 | | Bhattacharya lays the foundation stone. Picture by Kundan Yolmo |
TT, Siliguri, Aug. 5: Municipal affairs and urban development minister Asok Bhattacharya today said the government would file cases against Pemba Tshering Ola and the State Bank of India for “defalcation of government funds”. Ola, the former chairman of Darjeeling Municipality, has been accused of withdrawing money without authority from the government exchequer. The bank, the minister said, was liable, as it had cleared the cheques. “The chairman is no longer authorised to withdraw money from the government exchequer, whatever the reason may be. The bank concerned, knew that the boards of the three hill municipalities have been dissolved, yet paid the money which is why it is liable,” said Bhattacharya after laying the foundation stone of the Siliguri Journalist Club building outside Kanchenjungha Stadium this afternoon. “We consider this defalcation of government funds and will file cases against them soon. We are going through the report sent by the district magistrate.” When pointed out that the bank had not been given any instructions on how to deal with cheques signed by Ola, the minister said: “A government notification was issued and it is for everybody. The banks should have cross-checked and acted more responsibly. When a board is dissolved, even under normal circumstances before an election, a disbursing officer is appointed and from then on the civic chairmen have no authority. The banks know about the process. In this case, the SDOs were the disbursing authorities.” After the municipal boards at Kurseong, Kalimpong and Darjeeling were dissolved, the government appointed four-member committees headed by the SDOs of the respective subdivisions in which the civic bodies are located. The other members in the committee are the former chairmen and vice-chairmen of the civic bodies and a member of the directorates of the local bodies. The manager of the SBI, Darjeeling branch, has refused to speak but sources said the bank had not received any instruction from the administration about signatures on cheques. Accusing the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha of hampering development work in the hill towns, the minister said: “It is because of the Morcha that elections could not be held and the municipalities cannot function normally. But we would like to iterate that the government is ready to hold civic elections in two months, that is, by October and November, if the situation permits us.” Surendra Gupta, the district magistrate of Darjeeling, today said it would be up to the municipal affairs department to decide on the action on the funds withdrawal. “Our officers (SDOs) were designated as authorised signatories. We noticed an anomaly and sent a report to the state government,” he said. “Now it is up to the department concerned to take action.” Throwing a challenge to the government, Harka Bahadur Chhetri, the media and publicity secretary of the Morcha, said over the phone: “If the government wants to, it will complicate the issue further, it can go ahead and file such cases. We are against appointment of civil servants, who have less knowledge of the land than elected representatives.” In Calcutta, the chief minister’s office received a letter from the chairpersons of the hill municipalities stating that they did not want the subdivisional officers to be in charge of the civic bodies. Sources the government is yet to reply. State to reject demands
SNS, Siliguri,6 Aug:The state government is all set to reject a demand of three municipalities in Darjeeling namely ~ Darjeeling, Kalimpong and Kurseong ~ where civic bodies have been dissolved after civic polls could not be held in scheduled time and board of administrators have been formed to run the daily affairs of these areas.
Officials said the chairmen of these three municipalities have recently wrote a letter to the chief minister urging him to allow them run the municipalities along with their former councilors by dismissing the board of administrators.
Recently, the chairman of one of these municipalities had issued a cheque which was cleared by a bank. When this came to light, the district magistrate has informed all the banks in the area not to clear any cheque signed by these former civic body heads. All such cheque would be signed by the concerned by the SDO, who heads the board of administrators.
It may be recalled that election was due in June in these municipalities. But the polls could not be held due to the ongoing impasse in the hills. Finally, the state was forced to dissolve the civic bodies and form board of administrators to run the civic bodies.
Officials said the state would reject the demand of the former chairmen as their demand is unconstitutional. Leave plan for human chain | TT, Darjeeling, Aug. 5: Hundreds of employees of the DGHC residing along NH55 are preparing to take a casual leave on August 11 to participate in a human chain to express solidarity with the Gorkhaland movement. The Gorkha Janmukti Morcha has decided to form the human chain on the national highway from Lebong to Siliguri for an hour starting from 11.19am. The chain will be formed before the start of the third round of tripartite meeting involving central and state governments and the Morcha in New Delhi. The talks are scheduled to start at 3pm on August 11. “Our members who reside along the highway will take casual leaves to take part in the human chain. Those whose houses are away from the highway might not be absent from duty on that day,” said Machendra Subba, the president of the Janmukti Astai Karmachari Sangatan — a frontal organisation of the Morcha, whose members are the contractual workers of the DGHC. The show is expected to be one of the biggest in the region and if things go as planned by Morcha chief Bimal Gurung, it could compete to be the third largest human chain in the world. On July 26, 2004, over 1,20,000 Israelis had formed a chain from Gush Katif to Jerusalem, which was 90km long. The distance between Lebong and Siliguri is approximately 96km and replacing the Israel record would largely depend on how far the chain could go within Siliguri. The 96km distance is from Darjeeling More in Siliguri to Lebong stadium. According to the Guinnes Book of Word Records, the longest human chain was organised by the Awami League in Bangladesh on December 11, 2004. An astounding 5 million people had stood, holding hands from Teknaf to Tentulia, which is a distance of 1,050km.
Madan flays Centre for ignoring AIGL SNS,SILIGURI, 5 AUG: The All India Gorkha League president, Mr Madan Tamang today flayed the Centre and the state government for ignoring his party and other non-GJMM outfits to the tripartite dialogue scheduled in New Delhi on 11 August. “We are disappointed. No dialogue can be productive when all, except one, political parties have been kept out of the periphery of the negotiations. This is undemocratic,” he said.
He further said that the GJMM had not taken his party into confidence. “I do not know anything about the agenda to be discussed in the tripartite parleys. But one thing is clear that the much-vaunted three- way parleys would end in smoke,” he said.
Asked to explain his skepticism over the outcome, Mr Tamang said that all the three entities involved in the dialogue process, namely the Centre, the state government and the GJMM, were likely to remain stuck in their respective ruts.
“They would keep politicking while a solution would remain elusive to the tangle. I have no hope left in the dialogue,” the AIGL leader said.
Meanwhile, the Kurseong MLA and a senior GNLF leader, Mrs Shanta Chettri said that her party was viewing the dialogue with optimism.
“We hope that the negotiation would bring about a thaw in the stalemate. We hope that the party representing the interests of the Darjeeling people would stick to the statehood demand and would not be charmed into any mid-way formula,” Mrs Chettri added.
Bolt kills boy TT,Jaigaon: Sunil Thapa, a 12-year-old boy of Bazarline in Gorubathan, died after he was struck by lightning on Tuesday. Police said Thapa and his friend Yogesh Tamang had been going to a nearby stream to bathe when the bolt hit them. The boys were taken to Malbazar Subdivisional Hospital. Thapa was pronounced brought-dead. Tamang is under treatment. Tirkey slams state government JALPAIGURI, 5 AUG: The RSP MP of Alipurduar and former state PWD minister Mr Manohar Tirkey today slammed the state government on the lack of health infrastructure, particularly a government hospital, in the Jaigaon area of Jalpaiguri district neighbouring Bhutan.
Addressing people while attending the inaugural ceremony of a private hospital at Jaigaon today Mr Tirkey said that the state government's indifference on the matter has deprived the people of Jaigaon and its immediate areas from the service of a government hospital.
“The state government earmarked a plot of land 20 years ago beside the Jaigaon Gopi Mohan Memorial High School to set up a hospital.
“A grant of Rs 1.80 crore was sanctioned for the purpose in 2006 but even the primary work for the hospital has not begun while a private hospital came up at Jaigaon within a few years,” Mr Tirkey criticised.
Pointing out that the financially unsound were being deprived of health care in the area, Mr Tirkey said: “The closet government hospital to Jaigaon is the Latabari rural hospital, which is around 26 km away. The locals have to go to the Alipurduar sub-divisional hospital about 50 km away from Jaigaon to avail of better treatment. The situation is quite frustrating,” the MP said.
Adding to the issue the Jaigaon Merchants’ Association president Mr Surendra Prasad said that the issue has turned political.
“The political leaders assure to solve the problem before every election but forget it conveniently once the elections are over.
The Jaigaon residents often sell house and hearth to avail of treatment in the neighbouring country of Bhutan but the state government seems to have no concern,” he lamented.
In the end Mr Tirkey expressed hope that the construction of the hospital at Jaigaon would start soon.
“The tender for the construction has been floated and we are expecting work for the hospital to begin soon,” he said.
Sikkim to ‘push back’ spy | TT, Gangtok, Aug. 5: Dilip Kumar Roy, a suspected ISI agent and a Bangladeshi national who served a six-year jail term for espionage, will be “pushed back” into his country by the Foreigners Registration Cell of the Special Branch of Sikkim Police. Soon after Roy had been released from jail on August 3, the special branch took him into custody. Sources said Roy had been sent with Bengal home department officials yesterday and would be pushed back into Bangladesh in two days. Roy was arrested by the Sikkim police in 2003 for gathering information on the Indian Army activities in Gangtok. He was picked up from near the Black Cat Division main gate at Deorali on the outskirts of Gangtok. The accused was a former Bangladeshi army man and had been sentenced to 10 years in prison and slapped a fine of Rs 10,000 by the Sessions Court, East and North districts under the Official Secrets Act, 1923, in 2006. Three months ago, a division bench of Sikkim High Court, headed by Chief Justice Aftab Hussain Saikia, commuted his sentence to six years. Roy, who was the first person to be convicted of espionage in Sikkim, had earlier also filed an appeal in the high court. Rejecting the plea, the high court observed: “…we are of the considered view that the above finding and conclusion arrived at by the learned trial court warrants no interference by this court.” When the foreigner was nabbed, various incriminating documents were recovered from his possession. They included a task-slip regarding army deployment and movement, along with a sketch map of the same, a diary with phone numbers and papers containing information about the army’s deployment in Gangtok and Siliguri. In the second appeal, N. Rai, the counsel for the petitioner, submitted that Roy had already spent five years and nine months in prison — more than half the total period of the sentence — and had children back in Bangladesh who were facing financial hardship because he was the main bread-earner of the family. This was objected to by public prosecutor Karma Tinlay. But the high court, after taking into account the overall circumstances of the case, observed that the interest of justice would be served even if the 10-year imprisonment was remitted to six years. “He will be handed over to Bangladesh authorities at an undisclosed location on the border in Bengal,” Rai said.
CAG slams Sikkim government SNS, Gangtok, 5 AUG: With 2.77 lakh rural people in Sikkim being infected with various water-borne diseases during 2002-2007, the Comptroller and Auditor General has rapped the state government for its lack of commitment to implement the Accelerated Rural Water Supply Programme (ARWSP).
Of the 2.77 lakh people affected by diarrhea, cholera and gastroenteritis, around 25 persons died as per the health department data, the CAG has said in its report.
The number of the affected people was only of those whose case had come to the notice of the health authorities, but the actual figures could be higher, the report said. The RMDD, however, failed to even take the statistics of the cases related to the water borne diseases from the health department to devise plans to contain the outbreak in spite of availability of funds, it said, highlighting the apathy of the RMDD top brass to supply potable water in rural areas.
The CAG has pointed out that in spite of the ARWSP guidelines envisaging tests of 100 per cent drinking water sources by user friendly kits and surveillance of water quality by sanitary survey, the department concerned did not take sufficient measures to test the quality of water till April, 2008.
The CAG has also charged the RMDD with failing to provide the detailed list of habitation/population covered under ARWSP, details of schemes sanctioned and completed, incomplete shcemes, etc inspite of repeated requests despite spending Rs 130.15 crore under the central scheme.
About the RMDD's claim of a total of 2498 habitations in rural areas being covered under ARWSP, the report said the list of habitations has not not been suppnrted by survey works at the ground level, a fact which the CAG team ascertained from some of these habitations.
Questioning the authenticity of the data about the habitations covered under 4he scheme, it said the data provided by the RMDD showed an abrupt increase of 793 habitations in 2003-04 over 1679 habitations in 2002-03. It added 26 habitations in 2004-05 but has seen no no increase since then.
The CAG said the RMDD haS failed to furnish year-wise data of schemes sanctioned, executed and completed, besides the total number of schemes executed, its locations, population intended to be covered, estimates, vouchers etc except in respect of 127 cases worth Rs 6.34 crore as against a list of 1204 caqes worth Rs 83.85 crore.
The CAG, in its recommendations, has asked the state government to carry out a fresh survey of the habitations to ascertain the actual number of the habitations covered under the scheme by identifying them in three categories ~ not covered, partially covered and fully covered. “The RMDD should initiate immediate steps to set its records right to sort out the inconsistencies relating to the number of habitations, category of habitations, their status and progress of coverage,” the report said. ;PTI
Buddha statue to wait another year SNS,GANGTOK, 5 AUG: Work to set up the 90 ft tall Buddha statue at Rabong in South Sikkim would take a year more. Architects and sculptors continue to toil to complete the statue at Sangkhola near Singtam. The proposed 125 ft statue of Sangay Chomden Dey (Lord Buddha in Sikkim) in a sitting position would be the tallest Buddha statue in the world.
Twenty workers (eight from Jaigoan in West Bengal and 12 from Kathmandu, Nepal) have been working for over 12 hours daily on the project for the past two years.
Mr Krishna Khati, a metal worker at the work site in Sangkhola said that the nickel-aluminum bronze alloy statue with steel frame inside would weigh over 57 tonnes.
After completion, the structure would be dismantled into pieces and transferred to Rabong, the site for the statue.
The Sakyamuni project started in 2006 to mark the 2550th birth anniversary of Lord Buddha. The project covering an area of 22.5 acres would have an eco-garden and other tourist amenities along with the giant statue.
Interestingly, relics of Lord Buddha would be offered to the statue to enhance its significance and add Rabong to the Buddhist religious circuit in India. Last November, relics of Lord Buddha were collected from across eight Southeast Asian countries for the project. Somdet Phra Nyanasaamvara, the 19th supreme patriarch of the Buddhist order in Thailand had offered the relics. Besides, Thailand, Myanmar, Japan, South Korea, Cambodia, Laos, Taiwan and Vietnam have also offered relics. Those are under tight security at the newly built Karma Thekchenling Monastery. Bodo encounter saves bridge
TT, Dibrugarh/Kokrajhar, Aug. 5: A top Bodo militant, nicknamed Gandhi, who was allegedly planning to blow up the Saraighat bridge in Guwahati, was killed by security forces in an encounter in Dhemaji late last night. Bhim Boro, alias Gandhi, alias BK, a 37-year-old area commander of the Ranjan Daimary faction of the National Democratic Front of Boroland, had allegedly masterminded the blast in Sonitpur district last month in which an army colonel and his driver were killed. Around 11.30 last night, a joint team of the police and 2 Bihar regiment, assisted by the Tezpur-based Military Intelligence Unit of the army’s 4 Corps, closed in on Gandhi at Bakulbari and shot him. An Italy-make pistol, two live rounds of ammunition, three fired cases, a grenade, a mobile phone and some incriminating documents, including extortion notes, were found on him. Ironically, the killing came on the eve of a 12-hour bandh called by the NDFB faction to protest against the army operations, described by the outfit as “fake encounters”. After disclosing details about the encounter, the police today also revealed that the Daimary faction was planning to blow up the double-decker Saraighat bridge before Independence Day. Gandhi, who trained in Afghanistan, was the brain behind the plot, the police said. “Gandhi’s elimination is a big relief for the security forces as well as for the common people here. Daimary had entrusted a seven-member group from the NDFB’s 3rd battalion to consolidate the outfit’s position in Dhemaji, Lakhimpur and some parts of Arunachal Pradesh like East and West Siang districts. Gandhi was made the area commander of these areas,” Dhemaji superintendent of police Satyaraj Hazarika said. “Information gathered from various sources and agencies revealed that Daimary had instructed his men to blow up the Saraighat bridge and Gandhi was specifically making plans for this. Their plan was to buy an oil tanker and build an additional chamber in it to be filled with RDX. One of the cadres would drive the vehicle to the bridge and then blow it up,” Hazarika said. The plan was taking shape in Dhemaji to avoid the glare of security forces and intelligence agencies. Besides, such old tankers are available at a much cheaper price in the areas bordering Assam and Arunachal Pradesh. Gandhi, who was on the hit list of the security forces for quite some time now, had also triggered the blast which killed an army colonel along with his driver at Bhalukpung some days back. The 12-hour Assam bandh called by the NDFB faction, crippled the four BTC districts of Kokrajhar, Chirang, Baksa and Udalguri. The self-styled sergeant major of the outfit, B. Birbai, accused security personnel of killing civilians in the name of operations against the NDFB and said 75 per cent of the so-called encounters were fake and fabricated. |
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