www.kalimpong.info

The Telegraph

Gangtok, Nov. 18: The Kalimpong-based Indigenous Lepcha Tribal Association will begin its second march to Dzongu in North Sikkim tomorrow after last year’s foiled attempt. The ILTA is determined to reach the destination to offer prayers at the holy site.

In April 2008, the ILTA had to return from Dikchu, the entry point to Dzongu, in the face of hostilities. The 500-odd marchers were escorted back by Sikkim armed police after a huge crowd of local people had set up a blockade in Dikchu.

This time, the ILTA claims to have secured the permission of the Union home and tribal affairs ministries for the pakram takram or pilgrimage to Dzongu. “We have submitted our requests to the Sikkim chief secretary, home secretary, North district administration. We plan to complete the pilgrimage between November 19 and 21,” said Paval Shimik, the ILTA president. “Dzongu is like Varanasi and Jerusalem to us. We will return after offering prayers to our guardian deities there.”

During last year’s stand-off, the Sikkim police managed to convince the Lepchas to call off the last leg of the march, fearing violence. The marchers were driven back to the Rangpo border.

This time, too, the people of North Sikkim have opposed the march. Dzongu MLA Sonam Gyatso Lepcha described the march as an “outside interference” in local affairs. “The pilgrimage is a ploy and is politically motivated,” he said.

The Telegraph

Kalimpong, Nov. 17: Around 15,000 prospective Madhyamik and Higher Secondary candidates in the hills were for the first time given uniform questions for the selection examinations that began at 129 schools today.

In the past, the schools framed questions individually or requisitioned those set by the All Bengal Teachers’ Association for the selection examinations. The Gorkha Janmukti Morcha-affiliated Janmukti Secondary Teachers’ Organisation (JSTO), however, decided to do away with that practice from this year and introduced uniform question papers at all the schools in the hills.

The JSTO spokesman, Bhisan Roka, said the heads of the institutions wholeheartedly welcomed the new system when it had been first mooted in July. “Apart from making the examinations more competitive and thereby preparing the students in the hills to face the board examinations better, we are also trying to send a political message that we in the hills are equipped to take care of education on our own.”

“We selected two teachers from each subdivision for every subject to draft the questions. The six sets of question papers were then handed over to a moderator, who framed the final question paper for each subject,” said Roka.

Website: http://www.savethehills.blogspot.com
Email : savethehills@gmail.com

Press Handout
(Landslide Hazard Workshop on 20 Nov 2009. Venue: Town Hall, Kalimpong)

1. As you would know SaveTheHills (STH) is a Kalimpong – based NGO which has been working on the landslide issue for more than two years. In this regard, though we have achieved a lot in raising awareness about this rather unknown disaster form to the national level as well as amongst the local populace, much more remains to be done.

2. The Darjeeling and Sikkim Himalayas comprise of young mountains which lie approximately 800km north of the Bay of Bengal and as such receive some of the heaviest rainfall in the country during a 5 month monsoon period. This along with extensive anthropogenic interference has resulted in this area being one of the most landslide prone places in the country – yet despite this fact, nothing substantial has been done with regard to a sustained, holistic way of managing the landslide problem. Consequently, in recent times the frequency and intensity of landslides have shown a sharp surge; in 2009 alone we had over 30 deaths in Darjeeling district along huge with economic losses.

3. STH has already taken up the dire need to draw up a holistic strategy to combat landslide hazards in the long term in this area at the highest levels – the Hon MP, Shri Jaswant Singh has been apprised and matter was also raised at the thematic session on “Mass Movements” during the 2nd India Disaster Management Congress at Vigyan Bhavan, New Delhi on 05 Nov 2009.

4. In our endeavor to keep the landslide issue at the centre stage and also to highlight the need for a holistic landslide management plan, STH is organizing a one day Landslide Hazard Workshop in Kalimpong on 20 Nov 2009. Our resource persons are scientists and scholars of distinction with participation from Sikkim also. We expect around 200 people as invitees from the district and Sikkim, which will include people from Govt service (including army and BRO), distinguished people from the district and academics and students. Mr. ML Meena, Principal Secretary, Disaster Management, Govt of W Bengal has kindly consented to be our Chief Guest for the occasion.

5. The Invitation/ Program along with the biodata of the resource persons are enclosed.

6. This is for your kind information.

The Telegraph

Darjeeling, Nov 11: The Gorkha Janmukti Morcha today said tourists would be allowed to carry liquor to the hills, but warned that the same relief would not be extended to local people.

Cars with liquor in them will be seized and the vehicles will be used by Gorkhaland Personnel for six months — a “punishment” for hill residents who would dare to flout the Morcha “ban” on the sale of alcohol.

“The GLP will conduct strict checks on all vehicles from tomorrow. If cars are found carrying liquor bottles, they will be seized and used for a six month period by the GLP as a penalty,” said Harka Bahadur Chhetri, the spokesperson for the party after a central committee meeting in Patlabas. (more…)

Here’s some footage of the paper factory in Kalimpong (from YouTube).
I know there are two of these factories now in Kpg, but couldn’t tell which particular one this was shot in.

The Telegraph
VIVEK CHHETRI

Darjeeling, Nov. 6: The Gorkha Janmukti Morcha deciding to close down all licensed liquor shops from tomorrow, many restaurants and hotels are planning to fall back on traditional tipple to cater for the needs of tourists.

The Morcha move is supposed to “pressure the state exchequer” by stopping the flow of revenue that the party claims is being generated through the sale of liquor in the hills.

Morcha president Bimal Gurung had earlier said the state government had collected excise duty of around Rs 50 crore from the sale of liquor in the hills during the just-ended month long festival period. (more…)

The Statesman
British vision of rail link to Rangpo comes alive

Suman Sahoo

SILIGURI, 29 OCT: The foundation stone laying of the Sevoke-Rangpo rail link tomorrow would fulfill an plan envisaged in the early 19th century by the British rulers.

The colonial rulers had envisaged a rail link (Teesta Valley project) between Siliguri and Kalimpong in around 1909. Construction works of a metre gauge rail link, however, ended at Geille Khola, short of Kalimpong and the service was opened on 29 September 1915. The extension work to Sikkim, however, was never taken up.

A preliminary survey to extend Rail link to Sikkim was carried out in the years 1917-18. A girder bridge across the Teesta near the confluence with the Great Rangeet River replacing the suspension bridge built in 1880 was also thought of. A siding for railway stock and the development of a copper mine was to be laid at Rangpo and the extension work up to Gangtok, through Sankokhela was expected by 1925. The dream, however, remained unrealised.

Tomorrow, the railways would restart the linking exercise after 59 years since a devastating flood that drove through Darjeeling district in mid- June in the year 1950 washed up the railway tracks till Geille Khola. With one-third of the annual average rainfall in two days, the Teesta flooded the area destructing the railway tracks beyond repair. All roads, rail and settlement at Geille Khola had collapsed into the river.

All demands from the residents to repair the railway tracks, which had become a lifeline for trade and commerce in the area, fell on deaf ears thereafter. The authority did not show any interest in repairing the tracks and restart the service. All that is likely to change now for the good.

“Hardly anything except nostalgia of the service remains today,” said the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway director, Mr Subrata Nath. “Although the proposed railway tracks between Sevoke and Rangpo is different from the previous one, it would evoke our memory,” he added.
(With inputs from ‘The Tron Sherpa’, Vol 1, by Terry Martin)

The Telegraph

Kalimpong, Oct. 27: The Gorkha Janmukti Morcha today stopped all work on the NHPC’s Teesta Low Dam Project Stage III at Reang to protest against the delay in the construction of the alternative road to Takdah and Teesta Valley.

Supporters of the Morcha from the Takdah-Teesta Valley constituency drove down to the dam site, 25km from here, in about 10 vehicles around 9am and “requested” the NHPC authorities and the workers to shut down their offices and stop all work. They also asked the workers to leave the area.

Norbu G. Lama, the co-ordinator of the Morcha’s Takdah-Teesta Valley unit, said: “It has been two years since the NHPC authorities first assured us that the alternative road would be constructed. However, the fact is that they are yet to get even the no-objection certificate from the forest department to build the road.”

The people of Takdah and Teesta Valley demanded the alternative road after a 2km stretch of the existing road connecting their areas to NH31A at 27 Mile had been badly damaged in landslides.

The NHPC project site is just below the highway, which, too, has suffered extensive damage in the landslides and sink-ins triggered by the construction of the dam on the Teesta. But the NHPC has never admitted that the damage was caused by the dam.

The delay in executing the work on the new road, NHPC officials claimed, is because of a protracted process required in acquiring the forest land. The entire two-km stretch of the proposed route from NH31A to the point where it meets the existing Takdah-Teesta Valley Road falls under the forest department.

“We applied to acquire the forest land in September 2008. The state forest department has sent our application to the regional office of the Union ministry of environment and forests in Bhubaneswar. We hope that the clearance will be given in one month,” said a senior NHPC official.

Expressing dismay at the forced closure of the site, the official said the NHPC had already earmarked Rs 1.8 crore for the road project. “The disruption of work was wholly unwarranted, especially when we try to do so much for the local population,” said the official.

The Telegraph

Kalimpong, Oct. 26: The GNLF (C) and CPM have alleged that pensioners here are not getting loans from the local branch of the State Bank of India — thanks to a treasury office notice.

Quoting state government rules, the notice sent to the Kalimpong branch of the SBI instructs the bank “not to sanction loan against pension account/not to deduct any loan EMI from pension account as the pension account is a single purpose savings account…” (more…)

The Telegraph

Darjeeling, Oct. 25: Gorkha Janmukti Morcha president Bimal Gurung today announced a fresh set of agitation programmes, which includes a “ban” on off-liquor shops from November 7.

The agitation could also culminate in the declaration of Gorkhaland if the next round of talks fail in December, the Morcha leader threatened. It will, however, start with the expulsion of corrupt leaders from the party..

The “ban” on the liquor shops has been aimed at blocking the government’s revenue collection. “During the festive period, the Bengal government collected Rs 40-50 crore as excise duty from liquor sales in the hills,” Gurung said. The Morcha announcement has come as a blow to hotels and restaurants. “We buy our supplies from the off-shops (which do not have bars or where liquor can only be bought) and about 70 per cent of visitors to restaurant-cum-bars consume alcohol. We will lose a lot of revenue because of this,” a hotel owner said. (more…)