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The Telegraph
RAJEEV RAVIDAS

Kalimpong, Oct. 29: The monsoon has taken its toll on tea this time although experts said it was a “normal” year in terms of rainfall with fewer landslides compared to last year.

Landslides in the nearly five months of the rainy season that began in mid-June and ended yesterday have claimed three lives compared to over 30 deaths in 2009. Even normal life was disrupted less this year. The situation in tea gardens, the main industry in the hills, however, is not as cheerful with production likely to dip this time.

“The monsoon withdrew from the sub-Himalayan Bengal and Sikkim yesterday. Overall, the monsoon was normal in the hills as well as in the plains of north Bengal. Sikkim also experienced normal rainfall this year,” said G.N. Raha, the meteorologist in-charge of the flood meteorological office in Jalpaiguri.

Data available with Save the Hills, an NGO that works on landslide-related issues, corroborated the recordings of the met office. Earlier this year, the STH had installed three automatic rainfall gauges in Darjeeling, Kalimpong and Kurseong. “Of the three major hill towns, Kurseong received above normal rainfall, while Darjeeling and Kalimpong received a notch less than normal,” said Praful Rao, the STH president. Rao said even though it was a relief that few lives were lost, the landslide hazard should be seen from a different perspective. “It does not cause death like an earthquake but impacts human lives over a longer period of time,” he said.

As far as tea is concerned, the industry apprehends further fall in production. “Production of Darjeeling Tea was 14 million kg in the early 90s which came down to 9.3 million kg in 2009, according to the Tea Board of India.

“We apprehend a further shortfall in production this year,” said Sandeep Mukherjee, the secretary of Darjeeling Tea Association. The monsoon was erratic this year in keeping with the trend of the last decade. “Over the past decade, there has been a 22 per cent shortfall in rainfall. This (shortfall) is likely to go up further in the future…(Moreover) in the last three years, drought-like conditions prevailed at the start of every year.

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The Telegraph
VIVEK CHHETRI

Darjeeling, Oct. 28: Nearly 25 GNLF leaders have decided to return to the hills en masse, prompting the Darjeeling police chief to ask the state government for more forces to ensure their security.

The announcement comes even as the GNLF steps up its offensive before the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha signs an agreement on the interim set-up for the hills. The Subash Ghisingh-led party had already started forming village committees and yesterday announced the formation of a unit in Darjeeling subdivision, almost three years after nearly 40 leaders were hounded out of the hills. It is not yet clear if Ghisingh will be part of the group that is planning the comeback after Diwali.

Darjeeling superintendent of police D.P. Singh said: “We have received letters from 25 GNLF leaders expressing desire to return home. I have written to the state government seeking additional forces to ensure their safety and security.” Singh said no intimation had come from Ghisingh, who had been forced to leave the hills in June 2008.

However, sources in the police said “before Dashain (Durga Puja) they had received information that Ghisingh, too, was planning a return”. (more…)

The Telegraph

Siliguri, Oct. 28: The Apollo Group of Hospitals will set up a heart institute at five places across the state, including one in Siliguri.

One such institute already started functioning in Calcutta last month.

“Apart from Calcutta, we have chosen Siliguri, Asansol, Midnapore, Sreerampur and Howrah to set up Apollo Gleneagles Heart Institutes. The aim is to provide best cardiac care expertise to people in distant places so that they do not have to travel to the metros for treatment,” Rupali Basu, the chief executive officer of Apollo Gleneagles Hospital in Calcutta, said here today.

“Siliguri will be one of our major centres that will cater for not only the six districts in the region but also patients from neighbouring countries of Bangladesh, Bhutan and Nepal,” she said.

According to Debashish Ghosh, a senior cardiologist at the Calcutta institute, the Siliguri unit will initially have a 50-bed coronary care unit (CCU) for those who have suffered heart attacks and diagnostic facility for other heart diseases.

“The first four hours after a heart attack are crucial and best treatment should be provided during that period. Initially, we plan to establish CCUs with best facilities and experts to give them such care,” he said.

The facility in Calcutta has arrhythmia clinic for treatment of patients with abnormal heart rates, heart failure unit for post cardiac surgery and angioplasty, pacemaker wing for management and maintenance of patients with pacemakers and clinics for expecting mothers with hypertension and cardiac conditions.

“These clinics will be set up in all the five institutes but surgeries and angioplasties will be done only in Calcutta,” said Basu. “Once we find a site in Siliguri, we will probably establish the heart institute in the next six months.”

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The Telegraph

Oct. 27: Two persons died and nine suffered injuries when a Siliguri-bound Tata Sumo fell 300-feet below into a gorge along NH31A today.

The dead have been identified as Sentu Poddar, 25, of Shantinagar in Siliguri and Rita Rai of Nepal, 57.

Police said the incident occurred at 27th Mile around 1pm when the driver of the vehicle carrying 10 passengers lost control while negotiating a bend just above a NHPC Teesta Low Dam Project site. “We are trying to ascertain if the accident occurred because of mechanical failure or over-speed. Had a tree not come on its way, the jeep could have plunged down even further and the consequences would have been worse,” said an officer.

Of the injured, Nazimuddin, 28, a resident of Bihar, escaped with only minor injuries. “He was administered first aid at the primary health centre in Rambi but he is in a state of shock,” said the officer.

Meena Sharma, 28, and her 10-year-old son Ganesh from Salugarah, near Siliguri, are under treatment at the Kalimpong subdivisional hospital. “The mother has received knee and hip injuries, while the boy has injured his scalp and suffered a cut below the armpit,” said hospital superintendent Suva Ratna Pradhan.

Santosh Pradhan, 31, and driver Ranjit Tamang, 28, both from Singtam in Sikkim, have been admitted to the North Bengal Medical College and Hospital in Siliguri.

Mithun Ghosh, 24, of Shantipara in New Jalpaiguri and Ranjit Mandal, 32, of Jalpai More in Siliguri, are under treatment in a Siliguri nursing home, while Rajen Tamang and Asok Tamang are in a hospital in Siliguri.

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The Telegraph

Oct. 27: The Gorkha Janmukti Morcha is confident of inking an agreement on the interim set-up in the next political-level talks but rival outfits are determined to oppose the arrangement, raising the spectre of unrest in the hills after the pact is sealed.

Today, the ABGL warned that the hills would go up in flames if the Bimal Gurung-led Morcha went ahead with an interim set-up for the Darjeeling hills.

Chewang Bhutia, the the Kalimpong branch secretary of the ABGL, said those who claimed they would sign such an agreement within a month or two should think twice because former party president Madan Tamang had sacrificed his life to oppose such interim set-ups.

“If they (read the Morcha) have the guts, let them do it. The hills, however, will go up in flames. The youths are with us. Make no mistake of treating us like weaklings,” warned Bhutia.

The ABGL reaction was in response to reports that the Morcha is on the verge of signing the agreement on the interim arrangement by as early as the next round of tripartite talks, likely to be held in the first half of November.

The ABGL said over 1,200 people (in the 1980s) and Morcha supporters Pramila Sharma and Akbar Lama sacrificed their lives for the separate state of Gorkhaland, not an interim set-up or the Sixth Schedule. (more…)

The Telegraph
VIVEK CHHETRI

Darjeeling, Oct. 26: The Gorkha Janmukti Morcha has decided to seek the opinion of all its leaders across the country before accepting the proposed set-up for the hills, an indication that the outfit is walking a tightrope and wants to avoid a Sixth Schedule-like fiasco that also brought out Subash Ghisingh’s nemesis.

Sources confirmed that Morcha president Bimal Gurung would invite its unit leaders from across the country for deliberations on the interim set-up and Gorkhaland.

“The meeting will be held very soon,” a source said. The date could probably be October 30, another source said.

The Morcha has formed units in the seven northeastern states besides Delhi, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand. It has a unit in Calcutta, too. The Nepali-speaking people from across the country had supported the Morcha agitation for Gorkhaland as they saw in it a solution to the identity issue of the Gorkhas. The new state, it was said, would give the Gorkhas the identity they had been craving for by differentiating between the Nepali-speaking Indians and the citizens of Nepal.

Although the party has been insisting that the proposed arrangement is only temporary and the statehood movement will continue, Gurung and his think tank are wary because the initial agitation was for a new state and not a new administrative set-up. Under the circumstances, the Morcha wants a consensus to be reached before the interim set-up deal is inked. Observers said the Morcha did not want a repeat of the Sixth Schedule fiasco, another reason why a consensus is needed.

In the past, the Centre, the state and the Subash Ghisingh-led GNLF had signed a Memorandum of Settlement for conferring the Sixth Schedule status on the three hill sub-divisions of Darjeeling. The status could not be conferred because of a spontaneous opposition in the hills. The delay in amending the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution — the process starting almost one-and-a-half years from when the settlement was inked in 2006 — to include the Darjeeling hills proved to be Ghisingh’s nemesis.

“Gurung is aware how Ghisingh, who was then considered the undisputed leader of the hills but had to go because of the mass opposition. The Morcha leadership does not want a repeat and will try to convince its unit leaders that the interim set-up is only for two years and that the party has not set aside the Gorkhaland issue,” said an observer.

The party is likely to firm up its decision on the interim set-up only after receiving feedbacks from its unit leaders. In fact, the Morcha yesterday asked its leaders from the Dooars and Terai to submit their opinions complete with their address and phone numbers. “A similar exercise will be conducted when members of other units are invited for discussion,” the source added.

The prospect of settling the interim issue within the next political-level talks seems real as Gurung seems to have worked out a strategy to solve the territorial dispute. He has hinted that the solution is in the formation of a joint verification committee that will survey the Dooars and Terai and submit a report by 2011.

“(After that) the government has to agree to include the Nepali-dominated areas in the administrative arrangement that will be in force till 2012,” he said yesterday.
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The Telegraph
VIVEK CHHETRI

Darjeeling, Oct. 25: Bimal Gurung today hinted that a possible solution to end the impasse surrounding the territorial dispute of the interim set-up could lie in forming a joint verification committee.

The committee, comprising representatives of the Centre, state and the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha, will survey the areas that can be tagged along with the three hill subdivisions in Darjeeling district as part of the new set-up in the days to come, he said.

The Morcha president today held a meeting with the representatives of the party’s units in the Dooars and Terai to discuss “both the positive and negatives” of the negotiations that are on.

About the “positives”, Gurung said: “Those (issues) that have not been finalised like the territory, tauzi and the transfer of legislative powers will be negotiated at the political-level talks. The Centre and the state are trying to bargain and I will never let down the people of Dooars and Terai.” He said the people should not listen to rumours that the Dooars and Terai have been excluded from the interim set-up. (more…)

The Telegraph

Kalimpong, Oct. 25: The festive season has failed to bring joy to the tourism sector in the subdivision with a 40 per cent fall in tourist inflow compared to last autumn.

Tourism stakeholders believe many factors — mainly the political turmoil and poor condition of roads — were responsible for the poor tourist arrival even though the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha has so far not carried out any political programme that would deter visitors from holidaying in the hills during the festive season.

On the contrary, the party has been organising a month-long cultural programme in the hills as a two-pronged strategy to woo tourists as well as to score a political point by highlighting the cultural difference between the Gorkhas and the rest of Bengal.

“The tourists might have decided against coming to the hills, perhaps, because of what happened in the past couple of years when many of them were forced to leave the hills at a short notice because of political trouble. You hardly see any tourists in town. I have spoken to my colleagues and most of them say the bookings have been very low — maybe coming down by as much as 40 per cent,” said Sanjogita Subba, a former president of the Hotel and Restaurant Owners’ Association of Kalimpong (Horak).

Transporters and other engaged in tourism business, too, have confirmed that the visitor arrival has been very low this time. “Even those who halt here for at least a night on their way back from Sikkim are few and far between. The condition of the roads could be a reason for their not coming here, as they do not want to risk missing their trains and flights from New Jalpaiguri and Bagdogra respectively on their way home,” said Dawa Lama, a driver.

The pitiable condition of the road is definitely the reason for the poor tourist turnout in Kafer, which along with Lava, is one of the two tourism hotspots in the subdivision. “The road to Kafer from near Lava is maintained by the forests (read the West Bengal Forest Development Corporation). However, despite many approaches, they have not bothered to repair the road, citing funds crunch. We, the local people, have been carrying out patchworks from time to time to keep the road motorable,” said Dorji Sherpa, a hotelier in Kafer.

According to Sherpa, tourists have already thinned in the thickly forested Kafer, which over the years has become very popular with domestic visitors. “All the hotels were packed for only four days this time. Other times, the hotels used to be packed for over 15 days,” he said.
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The Telegraph
VIVEK CHHETRI

Darjeeling, Oct. 24: Bimal Gurung today assured his supporters in Mirik that the interim set-up would be finalised in the next political level-meeting to be held in a few days, triggering speculation that a backstage negotiation might be on.

The Gorkha Janmukti Morcha president’s statement has created a flutter in the hills, as it is largely believed that a number of political-level talks will be needed to thrash out some of the contentious issues related to the set-up, especially the territorial jurisdiction of the new body.

Addressing the people at the ongoing tourist festival in Mirik, 45km from Darjeeling, Gurung said: “The interim set-up will be finalised in the first (after the October 11 official-level talks) political meeting itself. If not the first, I am confident that the settlement will be definitely signed at the second meeting.”

During the October 11 talks in Delhi, representatives of the state, Centre and the Morcha were of the opinion that all that could be “discussed at the bureaucratic-level” had been done. They decided that they did not have the mandate to take a decision on some issues which they kept aside for the political-level talks.

The issues include the territorial jurisdiction of the new body, mode of selection of the members of the interim council, transfer of the tauzi department which keeps land records of the tea gardens and the legislative powers of the new body.

Gurung’s confidence in inking a settlement at the next meeting itself has raised speculation that perhaps some backstage negotiations are underway to settle these contentious issues. “The issues which have not yet been settled are touchy. However, Gurung’s confidence smacks of a possible backstage negotiations between the three parties involved in the talks,” said an observer. (more…)

The Telegraph
Society under consumer scan

Kalimpong, Oct. 22: A father-son duo from a Kalimpong village have lodged a complaint with the Darjeeling district consumer forum against a local cooperative society for not returning their deposits three years after maturity.

Shanti Ram Ghimirey and his son Bhupen from Dalapchand, about 10km from here, had deposited their hard-earned savings with the Dalapchand Gram Panchayat Sahakari Krishi Union Samiti, a registered society in the village.

When the Ghimireys deposited the money, mostly by way of fixed deposits, they were told that they would get their returns at the interest rate of 10 per cent on completion of the maturity period of a year.

However, more than three years after the maturity, the Ghimireys have only received a tiny part (Rs 46,000) of their six deposits worth Rs 1,33,000. The samiti is yet to refund Rs 87,000 in fixed deposits and Rs 5,856 in savings account, totalling Rs 92,856, to the duo.

The samiti is affiliated to the Darjeeling District Central Cooperative Bank Limited based here.

According to the terms of agreement between the samiti and the bank, the samiti is required to put 70 per cent of the amount of each deposit in the bank. However, a bank official told The Telegraph that the Dalapchand samiti did not seem to have followed the rule book.

The Ghimireys, however, do not want to listen to any such explanations but simply want their money back.

They, in fact, approached the Darjeeling District Consumer Distress Redressal Forum yesterday, seeking refund of their deposits with interest calculated at the rate of 12 per cent from the date of their maturity till the time of payment.

“We have also sought an additional amount of Rs 15,000 as compensation for the mental harassment caused to us by the samiti,” said Bhupen.

Bhupen said in their effort to get back the money, they had even approached the bank on many occasions but to no avail. After running for pillar to post for the past three years, the Ghimireys finally approached the Kalimpong Consumers’ Forum (KFC), an NGO, which after making inquiries advised them to lodge a complaint with the consumer redressal forum.

“There are many more Ghimireys in the village. Many of them, because of ignorance, have almost given up their life-long savings,” said Praful Rao, the KFC secretary.

When contacted, the Dalapchand samiti’s manager Dhurba Rai admitted that the Ghimireys were to get their entire money back. “We will eventually pay them their entire dues but unfortunately are not in a position to do that in one go,” he said.

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The Telegraph
RAJEEV RAVIDAS

Kalimpong, Oct. 21: A 14-member international team of cyclists began a 10-day mountain-biking expedition yesterday with a tea-tasting tour of the famous Makaibari garden near Kurseong before pedalling up their way to Darjeeling through the potholed NH55.

After spending their night at the Queen of the Hills, the cyclists again hit the road today on the longest leg of the sub-Himalayan tour before touching base at Peling in Sikkim, which is about 70km from Darjeeling.

By the end of the expedition on October 29, the team will have covered about 450km, taking a circuitous route through Darjeeling, Peling, Yuksam, Borang, Gangtok, Ravangla, Lachung and again back to the Sikkim capital.

The cyclists seem to have thoroughly enjoyed the first day of the ride along NH55.

“It was fantastic. We went down to the tea plantation (Makaibari) and back up to Kurseong (town), which was extremely steep. We saw some interesting sights and the people were very friendly,” said John Fleming from Melbourne in Australia.

Speaking to The Telegraph on the phone from Darjeeling, Fleming said he had been on cycling tours in Laos, Corsica and Spain, and the current ride was the best so far. “It has been a very good ride so far,” agreed 65-year-old Graeme Watkins, also from Melbourne and a veteran of 15 cycling tours across the globe.

Watkins said he was hoping the Sikkim leg of the tour would also be as interesting.

Grace McNally, who is from Washington, said the tour would help promote the adventure sport of mountain-biking in the region.

The cycling is being organised jointly by American national Bob Thompson, who is an ardent promoter of mountain-biking throughout the world, and the Kalimpong-based Help Desk Tourism.

Mountain-biking is yet to be developed as an adventure sport in the region even though experts believe the Darjeeling hills and neighbouring Sikkim with their rugged mountainous terrain are ideal for cycling, which is popular in the west.

Norden Pempa Hishey, a member of Help Desk Tourism, had said the idea behind hosting the expedition was to promote the adventure sport of mountain-biking in the region.

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The Telegraph
VIVEK CHHETRI

Darjeeling, Oct. 21: Darjeeling police have started attaching properties of absconders in the Madan Tamang murder case following a court order but so far all they have managed to attach are trunks and clothes of the accused who do not have assets like houses in their names.

The ABGL has dubbed the attachment exercise an “eye wash” and “a big drama”.

Police sources said properties of three absconders had been confiscated till late this evening. All three — Tenzing Khambachay, Kamal Sinha and Arun Moktan — are supporters of the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha.

An advocate based in Darjeeling said: “Immovable properties are not seized usually if they are used by family members. If the house is in the name of the absconder, then it cannot be sold to anyone in future.”

The police swooped down on the houses of Khambachay at Jawahar Busty, Sinha at MP Road and Moktan at Gandhi Road in Darjeeling last night.

Kamal’s father Kumar Sinha told The Telegraph: “We clearly told the police that my son was an unemployed youth and he had contributed nothing for the house. I worked in Delhi for 22 years and this flat has been made with my hard earned money.”

An officer said two trunks (boxes) and some clothes were attached at Sinha’s house, while the police seized a suitcase and “few chairs” from Moktan’s residence.

The properties attached from Khambachay’s house include a trunk and clothes.

Thirty Morcha activists were named in the chargesheet filed by the CID on August 30 for their alleged involvement in the murder of ABGL president Madan Tamang. Of the 30, only seven have been arrested so far. Tamang was hacked to death by a khukuri-wielding mob in Darjeeling on May 21 morning.

The attachment process has come under attack from the ABGL.

“It is merely an eyewash and part of a big drama. The police have been making noises for the past two months that the properties would be attached and there was speculation that the absconders would remove the valuables from their houses. Let us wait and see how this drama unfolds in the days to come,” said Dawa Sherpa, the working president of the ABGL.

The police started attaching the properties after the court of the chief judicial magistrate in Darjeeling rejected an application filed by the CID to start the process for the trial of the seven arrested persons.

S.P. Rajak, the chief judicial magistrate, rejected the plea on October 11 saying the police had not submitted an execution report on the Warrant of Proclamation and Attachment (WPA) issued against the absconders. This essentially meant that the court wanted to know whether adequate measures had been taken to force the absconders to surrender before the court by attaching their properties. The WPA against the 23 named in the CID’s chargesheet had been issued by the court between September 4 and 8.

According to the lawyers, once the execution report is submitted by the police, the chief judicial magistrate will split the case between those who have been arrested and those who are absconding. After that, the case of the arrested persons will be committed (referred) to the session court for trial as the offence can only be tried there.

The absconders, including two women, have been booked under Sections 147/148 (rioting/rioting with deadly weapons), 149 (unlawful assembly), 427 (mischief causing damage), 506 (criminal intimidation), 302 (murder) and 120 (conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code.

The trial will involve examining 61 witnesses, including Bharati Tamang and Sanjog Tamang, wife and son of Madan Tamang.

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