Morcha team in Delhi

TT, Darjeeling, Aug. 7: A four-member delegation of the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha left for Delhi today to attend the third round of tripartite talks scheduled for August 11. Amar Lama, Jyoti Rai, Rohit Sharma and Neelkama Chhetri are the four who reached Delhi today. The Morcha will be represented by a 12-member delegation at the meeting convened by the central government. The third party to take part in the talks will be the state government. Car with 6 falls into Teesta- Two escape, fate of four unknown Radha Sewa at a nursing home on Friday. Picture by Kundan Yolmo TT, Siliguri, Aug. 7: Four persons are feared dead as the car in which they were travelling fell into the swollen Teesta near Siliguri this afternoon. Two passengers, however, escaped with injuries. The car was on its way to Siliguri from Rhenock in Sikkim and went off NH31A at Andharijhora. Sources in nearby Kalijhora said six persons were in the vehicle. “At Andharijhora, it fell into the Teesta, crashing over the concrete rails on the side of the highway around 3.30pm,” said Bharat Chhetri, who had visited the spot, 25km from Siliguri. “But we could not see the car. Later, we came to know that two persons, who somehow were thrown out of the vehicle before it fell into the Teesta, were sent to Siliguri for treatment.” Of the injured persons brought to a private nursing home on Sevoke Road in Siliguri, one was released after first aid while Radha Sewa, a 50-year-old woman, was admitted with injuries on her back. “She is under supervision. Doctors have suggested some tests,” nursing home sources said. Radha is from Haiderpara in Siliguri and is a teacher at a Rhenock school. She said she could not recollect the details of the accident. “I think there were six persons including me in the vehicle and remember it going off the road. But after that I lost consciousness. I have no clue to how I was rescued,” she said. Raft owners at Chitre and Melli, who often double up as rescuers, said rescue operation was tough as the water level in the Teesta now was high and the river turbulent. At 5.45pm, Dipanjan Das, the officer-in-charge of the police outpost at Sevoke, said: “We could see only some portion of the vehicle, that too, occasionally. Based on preliminary information, it can be said six to seven persons were in the vehicle. We have asked for searchlights from the NHPC and have also requested the raft owners to help us.” SNS, SILIGURI, 7 AUG: Five persons are feared dead, while another two were recovered gravely injured, after a Trax Cruiser passenger taxi plunged into the turbulent Teesta river near Sevoke this afternoon. The vehicle was coming to Siliguri from Sikkim along the NH-31A, when the incident took place at around 2.15 p.m. According to the police, while negotiating a hairpin-bend on the highway at Andherijhora, Sevoke, the driver of the ill-fated Trax Cruiser, lost control and the vehicle fell some 250ft into the Teesta. Two of the seven persons on board jumped out of the taxi, even as the vehicle plunged straight into the turbulent waters with the remaining five, including the driver. Locals and police rescued the two passengers ~ Mr Kashinath Dubey (45) and a 40-year old lady Ms Radha Sewa ~ in a seriously injured condition and rushed them to a private nursing home in Siliguri. Both of them are residents of Sikkim. According to the OC, Sevoke police outpost Mr Dipanjan Das, they have failed to locate the vehicle or any of the five missing passengers after conducting an initial search in the river. “It is unlikely that any of them are alive, but we would continue the search,” said Mr Das. The Sevoke police have now approached the private rafting team based at Teesta Bazar to carry out the search operation deep into the turbulent Teesta. “It is already dusk but still we are requesting the rafters to start the operation with the help of floodlights, which we would arrange,” the police officer said. Darjeeling advised to look beyond tea Mahendra P Lama, vice-chancellor, Sikkim University addresses the seminar in Darjeeling on Friday. Picture by Suman Tamang TT, Darjeeling, Aug. 7: The Darjeeling economy’s dependence on tea has been questioned by an expert who feels that it is time for the people to move beyond traditional sources of income for the sustainable development of the hills. The comment by Jeta Sankrityan, an economist who is currently attached to North Bengal University, has kicked off a debate in the hills where tea gardens are hampering the expansion of towns. “For long, the Darjeeling hills have been dependent on tea and tourism. Earlier, it was timber. Are we prisoners of these economies?” asked Sankrityan. Sankrityan was speaking at a seminar titled Sustainable Development, Resource Endowment and Governance; Mountain Economy in Perspective, organised jointly by Salesian College, Sonada, and Darjeeling Landenla Road Prerna, an NGO. Hemmed in by tea gardens, the two urban centres in the hills — Darjeeling and Kurseong — are finding it difficult to expand through satellite townships and improve infrastructure. In the past, Bengal chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee had proposed the setting up of a satellite township for Darjeeling. The district administration largely found the proposal unfeasible when it was hard put to find even parking place. Sankrityan did not directly say tea gardens should be uprooted but left the audience to ponder if a substantial part of tea industry’s profit is “being retained in the hills”. “Switzerland is thriving solely on tourism and because of its location, also on winter sports. It is time to integrate local economy with the global market,” he added. Referring to a District Gazetteer, published in 1940, Sankrityan said the British had made an effort to create a local economy, despite the tea industry flourishing. “A Swiss diary was set up in Kalimpong. Dr Graham’s Homes, also in Kalimpong, focused on farming, while efforts were on to set up a potato seed farm in Rangbull. Efforts were made to take vegetables to Calcutta also,” he said. Mahendra P. Lama, vice-chancellor, Sikkim University, too, spoke on similar lines. “The Eastern Himalayas is declared as one of the 25 bio-diversity hotspots in the world,” he said and stressed the need to bring traditional knowledge to an institutionalised forum. Highlighting the potential of hydro-electricity to generate money, Lama, said: “During 2007-08, Bhutan earned $203 million from Chukha (336mw), Kurichu (60mw) and Tala (1,020mw) hydro power projects. But in the case of Nepal, hardly 1 per cent of its total potential of 8,300mw power has been harnessed.” GJMM to take salary disbursement issue to Delhi SNS,SILIGURI, 7 AUG. The media and publicity secretary of the Gorkha Jan Mukti Morcha, Mr Harka Bahadur Chettri today said that they might take up the controversial salary disbursement issue of the Darjeeling hill municipalities at the tripartite dialogue slated in New Delhi on 11 August. “We would make it clear in course of the talks that the decision to disburse salary to the hill-based civic body employees by the chairmen of the now- dissolved municipalities is a step taken in the interest of the people. We were apprehensive that the salary disbursement process would have been held up until elections were held to the civic bodies,” he said. The GJMM leader further said that the people of the hills were with them on the issue. “We value this more than any state law. And our stand is clear that as we are leading a non- cooperation movement we do not regard state law as sacrosanct,” he said. Slamming the state government for making a mountain out of a molehill over the issue, Mr Chettri said that the state had kept the CPI-M sponsored men at the helms of the Kalimpong Municipality for years during the earlier phase of the GNLF movement. “This aside, it kept the Ghising dispensation in power at the Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council by way of extending terms for nearly two years. Given these precedents, it has no right to join issue with my party concerning the salary disbursement matter. We would not accept double standards,” the GJMM leader affirmed. Rejecting the GJMM criticism, the state urban development and municipal affairs minister Mr Asok Bhattacharya today said that the salary disbursement on the part of the dissolved civic body chairmen was illegal and the state government has sent letters to the former civic body chairmen spelling out the state's stand on the matter. “We have also written a letter to the Darjeeling district magistrate asking him to take appropriate action against those involved in the illegal acts,” he said. Parents greet SC verdict SNS, SILIGURI, 7 AUG: The Guardians’ Forum of North Bengal today welcomed the Supreme Court's verdict that private unaided schools do not have the right to hike student fees. The SC, in its judgment today, ruled that private unaided schools in Delhi needed to obtain permission from the Directorate of Education of the Delhi government before hiking fees. “It is a historic judgment and will restrict the schools from arbitrarily hiking fees,” said the GFNB president, Mr Sandipan Bhattacharya. Conversely, the St Joseph's School, Matigara secretary, Father John said: “The verdict is a blow to the private education system. Private education will come to an end with the implementation of the verdict,” he said. According to him, guardians and parents have to pay more to get better education facilities. A section of private unaided school authority in Siliguri, however, was not willing to comment on the judgment without clear knowledge of it. “I can not comment on the verdict without learning the details,” said the secretary of New St John's School, Siliguri, Mr Sandip Kar. Hearing a review petition filed by the Action Committee for Unaided Private Schools seeking reconsideration of a 2004 apex court verdict upholding the Director of Education's authority to take a final decision in the fee hike issue, the SC today said only the government can regulate private school fees. “The judgment is a big support to our movement,” said the GFNB president. Opposing the unaided English medium schools’ ‘unreasonable’ move to hike fees periodically, guardians and parents in Siliguri formed a forum about three months ago to resist the school authorities’ arbitrary decision to hike fees. The forum would, however, continue its movement to solve other ‘unreasonable’ aspects of the schools, said the forum president. “Some unaided English medium schools charge high amounts as development fee, library fee etc. The forum will continue its movement against these policies,” he added. CAG raps Sikkim Police in audit report SNS, GANGTOK, 7 AUG: The Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) has rapped the Sikkim Police for filing “frivolous” vigilance cases as there has been zero conviction rate in such cases since the past six years. The CAG audit report for the year 2007-2008 mentioned that not a single conviction has taken place out of the 80 vigilance cases registered in the state since 2003. As many as 81 per cent were accused in this regard and 26 out of 32 were acquitted by the court in vigilance cases since 2003. The report also said that most of the cases were “frivolous” in nature. The top auditor said the vigilance cases pending for investigation ranged between 29 to 100 per cent and the police authorities had failed to explain the reasons on record till date. The CAG also questioned the credibility of the 47 per cent conviction rate in other crimes, as reported by the state police the National Crime Record Bureau in 2005, saying it has found this average to be at 17 per cent. Highlighting a “sharp increase” in the crime rate in Sikkim over the years, the CAG said the state police had failed to tackle crime as per a coordinated operational plan. The CAG said police had failed to implement the recommendations of the National Police Commission for modernisation of police force and prison administration, though the state government has signed an MoU with the Centre in this regard. Police has failed to devise any long-term or medium term plan for crime management nor has it prepared an activity report to highlight its achievements and major activities, the auditor said. The CAG said the police department had overspent beyond its annual budget between 2003 and 2008 - the period of audit. The audit report also found that there was a shortage of 33 officials in the Sikkim Police Service (SPS) ranks and 284 constables during 2003-08, while at the same time, there was surplus strength of 109 officers comprising police inspectors, sub-inspectors, head constables and drivers.