AIGL resumes work in the Hills SNS, KURSEONG, 30 AUG: Following a calculated hibernation for several months in the wake of the mounting political tension centering round its political activities, the All India Gorkha League had resumed political work in the Darjeeling hills. According to the AIGL Kurseong branch general secretary, Mr Prem Bomjon, his party would organise a series of public meetings in Darjeeling in the coming days. “The first one would be organised in Darjeeling on 7 September and this would be followed by others in Kalimpong and Kurseong which are slated to be held on 9 September and 13 September, respectively. Confirming the resumption of political activities in the strife-scarred region, the AIGL chief, Mr. Madan Tamang said that his party could not shirk its responsibility in the fast changing political scenario in the hills. “Ours being the oldest political outfit we owe a responsibility to the struggling populace in the long-neglected Hills,” he added. The party organised its last public congregation in Kalimpong in May last year. It could not carry on with its pre scheduled political programmes in Darjeeling and Kurseong due to the GJMM’s antagonism. Asked to comment on the issue, Mr Tamand asserted that democracy had ensured freedom of expression to all political groups. “Nobody, however powerful, can prevent others from projecting in public their viewpoints,” he said. Taking a dig at the BJP Mr Tamang said that the party was hoodwinking the simple people of the Hills. Landslide threat looms over Hills PTI, Gangtok , Aug 30: Over 50,000 people in about a dozen areas in Sikkim are living under constant spectre of natural disasters like earthquake and landslide, according to a Geographical InformationSystem (GIS) mapping report. At least 10,000 households are situated in highly vulnerable zone in a dozen localities in East Sikkim district, an official of the Geo Informatics Cell of the National Informatics Centre (NIC) said. A study undertaken by GIS has identified localities like Taza Amba, Changey Lakha, Subaney Dara, Lingam, Machong, Suman Lingzey, West Pendam, Lower Martam, Chisopani, Beyong Khamdong, Budang and Thangsing as highly seismic zone, GIS principal system analyst L P Sharma said. The study was conducted by using remote sensing technology to identify the vulnerability of these areas in terms of natural disasters like earthquake and landslide, he said. Guardians at court door- Forum seeks stay on fee hike by private schools

TT, Siliguri, Aug. 30: The Guardians Forum of North Bengal has approached the Jalpaiguri district court for an injunction against fee hike by four English medium schools. “We have prayed for an injunction based on a Supreme Court order of August 7, which says fees cannot be increased arbitrarily by schools without the approval of government or an administration. As the hike is unjustified, the schools should accept the old fees as on March 31, the last working day of the last academic session,” Sandeepan Bhattacharjee, the forum president, said today. The forum, a parents’ body agitating against the fee hike by private English medium schools, had filed its plea on August 27 against Don Bosco School, Auxilium Convent, Nirmala Convent and Jermel’s Academy. The parents’ body has also threatened to start an indefinite sit-in if the CPM’s urban development minister Asok Bhattacharya failed to procure an order from the education directorate asking the schools to accept the old fees by September 5. While lawyers of Don Bosco and Auxilium Convent appeared in the hearing yesterday, the two institutions will appear tomorrow. Bhattacharjee said the apex court had issued the directive on a review petition filed by the Action Committee for Unaided Private Schools against the education directorate of the Delhi government. The forum president said: “On August 27, CPM’s urban development minister Asok Bhattacharya had promised us that he would expedite the process of bringing out an order from the state directorate to the schools for accepting the old fees within a week. If he fails to deliver, we will begin our indefinite dharna from September 5.” According to Bhattacharjee, the forum counsel had told the court that the schools were compelling the students to pay the increased fees by publishing defaulters’ list or threatening them with not to allow them in the exams. Don Bosco School authorities have denied the charge.“We have not signed any affidavit. There is no need for it, as we have not forced the students to pay the fees. There are few students who have not paid the fees but are attending classes regularly and sitting for the unit tests. Our lawyer presented the attendance register and their unit test papers before the court,” Bikash Mondal, the vice-principal, said. The authorities of Auxilium Convent were not available for comment. Diarrhoea hits Birpara, 35 in hospital SNS,JALPAIGURI, 30 AUG: At least thirty five people, all suffering from diarrhoea, have been admitted at the Birpara state general hospital over the past two days fuelling fear of a diarrhoea outbreak in the Birpara area in Jalpaiguri district. Two children have alredy died of the malady this month. Informing the matter, the superintendent of Birpara state general hospital, Mr Jaydip Barman stated that most of these patients hailed from the tea plantations scattered over Birpara, “Dhekla Para, Dalmore, Jaibirpara and Gopalpur tea plantations are the most affected. Twenty-five people were admitted to our hospital yesterday and ten fresh cases have come today. Ten of the patients so far admitted are children. We are keeping a close watch, though the situation is quite alarming. The number of the affected might mount going by the record of this diarrhoea prone area,” Mr Barman added. Commenting on the possibility of an outbreak, Birpara Panchayat Samiti president Mr Bikash Das said that the cause of the ailment was contamination of drinking water. “The Dhekla Para Tea Plantation remained locked out for the last few years and two children have already died of the disease this month. The number of affected people keep mounting with every passing day,” he said. Admitting the gravity of the situation, the block medical officer of health, Madarihat, Dr Sujan Sarkar said that the appalling spread of the disease could be ascribed to the poor maintenance of the water supply system in a number of tea plantations. “Most of the water supply pipelines are over 20-30 years old and these are not being maintained properly. The condition of the reservoirs is the same. The management in their eagerness to garner maximum profit keep turning a blind eye to the pitiable plight of the hapless tea workers who are being forced to drink water from the sources of which remain contaminated during the rainy season,” he lamented. He said that three block level medical teams were visiting all these affected areas on a regular basis and providing required medicines to the affected people. Lynch whiff in ‘rapist’ death The blockade on the state highway at Baghbari on Sunday. Picture by Surajit Roy TT, Malda, Aug. 30: A 25-year-old member of a gang accused of raping a teenager last night was allegedly lynched by villagers this evening. The body of Manoj Mondal, was found in a field near Baghbari, 3km from here. Englishbazar police said they had been tipped off about the body at 7pm. “Manoj was an anti-social in the area and was involved in the gang rape. He had been beaten to death,” said Satyajit Banerjee, the superintendent of police, Malda. He added that not a single villager was in sight when the police went to retrieve the body. Nobody has been arrested for the alleged lynching. In the morning, the road to Manikchak was shut for seven hours at Baghbari More by several hundred people protesting the alleged police inability to arrest culprits. The police claimed that three of the six perpetrators — all history-sheeters in the age group of 20-30 — had been arrested. The blockade on the state highway started at 6am with people shouting slogans against the police. It was withdrawn at 1pm after the subdivisional officer, headquarters, Prakash Pal, promised that the culprits would be rounded up in 48 hours. Most of the traffic had taken the alternative route to Manikchak through Kotwali. The victim, an 18-year-old, was returning home at Baghbari after attending a wedding in the neighbouring Rajnagar with her brother-in-law when the gang of six stopped them on the highway near the village, 3km from here. The criminals hit the brother-in-law on the head and dragged away the woman, the daughter of a vegetable trader, to a sawmill around 500 metres from the spot, taking turns at raping her, the police said. It was 9pm and the state highway was deserted. Later, a group of labourers found the bleeding man, who narrated to them the incident. A sister of the victim alleged that the Englishbazar police were informed immediately after the incident by residents of the village. “But they came more than an hour later although the police station is just 3km away,” she said. Her sister was found in an unconscious state and was taken by the police to the district hospital. The protesters today complained to the subdivisional officer and the police that Baghbari had become a den of anti-socials and women were afraid to venture out after dark. Pal assured the crowd that a police camp would be set up in the area. Earlier at 10am, four vans of policemen led by the Englishbazar inspector-in-charge Bipul Majumdar and deputy police superintendent Shyam Singh had been booed by the crowd for their alleged inefficiency. Malda police chief said: “An 18-year-old woman has become the victim of gang rape. It is only natural for the public to express their anger.” Police nab KLO leader SNS, COOCH BEHAR, 30 AUG: In an encounter with a joint team of the Army and the Assam Police, the suspected second-in-command of the outlawed Kamtapur Liberation Organisation (KLO), Dhananjay Barman alias Arjun alias Swapan, has been arrested last night at Chakrasila forest of Kokrajhar in Assam. Alongwith Barman, police also nabbed his wife Sumitra Barman. Police sources said that Dhananjay, a resident of Chhat-Volka village in Tufanganj of Cooch Behar, was trained in the second KLO batch in Bhutan and was very close to the KLO chief, Jiban Singha. In 2004, after 'Operation Flush Out' in Bhutan, he fleed to Bangladesh with Singha. He got married to Singha's sister Sumitra the same year. Dhananjay was assigned with the job of reorganising the KLO and he came back to Assam a few days ago. Sumitra too accompanied him as she wanted to see her mother at Kumarganj and had been living in Chakrasila forest for the last three days, a police official said. Meanwhile, on being informed by the Bengal police the Army and the Assam police located their hideout by tracking cell phone conversations and raided the area last night. In the exchange of fire Dhananjay was injured and police arrested the KLO activist along with his wife and child. He was later admitted to Bongaigaon hospital with bullet injuries in his stomach and leg. Police seized two pistols, magazines, and a few mobile phone SIM cards bearing numbers of both India and Bangladesh. IGP (North Bengal), Mr Kundanlal Tamta said that police teams from Cooch Behar and Jalpaiguri districts have been sent to Assamfor a detailed probe into the incident. A team of IB officials too is going there. A senior police official said that Dhananjay was suspected to be the second-in-command of KLO. “But we are yet to confirm the identities of the arrested duo. Later, if confirmed, we will try to bring them back to Cooch Behar or Jalpaiguri.” Four more die of Flu; toll 93 SNS, NEW DELHI, 30 AUG: With four more persons falling prey to pandemic H1N1 influenza today, the death toll due to the viral disease so far has gone up to 93 even as 128 fresh cases of the infection came to light, taking the total number of H1N1 positive cases to 3,881 in the country. Of the four fatalities reported during the day, one was from Kerala; two from Pune (Lab Positive); and one more from Gujarat for which lab result is awaited, a source in the health ministry said here. The two deaths in Maharashtra for which results were awaited have been confirmed positive, they added. The national capital reported 22 new H1N1 positive cases, taking the total number of such cases in the capital to 643 and till now three people have died of the disease. In Karnataka, 17 new cases came to light while the worst affected State of Maharashtra reported 12 H1N1 positive cases, taking the total number to 1591. The state reported two deaths taking the total number to 51. Of the 128 cases reported during the day, only two were ‘imported’ and the rest indigenous. Of the total laboratory confirmed cases, 546 (15 per cent) were imported and the rest indigenous. Till date, samples have been tested for a total of 21,477 persons across the country and 3,881 of them have been found positive. Of the total samples tested, 933 (4.5 per cent) are from Entry Screening. A(H1N1): 10 new cases in West Bengal TH, Kolkata: West Bengal has reported 10 new swine flu positive cases since Friday afternoon, taking the cumulative confirmed cases to 102, according to a press release issued by the State’s Department of Health and Family Welfare on Saturday. It said that 13 confirmed cases — six at the Beleghata I.D. hospital, four at the M.R. Bangur hospital, two at the Krishnanagar district hospital and one at R.G. Kar Medical College and Hospital – were kept in the isolation wards. The Health Department has directed all the districts to analyse the fever surveillance reports of Integrated Disease Surveillance Project carefully and conduct a fever survey.