57 am on Christmas morning in Kalimpong and surrounding areas, with some aftershocks a few minutes later. More reports to follow if there are any.

Update
PRELIMINARY EARTHQUAKE REPORT
Indian Meteorological Department

Date of Occurrence: 25/12/2008
Time: 05:56:41.0 HRS(IST)
Intensity: SLIGHT
Magnitude: 4.4
Epicentre: Lat. 27.2°N Long. 87.9°E
Region: NEPAL–INDIA(SIKKIM) BORDER REGION

Dear Readers

Yesterday I had the express privilege and pleasure of meeting not just one but two important Kalimpong personalities. Please allow me to introduce Ms. Monila De and Mr. Wangchuk Basi.

Ms. De is an eminent literary figure and a veritable storehouse of Kalimpong stories and anecdotes. She has lived through Kalimpong’s chequered past and has first hand accounts of the colorful personalities and events from the times gone by. We are very lucky that she has graciously agreed to supply kalimpong.info with some of her essays and musings. I’m sure all our readers will eagerly await her writings.

Mr. Wangchuk Basi is one of Kalimpong’s stalwarts, ever conscientiously toiling for the common causes and for the greater good of Kalimpong and her denizens. His observations and musings on paper, or sms, are well appreciated by his social circle for their wit and incisiveness. And we are lucky that Mr. Basi has very kindly agreed to share his work with us.

- Admin

The Telegraph

A garbage mound in the basement of a building owned by the municipality. Picture by Chinlop Fudong Lepcha

Kalimpong, Dec. 23: The Kalimpong Municipality is up against another garbage protest.

The civic body has been forced to stop treating solid waste at the army dumping site near Durpin following protests by villagers of Chalisa and Chivvo Busty, 2km away.

The army had given permission to the municipality for the use of its site till January 31. The civic body has recently acquired land for a permanent dumping site at Lower Bhalukhop, but for the moment it cannot be used as the approach road is yet to be built.

In June, protests from villagers at Bhalukhop had forced the civic body to shift its dump yard. After that, none of the localities in town refused to have anything do with a dumping ground, even if it was temporary, near their vicinity.

The local army station at Durpin came to the civic body’s rescue by allowing the use of its dump yard in November.

Sangay Zimba, the municipality’s health officer, claimed the entire exercise of solid waste management was being done in a very scientific manner. “But the villagers complained about the foul stench and increase in the population of flies because of wastes,” he said.

Deepa Thapa, Chivvo resident and a local Gorkha Janmukti Morcha leader, said the waste was a health hazard for villagers living close to the dump yard. “We never had flies in our village till the municipality started dumping its waste here. The volume of garbage is far too big, which is why we opposed it. We, however, have no problems with the army wastes,” she added.

Zimba, however, promised that the municipality would find a way out of the mess and keep the streets of the town free from garbage, especially during Christmas and New Year. “Despite not being able to treat the wastes at the Durpin site, we have been lifting garbage, and will find a way of disposing it,” he said.

The department, the chairman said, is toying with the idea of burning the waste after segregating them at a suitable site.

The civic body is also speeding up work on the approach road to its new dumping site. “Hopefully, we will be able to ready the new site by January. Once the new site becomes operational, we will be free from all worries,” said Zimba.

Some more Kalimpong photographs, Dec ’08

Statesman News Service

DARJEELING, Dec. 21: More than 20,000 Lepchas vowed to die for their community and to preserve their culture on the 227th birth anniversary of their King Gyabu Achok, at Mela ground in Kalimpong.

Organised by the Indigenous Lepcha Tribal Association (ILTA) with affiliate organisations like Darjeeling Lepcha Association, Affected Citizens of Teesta (ACT) and Kolkata Lepcha Association, community members from India and other parts of the world participated in the event. (more…)