www.kalimpong.info

The Telegraph

Kalimpong, April 26: The body of singer-composer Brian Moktan was recovered from the bank of the Teesta near Sevoke Bazaar today, exactly a week after he jumped into the river off NH31A between Rambi and Kalijhora.

Police said the body was first noticed by some local people of Sevoke Bazaar around 9am. They immediately alerted the local police outpost. The police, in turn, relayed the message to Moktan’s family and friends. “I received a call from the police around 10.30am and immediately rushed to Sevoke with some friends. When we reached there, Brian’s body was lying face down on the riverbank. The face was barely recognisable, but we identified Brian from his pant, belt and vest,” said former footballer Urgen “Mini” Lama, a close friend of the popular hill singer.

The musician’s body was later brought to the Kalimpong sub-divisional hospital for post-mortem.

A crowd had gathered at the hospital when the ambulance carrying the body arrived.

“I was with Brian Sir a day before he left for Kurseong for election duty. And now to welcome him back in this manner,” said an emotional Kiran Chhetri, a young musician.

Moktan had got down from a bus near Rambi on NH31A and then took a 20-feet plunge into the river at the end of a nearly two-hour drama on April 19. He was returning from Kurseong along with a team of polling officials after overseeing the voting there the previous day.

The 58-year-old musician, also a schoolteacher, leaves behind him his wife, a married daughter, and a grandchild.

The singer of “Jage jage sara raat”, Moktan is also the composer of hits like “Sambodan” and “Seer seer seer hawale” that were sung by Thupden Bhutia and Adrian Pradhan respectively.

During his musical career spanning four decades, he also penned lyrics: the most popular among which are “Yaad timro auncha dillei beech ma” and “Sapani haruma”.

In fact, Moktan was collaborating with Kiran Chhetri for a new album when he died. “Brianjojo (elder brother) was very excited about the album. He was revisiting his unreleased compositions to see if they could be used in the new album. His death is a big loss for music in the hills. He was such an inspiration for us aspiring musicians,” said Manoj Tamang, another young musician.
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The Telegraph
VIVEK CHHETRI

Darjeeling, April 26: The internal rift that led to the removal of the ABGL working president and general secretary from their posts has cast a shadow on the functioning of the party at a time it is looking to consolidate its base in the hills.

Till the resurgence of the GNLF a few weeks before the Assembly elections, the ABGL was the most visible rival of the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha in the hills.

Even now, observers believe that the party is likely to poll a high percentage of urban votes in the Assembly elections.

“We are confident of putting up a good show at least in the Darjeeling seat. We might even win this seat,” said ABGL vice-president Laxman Pradhan.

At this juncture, the ABGL’s announcement of the removal of two of its leaders from their posts — working president Dawa Sherpa and general secretary Manoj Dewan — could pose a new challenge to the party in consolidating its base, observers believe. (more…)

The Telegraph

Jaigaon, April 25: The management of Changmari tea estate has introduced a machine for plucking leaves in the garden, the trial for which was conducted yesterday.

The machine made in Japan weighs 11kg and three workers are needed to operate it.

In six hours, it can pluck 500kg of tealeaves from an area of 1.5 hectares.

General manager of the garden, D. S. Parmar said, 25 workers need the same time to pluck 500kg of leaves.

The garden in Nagrakata, 110km from here, is the first in north Bengal to use such a machine which the management claims will result in better production.

“We are a 1,400-hectare garden with about 4,000 workers. Back in 2008, we hit an all-time high in production with 32.52 lakh kg of tea. But we have the capability of producing 35 lakh kg a year. For that we are having to employ extra workers, another 1,000, from outside and they come from places 25 to 30km away,” Parmar said. He said most youths of the garden were going elsewhere to look for jobs after finishing their education and the number of male workers were also declining. “Shortage of workers in the garden has hampered the quantity and quality of production. For this we are introducing the machine,” he said.

The plucking machine costing Rs 1.1 lakh consumes a litre of petrol in an hour, he said.

The management has said one machine will be used for plucking tealeaves this season and more machines would be procured if the results were satisfactory. “We will take the final decision after conferring with the trade unions,” Parmar said.

Yesterday, the demonstration was conducted in front of the workers and representatives of the trade unions in the garden.

Parmar added that Monabarie tea estate in Assam has the highest production in India with 35 lakh kg of tea a year.

“Our factory has a capacity of 40 lakh kg a year and we can achieve that target easily with more efficient plucking,” he said. The trade union leaders, however, fear that the introduction of the plucking machine would mean that there will be lay offs in the garden. “There is no question of laying off anyone as they will be transferred to other departments,” Parmar said.

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The Telegraph
VIVEK CHHETRI

Darjeeling, April 22: Subash the writer is dear to Ghisingh the politician.

GNLF chief Subash Ghisingh today said he was always a “writer” first. “I am a writer first. I came into politics after I realised that the politicians then were doing no good to the community. I was a driver trying to guide the bus for want of a proper operator,” said the 75-year-old Ghisingh.

The veteran hill politician, who once wrote Nepali novels using the name “Subash”, has 22 works to his credit. But ever since Ghisingh gained mass support as a leader in the eighties when he started the Gorkhaland agitation, though he has been in politics since the late 60s, he had not been writing much. One of his popular works is Manna.

In fact, the GNLF chief, who was interacting with a group of journalists today, seems to have lost count of his novels. “I had written about 18-19 books but if I would have continued, the figure would have now crossed 100,” he said.

After being hounded out of the Darjeeling hills in 2008, a year after the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha came into existence with its renewed Gorkhaland agitation, Ghisingh had kept himself busy with research. “I am currently doing a research on the World War II and the feats of Gorkhas after which they were recognised as a martial race. There are more than 300 cemeteries of the Gorkhas in Rangoon.”

The GNLF chief had extensively travelled to Burma, Cambodia, Vietnam, Thailand and Bhutan while cooling his heels for the last three years.

Asked when he would publish his next book, Ghisingh said: “Let me take care of the situation here. If I get time, I will have to visit more places for my research work.” Most of the publishers of Ghisingh’s book are Darjeeling based.

Ghisingh is also working on Theravada Buddhism one of the oldest surviving Buddhist schools and widely practised in the south-eastern countries.

The leader has been also advocating the need to inculcate the habit of travelling. “A person must have a passport. He must travel far and wide to understand one’s place. If you haven’t seen the world, how can you as a leader prescribe a solution for a place,” he said adding: “Apart from D.P. Rai, the hills no longer have leaders of quality.”

Rai, an ABGL leader who died in the eighties, was the first from the hills to be a minister in the United Front government in Bengal.

Talking as “Ghisingh the politician”, the GNLF chief wondered why the hill people rejected the Sixth Schedule status.

“It has legislative powers. The new Gorkha Hill Council (under the special status) can take care of everything. There will be tax holidays and there will be a beeline of investors thus generating employment for this region,” the politician said. “I am fine but the people here seem to have turned upside down.”

Asked if he would launch an agitation for the inclusion of the hills within the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution, Ghisingh said: “The party has already done its job by signing a historic document (on December 6, 2005 with the state and Centre).”

The hint was that he was not interested in a mass agitation unless the people came forward to support him.

Ghisingh said he was trying to educate the “misled people” by distributing CDs of his Mirik and Darjeeling speeches. “Politics means, being in tune with desh, kaal ani paristhiti (place, time and current situations) or else it will be a waste of time,” politician Ghisingh said.

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BBC News

A former Gurkha soldier who won the Victoria Cross and later became the figurehead for a campaign on Gurkha’s rights to settle in the UK has died.

Tul Bahadur Pun died in his home village of Myagdi, in Nepal, aged 88.

He received the Victoria Cross for saving the lives of dozens of his comrades in Burma during WWII.

In 2009 he campaigned for Gurkhas’ rights alongside actress Joanna Lumley, who credited him as having saved her own soldier father’s life in 1944.

Although Mr Pun was listed as 88 years old when he died it is thought his real age was 92, because birth records were inaccurate in the country at the time.

He won the military decoration after he saved the lives of his comrades by single-handedly attacking a Japanese machine-gun position in Burma in June 1944.

Martin Howe, his solicitor and joint leader of the Gurkha Justice Campaign, said Mr Pun’s efforts were instrumental in bringing about a turning point in the war in the Far East, by opening the way for the allied troops to take the strategically important town of Mogaung.

Mr Pun, who served in the 3rd Battalion the 6th Gurkha Rifles, entered the public eye again after his application to settle in the UK was rejected in 2007.

He was later given the right to settle after becoming one of the figureheads of a campaign for Gurkha rights, spearheaded by Ms Lumley.

In May 2009 the campaign forced a government U-turn on a policy that had seen 36,000 Gurkhas, who retired before 1997, denied UK residency.

The rules were changed so that all Gurkha veterans who retired before 1997 with at least four years’ service were allowed to settle in the UK.

Mr Howe, who described Mr Pun as the “personification of integrity”, said he suffered serious illness in later life, and was virtually blind due to cataracts.

He had to be carried on a sherpa’s back from his Himalayan home in order to receive medical treatment and get his monthly British Army pension.

‘Passionate about education’

After he was given the right to settle in the UK he lived in Chiswick, west London. But he had returned home to Nepal to see the completion of a project to build a school in his village, in which he had been involved.

Mr Pun intended to return to the UK this summer, but suffered serious respiratory problems and died unexpectedly on Wednesday night, Mr Howe said.

His funeral will be held in Nepal but a memorial service may be held at a later date in London.

Mr Howe added: “He was not boastful or egoistic, but like so many brave Gurkhas he was a mild-mannered and considerate man.

“He dedicated his early life to 18 years’ service in the British army, and then spent his later years fighting for Gurkha rights and justice for his comrades.

“He was passionate about education, and that children in Britain and Nepal take full advantages of the opportunities he missed out on as a young man.

“Here was a man who at the prime of his life did everything to protect our country and defend it, and in later life was honoured to be living here and being around British people, family and friends.”
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www.thestatesman.ne
21 April 2011
Bappaditya Paul

KOLKATA, 21 APRIL: The Election Commission (EC) is contemplating action against the Gorkha Jan Mukti Morch (GJMM) chief, Mr Bimal Gurung, for threatening to oust his political rival, the GNLF supremo, Mr Subash Ghisingh, from the Hills once the Assembly election is over.

Beginning with the issuance of a show-cause notice to restricting the mobility of Mr Gurung, the probable action could even go to the extent of de-registering the GJMM as a political party, an EC source said. This after the state chief electoral officer (CEO) on 19 April sent a factual report to the EC in New Delhi furnishing the details of the threat that the GJMM chief issued to Mr Ghisingh during a public rally on 10 April at Mirik in Kurseong. “We have forwarded a factual report on the threat to Mr Ghisingh and are now awaiting the EC’s direction for future action,” said Mr Rajesh Pandey, OSD (home) and special secretary in the state CEO’ office, corroborating the information.

The factual report, prepared on the basis of police and Intelligence inputs, has substantiated the threat, specifically mentioning that the threat should be “viewed very seriously” given that on 25 July 2008 an alleged GJMM mob had attacked Mr Ghisingh’s house in Darjeeling. Reflecting on the issue, a senior EC official said, the Commission has three options before it.

“To begin with, a show-cause notice could be served on Mr Gurung and based on his response, the GJMM chief could be issued an warning to refrain from such activity and gesture in future. Second, if the Commission feels that an warning would not be enough to mitigate the threat, then Mr Gurung, being the propagator, his mobility could be restricted within a small area. The third and most severe action would be to de-register the GJMM as a political party,” the official said.

He said, the Commission, however, is unlikely to exploit the third option at this point, as Mr Gurung and his GJMM were presently the main political consolidation in the Hills that the Centre is banking upon to neutralise the volatility that Darjeeling has slipped into since 2007.

“But election or not, no politician could be allowed to threaten his/her opponents and hence, the EC is sure to send a strong signal to Mr Gurung and his ilk,” the official said. As per local media reports, instead of cowering to the GJMM threat, Mr Ghisingh, too, has expressed his determination to stay put at his residence in Darjeeling even after the counting of votes is over.
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The Telegraph
VIVEK CHHETRI

Darjeeling, April 21: Residents of Lebong woke up early this morning to prevent a fire from engulfing the locality but Darjeeling continues to sleep over the lack of proper fire-fighting utilities that threatens the tinderbox hill town.

The fire at Lebong started around 1am from a roadside eatery and razed 10 shops to the ground before the local people were alerted by the crackling sound of the wooden structures collapsing and the brightness of the blaze.

However, some people like Rangita Chhetri came to know about the incident too late. “I stay at Nalman gaon, and came to know about the incident only in the morning. By then, my shop was reduced to ashes.” Most of these shops had highly combustible items in them because of the nature of their business. “They have gas cylinders, oil and moreover the shops themselves are made of wood,” said a resident of the area.

Chitra Devi Thakur, who owned a small saloon, which was razed to the ground, said: “Since many of the structures were made of wood the fire spread very fast. None could salvage anything. ”A fire official said at least one gas cylinder had burst, a reason why the blaze spread so fast. Since most of these shops are dingy outlets with little space inside, nobody usually sleeps there at night. “Otherwise, there would have been human casualties too,” said a resident of the area.

Jharna Tamang, a resident of Lebong, said: “We are not sure where and how the fire started. Around 1.30am, there was a lot of commotion and residents came out of their houses and tried to bring the fire under control. Two vehicles from the Darjeeling fire station reached the spot half an hour later and brought the blaze under control.”

Officials at the Darjeeling fire station said the loss could have run into a few lakhs of rupees. (more…)

The Telegraph

Siliguri, April 21: The West Bengal Heritage Commission has identified 60 historical sites in Cooch Behar and 45 in Jalpaiguri in the first list that was submitted to the North Bengal University last month.

“The field investigators have submitted the first list of heritage sites for Cooch Behar and Jalpaiguri districts to us. They have listed 60 sites for Cooch Behar and 45 for Jalpaiguri. However, vice-chancellor Arunabha Basumajumdar will visit the districts on May 10 and 11 to verify the sites before sending the final list back to the WBHC,” Anand Gopal Ghosh, the co-ordinator of the nodal office at the varsity that is supervising the project, said.

The university and the WBHC had signed a memorandum of understanding in August last year to identify and document historical sites in Darjeeling, Jalpaiguri, Cooch Behar, North Dinajpur and South Dinajpur districts.

It is the first initiative by the state government to document heritage sites in the region.

“The sites include archaeological buildings, ruins, ponds, religious sites, colonial buildings, landscapes like river beds, tea gardens, bungalows et al. The field investigators have also started work in the North and South Dinajpurs but the sites identified mostly belong to the ancient period of which just the ruins remain. In Jalpaiguri and Cooch Behar most of the sites belong to the colonial era. In Darjeeling district, we are currently focusing on Kalimpong and will later move to Darjeeling and Kurseong,” Ghosh said.

According to him, the work of verifying the documents, listing facts about the sites, photographing and mapping the locations are being done simultaneously. “We have fixed a deadline of June 10 for the field investigators to submit their final list. The lists will be sent to the WBHC officials who will make the final verification, suggest necessary changes and publish a booklet of the heritage sites,” he said.

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The Telegraph

Gangtok, April 21: A group of architects in Sikkim is busy collecting feedbacks from residents of Gangtok on a bunch of public projects in the state capital.

The Projecting Gangtok-Dialogues for an Emerging City, an exhibition that started on April 15 and will continue till the end of this month, has been organising by the Architects of Sikkim.

The Star Hall presentation exhibits the designs of a dozen projects outlined by the departments of urban development, buildings, cultural affairs, public health engineering, forest and tourism for Gangtok.

The exhibition revolves around an idea floated by the AS that these projects should be in the knowledge of the people whose feedback will be then channelled back to the implementing agencies.

“There is a lot of projects coming up in Gangtok and we have showcased the designs of these projects during this exhibition so that people here can have a look and give their comments. This is an open platform where people can give their feedback, which we will be placing before the departments. The purpose of the exhibition is to bridge the gap between the decision-makers in the urban bodies and the aspirations of the people who live here,” said AS member Kailash Pradhan.

Visitors to the exhibition will be explained how the state government intends to meet the evolving needs of Gangtok both as a state capital and a tourism hub through projects like Fashion Street at Panihouse, flyover and parking lot at Deorali, Namnang walkway, State Museum at Bhanu Path, Kisan Bazaar near Lall Market, Gangtok Tower, Chandmari urban renewal mission and Soochna Bhavan at Tadong.

Feedback, comments or suggestions on these projects and visions of an ideal city are being collected in the form of a three-page questionnaire, online replies and a register at the exhibition hall. Two members of the AS are always present at the exhibition to explain the projects.

“We have received overwhelming response and people are showing great willingness to know. We have collected around 300 forms filled up by the visitors and we expect to collect more than 1,000 by the end of this exhibition. The AS will then compile the suggestions and feedback and present them to the departments concerned,” said AS co-ordinator Chetan Shrestha.

School students, who have visited the exhibition, are very keen to learn about the flyover proposed over the road near Tashi Namgyal Academy. One of them, probably a student of the academy, has scribbled a comment: “Hope this happens before I pass out.”

Students from other schools along NH31A in Gangtok have also suggested that flyovers should be constructed near their schools.

“A lot of visitors are appreciating the project concepts and are also giving suggestions. Since work for only a few projects have started, people have expressed their hopes that changes suggested by them would be accommodated while implementing the other concepts,” said AS member Sonam Tashi.

Asked whether the departments really would take any action on the suggestions given by the people, the AS coordinator said: “The government wants to know what the people want and people want to know what the projects aim at. They always see some digging and construction going on in and around Gangtok and the AS seeks to act as a catalyst.”

“Even the department officers especially from the urban development wing have visited the exhibition as residents of Gangtok and they are looking forward to the suggestions and feedback. The departments want to know what people are thinking about their projects,” said Shrestha.

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The Telegraph
VIVEK CHHETRI

Darjeeling, April 20: The Gorkha Janmukti Morcha has warned its members to come back into the party fold by setting a deadline, realising that a section of its supporters had deserted the outfit after many of them were seen at GNLF meetings before the elections.

The first frontal organisation of the Morcha to start the drive to bring back the straying lot is the Janmukti Astai Karmachari Sangathan (JAKS), whose members are contractual workers of the DGHC. The move is expected to be started by other Morcha affiliates too in the coming days.

The JAKS today held a meeting at Darjeeling Gymkhana Club where it set a May 13 deadline for all those members who had left the party to return to the organisation.

“We are setting a deadline for May 13 for the return of those members who have left us. After the deadline, we will not be in a position to take back any of you,” said Machendra Subba, the president of the JAKS.

Subba’s statement was aimed at a number of contractual workers who had deserted the party and were seen supporting the GNLF during the election campaign. Earlier Morcha chief Bimal Gurung had warned the GNLF president to leave the hills once the elections were over. (more…)

The Telegraph

Gangtok, April 19: The two American professional paragliders arrested for illegal entry into Sikkim were released by a court on Saturday after it was convinced that there was no deliberate intent to violate the law.

According to a defence lawyer, the court of the chief judicial magistrate in Namchi dropped the charges against Eric Dillon Reed and Bradley Alan Sander after being convinced that a “miscommunication” had led to their illegal entry. Reed and Sander left Sikkim on Sunday.

The CJM’s court in Namchi in South district is also in charge of West district, where they were arrested on March 16.

Even in the chargesheet filed by police in court it was clear that there was a miscommunication between the organisers of a rhododendron festival — to which the two Americans had been invited — and the cops in Uttarey, the lawyer said. This eventually led to the two Americans entering Sikkim without either an inner line permit (ILP) mandatory for foreigners visiting the state or immigration clearance.

According to the chargesheet, the Americans had first contacted the Paragliding Association of India for legal assistance for crossing into Sikkim from Nepal. The association, in turn, got in touch with a local contact, Ganesh Kumar Rai, one of the organisers of the rhododendron festival.

Rai had called up the officer in charge of Uttarey police station, Sar Man Chhetri, informing him that Reed and Sander wanted to come to Uttarey from Changthapu in Nepal through the Indo-Nepal border.

The chargesheet mentions that as the police officer was travelling in a car he could not hear Rai clearly and mistakenly heard that two Nepali nationals wanted to enter Sikkim and gave the go-ahead provided they had permission from the Nepal police.

The chargesheet states: “Hence, he (Chhetri) told Ganesh Kumar Rai that they can come to Sikkim if the Nepal police permits them and also told him to obtain a valid permit from the authority of the government of Sikkim as well.”

Accordingly, the association instructed the Americans to enter Sikkim, stating that they would be provided the ILP once they arrived.

The chargesheet said the Americans then obtained police permission from Changthapu in Nepal and arrived in Sikkim on March 14. They met Rai and his companion who took the duo to the Uttarey police station to complete the legal formalities. They were asked by the police to get their ILPs from the tourism department.

However, when they got the permits, it said they had come from Siliguri and entered Sikkim through Rangpo which was not true. So they were arrested two days later.

“Since the chargesheet makes it clear that there was no malafide intention on the part of the Americans and this was clearly a case of miscommunication, the charges were dropped and the Americans allowed to leave,” the defence lawyer said.

“We argued that the two Americans had tried every legal measure available before entering Sikkim and the whole thing had happened because of a miscommunication,” the lawyer said.

“The investigations also could not establish any intend (sic) to cause harm to the public and any person by entering into India/Sikkim. Hence the issue of Inner Line Permit is just a procedural lapse. It was to be obtained before entering into Sikkim,” the chargesheet said.

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The Telegraph

Kalimpong, April 19: A noted musician in the hills, Brian Moktan, was feared to have drowned when he flung himself from about 20 feet into the Teesta river near Rambi today in an apparent case of suicide.

Witnesses said Moktan had taken the plunge into the river from a hillock before his friends and police who had come to dissuade him from taking any drastic step.

The 58-year-old singer-composer was a teacher and he was returning home after election duty when he got off a running bus at 18th Mile.

“After getting down from the bus, he somehow managed to reach the hillock overlooking the Teesta. For close to an hour, we hid ourselves behind bushes and inched up closer to him. When we were barely 70 yards short of where he was sitting, Brian got up, yelled something at us and jumped into the river,” said a close friend of Moktan.

The friend said he had rushed to the spot along with some others, hearing that Moktan had committed suicide at 18th Mile

“But when we reached the spot, Brian was sitting on a hillock, which was impossible to reach. By this time, a police team had also arrived. As we feared that he may resort to some drastic step, like the one he eventually did, if he saw us, we treaded very carefully. For close to an hour, we desperately tried to reach him without being noticed. In the end, all our effort came to naught. I am really shattered,” said the friend, who preferred to remain anonymous.

The police said Moktan had been posted in Kurseong for election duty. “Moktan and other polling personnel were returning to Kalimpong when he jumped from the running bus at 18th Mile, which is between Kalijohra and Rambi. When our outpost (at Rambi, about 30km from Kalimpong) was alerted, we rushed to the spot and started looking for him. We eventually found him on the hillock,” said a police source.

Although the police had carried out a search in the river with the help of rafting crew from the nearby Teesta bazaar, Moktan was not traced till late in the evening.

Moktan teaches at the primary section of the Indo-Tibetan High School here. “Jage Jage sahra raath”, “Sambodan” and “Seer seer seer hawa le” are among his hits. He is survived by his wife and daughter, who is married.

The musical fraternity in the hills and his family members are still hoping against hope that Moktan will be found alive. “We are praying for Brian jojo (elder brother),” said Manoj Tamang, a budding musician.

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