Tripartite dialogue must continue Statesman News Service :SILIGURI, 1 JUNE: The Left parties would urge the state government to raise the tripartite dialogue issue concerning the Darjeeling imbroglio with the UPA government at the earliest. The problem should be addressed in earnest with the new government in power at the Centre,” the leaders of the CPI-M, CPI, Forward Bloc and RSP today said. Speaking on the matter, the FB general secretary Mr Debabrata Biswas said that the Left parties were committed to evolve an enduring solution to the long-standing tangle. “Our stand is clear. The GJMM leadership must scale down from the irrational statehood demand. We are ready to do everything to help the region,” the FB leader said. “We may even press the Centre to provide a special economic package for the hills on the lines of the special budgetary allocations for the Vidharv region in Madhaya Pradesh. But first and foremost, the tripartite dialogue must start again,” the FB leader added. Echoing this view, the state PWD minister and a senior RSP leader Mr Khsiti Goswami said that his party would nudge the state government to take up the dialogue issue with the Centre. “Yet, the dialogue cannot break ice as long as the GJMM leadership sticks to its Gorkhaland guns. They should rationally analyse the objective situation and cooperate with the Centre and the state government to address the paramount socio-economic issues,” Mr Goswami said. The CPI state secretary Mr Manju Kumar Majumder said that his party might raise the tripartite dialogue issue at the state Left Front meeting at the appropriate time. “The state government has a role, but the initiative should come from the Centre. My party is willing to go to any length to bring about normalcy in the hill situation,” the CPI leader affirmed. The CPI-M central committee member Mr Nilotpal Basu said that the Centre should come forward first regarding the tripartite negotiation to end the prolonged stalemate. “The state government would reciprocate accordingly,” Mr Basu added.

A house built under the PWD road in Darjeeling Photo Robin Rai

Landslides blamed on craters & loose soil

RAJEEV RAVIDAS

The Telegraph: Kalimpong, May 29: The laying of optical fibre cable (OFC) in the hills by telecom companies and leaving loose soil around have not gone down well with residents who are blaming the shoddy covering-up job as one of the reasons for landslides in recent times.

One such stretch is the Jorebunglow-Peshok-Teesta road, where the cable-laying work was started last winter. “The road was least prone to landslides. Look, what has happened there,” said Mahendra P. Lama, the vice-chancellor of Sikkim University, who frequently uses the stretch.

The road, which is the shortest link between Darjeeling and Kalimpong/Gangtok, has been closed since Monday, following landslides at a number of places between Jorebunglow and 3rd Mile.

An inspection of the landslides showed the casual manner in which the dug up portion of the road has been covered up after the laying of the OFCs. Instead of covering the area with concrete so as not to allow water to seep in, it has been filled with loose earth.

Civic architect Subin Pradhan said in the hills water should not be allowed to seep in at any cost. “Any seepage will make the soil vulnerable. Digging is not a crime, but not covering up the holes and craters properly is,” said Pradhan.

Praful Rao, whose Save The Hills, has been actively engaged in highlighting the landslide issue since 2007, said: “This kind of work (laying of OFCs) should be done much before the onset of the monsoon, otherwise means trouble.”

Dinesh Pradhan, the executive engineer of the PWD, Darjeeling division, admitted that the restoration on the dug-up stretch of the road was yet to be taken up, even though the work tender had been issued. He, however, did not agree that the landslides in the area had been precipitated by fibre-laying work. “The landslides have occurred from the hillside. But the OFC has been laid on the slope side,” he said over the phone from Darjeeling.

Telecom companies laying the optical fibres do not execute the road restoration themselves. They pay the agencies in charge of the roads — the state PWD in the case of the Jorebunglow-Peshok-Teesta stretch.

Gandhi Road in Darjeeling, where optical fibres are being laid, belongs to the municipality. Navin Gram Sewa Samiti, a welfare organisation in the neighbourhood, had approached the municipal authorities for a proper cover-up job. But even after a month, there is no sign of any restoration.

“The landslides have caused widespread damage in the area, 40 per cent of which is because of the shoddy manner in which the OFC was laid. There are a lot loose earth lying around,” said Binod Gurung, a resident.

Rao, however, cautioned that the hills were not against the upgrade of telecommunication facilities, but given the fragility of the topography, the companies must be extra careful. “Especially since it involves tinkering with nature,” he added.

GLP in relief work Photo: Robin Rai, Darjeeling times.com