Tea armour comes for a price

TT, Darjeeling, Oct. 15: Darjeeling Tea is world famous and expensive but to prove that the brew is grown only in the hills of Bengal is pricey too. The Indian government through the Tea Board has already spent more than Rs 4 crore fighting cases to protect the exclusiveness of Darjeeling Tea across the world. More funds are needed to uphold the brand. “So far, the Indian government has spent more than Rs 4 crore. Apart from fighting cases of infringement of copyright of the tea logo and trade mark violation, it is also spending money to register the commodity as a unique product of Darjeeling,” said Sanjay Bansal, the chairman of Darjeeling Tea Association, over the phone from Calcutta. Following an appeal from the DTA, the European Union has asked for comments from the public on the granting of Geographical Indicator status to Darjeeling Tea in its member countries. Any objection will have to be filed within six months after which a decision will be taken. In India, the government had passed the Geographic Indication and Protection Act 1999 and accorded the GI status to Darjeeling Tea in 2003, but seeking protection for it across the world requires continuous monitoring through legal experts. “Even while applying to the European Union Commission for GI status, the government of India had to spend almost 5,000 Euros (around 6 lakh) as registration charges,” said a source. Two international lawyers, one stationed in Delhi and the other in Brussels, had to be appointed. Different countries accept different modes of protection. “In Australia, the UK, Japan, Russia and the US we had to protect Darjeeling Tea through Certification Trade Mark (given by those nations),” said an official of the Tea Board in Calcutta. Apart from the word “Darjeeling”, the brand logo also needs to be registered in these countries. “Registration does mean that we can legally challenge infringement of our rights, but we need to constantly monitor and fight cases and we are spending around Rs 50 to 60 lakh annually on them,” said the official. For example, there has been an instance of a lingerie shop in France using the word “Darjeeling” to sell its product. Within the country, the Tea Board has regulations like Trade Chain Integrity System to ensure a protection of another sort. “Every tea garden submits its daily details to a centre at the association office in Darjeeling. This is to monitor the activities in the garden and to ensure that there is no blending. This definitely requires funds,” said Sandeep Mukherjee, the secretary of the DTA. Around 40 million kg of brew is sold as Darjeeling Tea even though the 86 hill gardens produce only around 10 million kg annually. Vestibule rakes fail tests - DHR diwali plan off track Too many curves to bend TT, Siliguri, Oct. 15: The Darjeeling Himalayan Railway (DHR) will not use vestibule coaches for the toy trains before Diwali after trial runs showed that the rakes were unable to negotiate curves. “We are not fully satisfied with the trial runs of the vestibule coaches so far. The coaches have made trips between NJP and Rongtong, located 25km from Siliguri, several times. But there were some hindrances when the train tried to manoeuvre curves, forcing us to postpone the scheduled launch before Diwali,” said Subrata Nath, the DHR director. The coaches had been brought from Pune in August and the DHR was planning to operate them on the NJP-Darjeeling section daily. The hitch was that the corridor connecting one compartment with the other did not bend properly when the toy train manoeuvred some curves along the serpentine route. “None of the hill railways in India has used vestibule coaches and we will be the first one if they run successfully. Extensive trial runs are being conducted to make sure that the train does not derail when it carries passengers,” said the DHR director. The heritage railway is presently using coaches that do not have opening space to pass through and the travellers have to get off one coach to enter another one. The vestibule compartments have connecting corridors measuring about 2.5 feet each. The authorities are, however, eager to introduce the coaches as early as possible. “We are trying to make some modifications in the corridors, removing some components and adding new ones. They will probably run in the next fortnight,” said Nath. “When operational, the vestibule coaches will run four days a week from NJP to Darjeeling but fares will remain the same,” he added. To deal with the inflow of tourists this season, the DHR will have additional joy rides on the Darjeeling-Ghoom section on demand from passengers. “There was a large footfall of tourists for almost 10 days during the Durga Puja. The prospects of tourism are good this season and to meet the growing demand for joy rides, we will run additional trains on the Darjeeling-Ghoom route if necessary,” said Nath. GJMM to go it alone in by-polls SNS, JALPAIGURI, 15 OCT: The Gorkha Jan Mukti Morcha would contest the Kalchini bypolls. Although the party had supported the BJP in the last Parliamentary elections in the Darjeeling and Alipurduar constituencies, its leadership today said they would go alone in the by-poll. Speaking on the matter, the GJMM central committee member Mr Madhukar Thapa said: “The high command has instructed us to contest the Kalchini seat separately. The candidate would be selected in the next few days. Yesterday our leaders of the Dooars held a meeting and shorlisted a few names as probable candidates but the final decision is yet to come.” The GJMM support to the Alipurduar BJP candidate Mr Manoj Tigga in the last Lok Sabha polls had enabled the BJP to excel in Kalchini block with around 46,600 votes while the RSP, which eventually won the MP constituency had come second with around 46,200 votes in Kalchini. Refusing to comment why they were breaking away from the BJP, Mr Thapa said: “The decision has come from the top and we have nothing to say about it.” The BJP Jalpaiguri district leadership is, however, not ready to give up hope immediately. According to the party's district president Mr Dipen Pramanik, they are still hoping for an alliance with the GJMM in the Kalchini segment. “Our party high command is talking with the GJMM leadership and we hope a positive outcome. The GJMM has a good support base at Kalchini but we are ready for any situation. We have sent five names to our high command for the Kalchini seat. It is expected Mr Kamal Kujur would be the BJP candidate from Kalchini, Mr Pramanik said. The RSP candidate for Kalchini Mr Binay Bhushan Karketta today submitted his nomination at Alipurduar. The district Congress leadership today claimed they have nominated Mr Bishan Munda as their candidate for Kalchini. CPM rally condemns Opp’s attack on Press SNS, SILIGURI, 15 OCT: Protesting against the alleged attack on a reporter and camera crew of a Bengali news channel on Tuesday night in Kolkata by Trinamul leaders, the CPI-M Darjeeling district leadership today organized a rally at Hashmi Chowk, here today. The CPI-M leadership slammed the Trinamul chief, Miss Mamata Banerjee and the party's all-India general secretary, Mr Mukul Roy. Addressing the rally, the state municipal affairs and urban development minister, Mr Asok Bhattacharya (in picture) said: “The attack was a planned one to suppress the media, that goes against her.” He also alleged that the Trinamul chief had secret links with Maoist leaders. “To come to power in the state in the 2011 Assembly poll, the Trinamool chief is maintaining links with the Maoist and other separatists groups,” Mr Bhattacharya alleged. Mr Bhattacharya also said that being members of the Union council of ministers, the Trinamool leaders should have behaved accordingly. “As a people's representative, one has to be more sincere in his or her behaviour,” said Mr Bhattacharya. “But, the act of Trinamul ministers shows the party's real intention, which is violence,” he claimed. Speaking at the rally, the CPI-M Darjeeling district secretariat member, Mr Jibesh Sarkar alleged that the incident had affirmed the Trinamul's politics of violence. “If the Trinamul comes to power in the state they would attack people from every sphere. Their wave of ‘change’ is not for peace and development, but for violence,” Mr Sarkar alleged. “The CPI-M would organize a rally on 30 October in Siliguri to protest against price rise and “violence unleashed by the Trinamul leaders and supporters.” Tusker kills three women in midnight raid A damaged house at Birenbusti in Jalpaiguri district on Thursday. Picture by Biplab Basak TT, Siliguri, Oct. 15: A tusker, whom villagers want to be declared a “rogue”, has killed three women and injured three others in a midnight raid in a Jalpaiguri village. The injured persons, including an eight-year-old girl, have been hospitalised. Officials of the Baikunthapur forest division, who reached the village at noon — almost 12 hours after the killing spree — faced the wrath of the villagers who demanded compensation for the families of the deceased. Takimari Birenbusti in Mantadari gram panchayat, about 40km from here, is located on the fringe of the Baikunthapur forest. More than 100 families stay in the area and most of them thrive on agriculture. “Around 1am, we heard commotion, like that of an elephant attack. Immediately I grabbed my two children, trying to run to safety,” said Khokan Das, a resident of Takimari. But the elephant stood outside Khokon’s hut. “I rushed back but my wife Sujalabala could not flee. The elephant dragged her out and killed her.” The body of the 30-year-old was found about 60ft from the hut this morning. About 100m from Khokan’s house, the body of a 22-year-old housewife, Ahladi Das, was lying in front of her hut. Her husband Lipas was in tears. “Initially, I fled seeing the elephant. But when I realised that my wife and our three-year-old child were inside, I rushed back to rescue them. But by then, the tusker had killed Ahladi,” he said. The child was unhurt. Apan Das has also lost his wife Bhanu, 27. “The elephant has also injured my eight-year-old daughter Priyasakhi, who has been admitted to Jalpaiguri District Hospital,” he said. Thakurani Das, 39, and Chanchala Das, 50, were also injured and taken to the Jalpaiguri hospital. Chanchala was later shifted to North Bengal Medical College and Hospital. Elephant raids are not new in forest villages, but residents of Birenbusti claimed yesterday’s raid was different. “The tusker was full grown and was a rogue. It killed three persons in less than half-an-hour. This is really unusual,” said Santosh Das, a villager. Shibu Das, another resident of the area, alleged that the foresters had never taken their complaints about elephant attack seriously. “This tusker has been raiding the village over the past couple of months. But we have not seen any initiative by the foresters to drive out the animal,” Das said. When the assistant divisional forest officer of Baikunthapur, Pulak Dutta, arrived at Birenbusti around 12 noon today, the villagers demanded immediate compensation for the deceased’s families. The forest department has arranged for treatment of the injured, Pulak Dutta said. “We have released Rs 25,000 each for the deceased’s family. Once the post-mortem reports come, the rest of the Rs 1 lakh will be paid to each family.” The officer, however, denied the elephant menace was frequent in the area or the tusker was a rogue. “Our squad regularly monitors Murgijhora, Lodhamari and Mechpara areas, which are close to Birenbusti. But we have never received any report from the villagers about the elephant attack,” Dutta said. “We can declare an elephant a rogue only after studying its footprints (to verify if the same animal is attacking or not) and the nature of the attack.” Besides, the wildlife board’s permission is needed to declare an animal rogue. Foresters attacked In Mal, workers of the Sylee tea estate today attacked a forest ranger and guards and damaged their vehicle, protesting the alleged delay in their arrival to chase away elephants. Angered by the attack, the West Bengal Forest Service Employees’ Federation has instructed the four wildlife squads in Malbazar, Binnaguri, Ramsai and Lataguri not to attend to emergency calls to drive back wild animals from tomorrow. The forest department filed a complaint with Malbazar police today. Subdivisional police officer of Mal N. Fonning said an investigation was on. NBU results out TT, Siliguri, Oct. 15: The North Bengal University today published the results of Part I and II (honours and general) exams of BSc and BCom streams under the 1+1+1 system. While 5,707 students had appeared for Part I, 4,198 students had attended Part II. In BSc Part I, 52 per cent of the examinees have passed. The success rate for BCom Part I is 60 per cent. While 69 per cent of students have passed BSc Part II exam, 78 per cent students have cleared BCom Part II. The university has sent the results to the colleges. Students seeking a reassessment will have to apply by October 30. The results were published within 47 days of the completion of the exams. SMC mayor in dilemma over selecting Opp SNS, SILIGURI, 15 OCT: With the Left Front and Trinamul Congress staking similar claims for recognisation as the principal Opposition in the Siliguri Municipal Corporation (SMC), the mayor of Siliguri is in dilemma as to arrive at a decision. Responding on the issue, the Siliguri mayor Miss Gangotri Dutta today said that she was studying both the claims and would take a decision soon after Diwali. “I am taking legal opinions on the matter before arriving at a decision so to avoid any crisis in future,” Miss Dutta told this afternoon. In the 47-member SMC board, the LF as a formation has 17 councillors, while the Trinamul has 15. But the problem is, as per the West Bengal Municipal Act, “the leader of the recognised political party in Opposition with greatest numerical strength” should be recognised as the Leader of Opposition. In case two or more opposition parties having same numerical strength, the Act has put the onus on the mayor to take a decision “having regard to the status of the political parties” concerned. As per the Trinamul Darjeeling district president and the party's leader in the SMC Mr Gautam Deb, they have a prima-facie case for recognisation as the principal Opposition in the Siliguri civic body. “The Act states it clearly that the largest political party and not formation (sic) should get the Leader of Opposition post. Although both us and the CPI-M have 15 councillors each, but the Marxists stand disqualified to be considered as the Opposition as they had voted in favour of the incumbent mayor. Hence, there is no ambiguity that the Trinamul should be recognised as the principal Opposition and get the Leader of Opposition post in the SMC,” Mr Deb said. The LF on the other hand is maintaining that it had voted for the Congress’ mayoral candidate to pull the SMC out of a crisis, but in no way was a party in the treasury bench. In fact, the LF has placed a claim before the mayor for recognising its SMC leader as the Leader of Opposition in the civic body. Amid this controversy, legal experts say, the LF has a better chance of getting the principal Opposition tag. “Since the LF as a formation has 17 councillors ~ two more than the Trinamul, it should get the principal Opposition status and by way of that, the post of the Leader of Opposition,” said Calcutta High Court advocate Mr Shamimul Bari. Adding on the issue, he said that despite the Left voting in favour of the incumbent Siliguri mayor, it couldn't be deprived the Opposition status, as it has not extended a written support to the treasury bench. “Even if the CPI-M, with 15 councilors, is considered in its individual capacity as against the Trinamul with same strength, being a national political party and being in power in the state, the CPI-M should get the principal Opposition tag,” said another expert. Now, all eyes are on Siliguri mayor Miss Gangotri Dutta to find whom she chooses as the principal Opposition ~ the Congress’ official ally the Trinamul or the backdoor partner the CPI-M.