Tourists can carry liquor: Morcha
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TT,Darjeeling, Nov 11: The Gorkha Janmukti Morcha today said tourists would be allowed to carry liquor to the hills, but warned that the same relief would not be extended to local people.
Cars with liquor in them will be seized and the vehicles will be used by Gorkhaland Personnel for six months — a “punishment” for hill residents who would dare to flout the Morcha “ban” on the sale of alcohol.
“The GLP will conduct strict checks on all vehicles from tomorrow. If cars are found carrying liquor bottles, they will be seized and used for a six month period by the GLP as a penalty,” said Harka Bahadur Chhetri, the spokesperson for the party after a central committee meeting in Patlabas.
Although few hill residents would speak out in public, many agreed in private that the Morcha should differentiate between carrying a bottle for personal consumption and bringing cartons for business. “No one likes to be checked by the GLP who have no legal standing,” said a resident of the town.
Earlier, too, the GLP, a voluntary squad of the Morcha, had posted itself along the highway, confiscating, what they claimed was “smuggled” liquor from Sikkim, but of late the activity had been scaled down. The government had declared the GLP act of checking cars and seizing liquor bottles illegal. This time, too, the district administration said it would take strong action against GLP policing.
“Movement of liquor, bought from an authorised place, is not illegal. But checking vehicles, seizing them and confiscating alcohol is illegal. We will take strong action against such illegal activities,” said Darjeeling district magistrate Surendra Gupta.
Asked whether drinking alcohol was banned, Chhetri said: “No, drinking has not been banned but we are trying to stop the inflow of revenue to the state exchequer through the sale of IMFL.”
However, the identity of tourists carrying alcohol will be verified by the GLP. This only means more harassment for visitors, who may have to answer a volley of questions.
The Morcha has also asked the people to stop participating in “friendship” football matches that the police are currently organising in various villages to improve police-public relations. “We request teams to withdraw from the tournament,” said Roshan Giri, the general secretary of the Morcha. Although Giri did not say why the soccer meets should be boycotted, it is suspected that the party does not want the men in khaki to interact closely with the people.
The Morcha has also decided to put its stamp of approval on the process of regularising the jobs of 3,000-odd contractual workers of the DGHC. “Recommendation for the regularisation must come from the local unit of the Morcha,” said Giri, hinting that it was the party’s way of “rewarding” loyal workers.
Traffic suffer in Adivasi strike
TT, Siliguri, Nov. 11: Traffic between Darjeeling and Siliguri was affected and offices and educational institutions shut down as the Akhil Bharatiya Adivasi Vikas Parishad went on a strike today to protest the arrest of its supporters.
Since morning, Parishad supporters blocked NH55 at New Chumta and at Dagapur. Educational institutions and offices in Matigara, Naxalbari, Phansidewa and Kharibari remained closed. Movement of vehicles on NH31 and NH31C was also disrupted at Bihar More in Bagdogra and in Naxalbari, which paralysed the traffic between India and Nepal.
In the Dooars, a few tea estates remained open. Blockades were set up at Nimti More, Suhasini Tea Estate More and several other locations on NH31. The strike was called to protest the arrest of its leader Raju Bara and eight supporters for their alleged involvement in a clash with Gorkha Janmukti Morcha members on Monday. “We want police to release them immediately,” said Rajesh Toppo, the assistant secretary of the Dooars and Terai Coordination Committee of the outfit.
Bike gang robs bank - Thieves flee with Rs 8.50 lakh |
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| The Fulbari branch of the United Bank of India that was robbed. Picture by Kundan Yolmo |
TT, Fulbari (Siliguri) Nov. 11: A gang of six today looted a bank posing as customers, entering the premises soon after the gates opened and fleeing with more than Rs 8.50 lakh at the end of the 45-minute operation.
The four employees of the Fulbari branch of the United Bank of India (UBI) who had just arrived had been threatened with knives and guns and kept confined to a corner.
The four employees of the Fulbari branch of the United Bank of India (UBI) who had just arrived had been threatened with knives and guns and kept confined to a corner.
Kiranshankar Chakraborty, the branch manager, said the robbers had followed him inside although he did not realise it then.
“I reached the bank around 9.30am and while parking my two-wheeler, I noticed a person sitting outside the building premises, as if waiting for the bank to open. As I opened the main gate, he followed me inside. Presuming him to be a customer, I went to my chamber and had just switched on my PC when two-three persons dashed into my chamber. They took out firearms and told me in Hindi ‘Yahan pe dacaity ho raha hain. Chabi dijiye’ (A dacoity is happening. give us the keys). The gang fled with Rs 8.56 lakh,” said Chakraborty.
The bank is located 10km from Siliguri on NH31D, a deserted spot which has some garages and a tea stall.
Chakraborty and the other employees are not sure about the number of dacoits — it was either five or six — but they said all the criminals were in the age group of 25-30 years and they had come on motorcycles.
Till cashier Subimal Das arrived at 10am, Chakraborty and three of his colleagues were abused and threatened with knives and guns. When Das entered not suspecting anything amiss, along with three customers, he was immediately herded away and the vault keys snatched from him. “They took out the currency notes and dumped the money in two gunny bags that they were carrying. After that they told us to enter the cash section, putting the latch from outside and walking out.” The cellphones of all the employees and customers had been seized earlier.
The bank also has two lockers, which was not tampered with. Tapan Ghosh, another employee of the bank, later opened the door of the cash section and let the others out. The bank does not have any security on the campus. “We usually have security men posted in the main branches,” said Saroj Kumar Nayak, the chief regional manager of UBI north Bengal and Sikkim.
Police are banking on witness account to track down the dacoits. Since the gang did not have any masks on, the police believe that portrait parleys or identity kits of the dacoits will help.
“ There is an artist at the CID who will be doing the parleys, while listening to the witnesses,” said Anand Kumar, the superintendent of police of Jalpaiguri. “It seems one of the gang members spoke Bengali.”
15 injured -Police clash with TMC
PTI, Coochbehar, 11 Nov, Nov 11 At least 15 persons, including seven police men, were injured as police burst tear gas shells and baton charged to quell violent Trinamool Congress supporters who set ablaze a garage of the police station and ransacked one room at Mathabhanga in Cooch Behar district of West Bengal last night.
The agitators, who were demanding release of eight Trinamoolactivists, turned their ire on the police personnel after allegdly damaging a CPI-M party office in the vicinity of Mathabhanga police station area, a senior police officer said.
Six agitators were arrested early today as a bandh-like atmosphere prevailed in the sub-division area during the day with section 144CrPC having been promulgated to maintain peace and heavy police patrolling.
District Trinmul Mahila Congress President Kalyani Poddar alleged that the Police also fired a few rounds but the Sp. Coochbehar Police Kalyan Banerjee denied that . Claiming 25 of their supporters are wounded in Police action the district TMC leader said that the CPI-M supporters damaged their party Office and passed the blame to the Trinmool.
Bypoll result gives a fillip to Gorkhaland movement
“I reached the bank around 9.30am and while parking my two-wheeler, I noticed a person sitting outside the building premises, as if waiting for the bank to open. As I opened the main gate, he followed me inside. Presuming him to be a customer, I went to my chamber and had just switched on my PC when two-three persons dashed into my chamber. They took out firearms and told me in Hindi ‘Yahan pe dacaity ho raha hain. Chabi dijiye’ (A dacoity is happening. give us the keys). The gang fled with Rs 8.56 lakh,” said Chakraborty.
The bank is located 10km from Siliguri on NH31D, a deserted spot which has some garages and a tea stall.
Chakraborty and the other employees are not sure about the number of dacoits — it was either five or six — but they said all the criminals were in the age group of 25-30 years and they had come on motorcycles.
Till cashier Subimal Das arrived at 10am, Chakraborty and three of his colleagues were abused and threatened with knives and guns. When Das entered not suspecting anything amiss, along with three customers, he was immediately herded away and the vault keys snatched from him. “They took out the currency notes and dumped the money in two gunny bags that they were carrying. After that they told us to enter the cash section, putting the latch from outside and walking out.” The cellphones of all the employees and customers had been seized earlier.
The bank also has two lockers, which was not tampered with. Tapan Ghosh, another employee of the bank, later opened the door of the cash section and let the others out. The bank does not have any security on the campus. “We usually have security men posted in the main branches,” said Saroj Kumar Nayak, the chief regional manager of UBI north Bengal and Sikkim.
Police are banking on witness account to track down the dacoits. Since the gang did not have any masks on, the police believe that portrait parleys or identity kits of the dacoits will help.
“ There is an artist at the CID who will be doing the parleys, while listening to the witnesses,” said Anand Kumar, the superintendent of police of Jalpaiguri. “It seems one of the gang members spoke Bengali.”
15 injured -Police clash with TMC
PTI, Coochbehar, 11 Nov, Nov 11 At least 15 persons, including seven police men, were injured as police burst tear gas shells and baton charged to quell violent Trinamool Congress supporters who set ablaze a garage of the police station and ransacked one room at Mathabhanga in Cooch Behar district of West Bengal last night.
The agitators, who were demanding release of eight Trinamoolactivists, turned their ire on the police personnel after allegdly damaging a CPI-M party office in the vicinity of Mathabhanga police station area, a senior police officer said.
Six agitators were arrested early today as a bandh-like atmosphere prevailed in the sub-division area during the day with section 144CrPC having been promulgated to maintain peace and heavy police patrolling.
District Trinmul Mahila Congress President Kalyani Poddar alleged that the Police also fired a few rounds but the Sp. Coochbehar Police Kalyan Banerjee denied that . Claiming 25 of their supporters are wounded in Police action the district TMC leader said that the CPI-M supporters damaged their party Office and passed the blame to the Trinmool.
Bypoll result gives a fillip to Gorkhaland movement
IANS,Kolkata,11 Nov:The victory of the Gorkha Janamukti Morcha (GJM)-backed independent candidate in West Bengal's Kalchini assembly seat could fan the separatist movement in the northern part of the state, say political leaders and analysts.Wilson Champamari, supported by the GJM, won Tuesday from the Kalchini assembly consting the more established political parties far behind.
State Public Works Department (PWD) minister and senior Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP) leader Kshiti Goswami said Champamari's victory would consolidate the movement for Gorkhaland and trigger demands for a separate Gorkha state from other parts as well.
'This electoral result will consolidate GJM's movement for Gorkhaland. Earlier, their demand to include some areas of the plains to their Gorkhaland state was not justified democratically. But now, they will be able to substantiate it saying locals have voted in support of their call.
'So now on they will say people in Dooars also want a separate Gorkhaland state,' Goswami told IANS.
The constituency comprises a large number of tea gardens in the foothills of the Darjeeling Himalayas known as the Dooars.
Added Congress leader Manas Bhuinya: 'The Kalchini result is a matter of concern. One should not sit complacent just because the Congress has suffered a loss in Kalchini. Tomorrow the conflict between the hills and the plains may reach whole of Jalpaiguri and the Dooars region. It may endanger the integrity of the whole Bengal.'
'The government should take rectification measures immediately,' the Congress state legislative party leader said.
The GJM was, of course, upbeat.
'The electoral result is for a Gorkhaland state. Thousands of people living in Terai have shown their support in favour of the Gorkhaland call,' GJM general secretary Roshan Giri told IANS.
'It'll help us to take the Gorkhaland movement one step forward.'
The GJM has been spearheading the Gorkhaland agitation and has demanded inclusion of the Dooars into its proposed state. The GJM's demand brought it into conflict with the AVP and the two groups have clashed several times over the past one year.
Political analysts agreed that the electoral result was 'very significant'.
'The Kalchini result is very significant. An independent candidate winning from the Dooars with support from the GJM outfit is something to be taken note of,' political scientist Sabyasachi Basu Roychowdhury said.
'In the near or distant future there may be pressure on the present geographical and political boundary of the state (West Bengal).
'The CPI-M (the state's ruling Communist Party of India-Marxist) is also to be blamed for the way it tried to use the AVP to corner the GJM. Now I think the situation may have spun out of control,' Basu Roychowdhury added, saying that he could not recollect any election in West Bengal in the recent past where the people voted along ethnic lines only.
Trinamool Congress chief and Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee, however, sung a different tune.
'We should not worry about the Kalchini result. I am positive. There are over 100,000 Nepalese voters in Kalchini seat. They are also our brothers and sisters. We have to take them into our confidence to bring them back into the mainstream.
'We will bridge the gap between hills and plains of north Bengal. Even without giving Gorkhaland we can win over the people of the hills,' she said.
Bhutan to present its HR Report in Geneva.
Nov. 11) Bhutan is presenting a report on its Human right situation on December 04,\2009 in the Swiss capital city of Geneva.The report learnt to have been prepared by the Ministry of Foreign Affair with the civil society organizations and the media will be presented to the Human Right Council which is then reviewed by the Universal Periodic Review(UPR) Working Group of the HR council composed of 47 members.
A 12 member Bhutanese delegation comprising of human settlement minister Lyonpo Kinzang Dorji, education minister Lyonpo Thakur Powdyel,Ministry of Foreign Affairs, representatives from the GNH Commission and the like will be led by the Prime Minister Jigme Y Thinley.
“We have a competent, robust, inter-sectoral delegation, which will travel to Geneva to share with the international community what Bhutan has been doing to secure the full range of HR for the Bhutanese people,” Kuensel has quoted the Bhutanese foreign minister Lynpo Ugen Tshering as saying at the November 9 multi-stakeholder meeting. Adding, “They’ll discuss the tremendous advances we’ve made towards strengthening civil and political rights, as well as our efforts towards the progressive realisation of economic, social and cultural rights of our people, including the right to development.”
The delegation will be given three hours time for presenting human rights report in the country during which the members and the UPR working group will interact and discuss about the Human rights situation of Bhutan. In addition to it, half an hour will be allocated for the adoption of the report by the UPR working group. Representatives from three member states,called ‘Troikas’, drawn by lot, assist the UPR working as rapporteurs.
This time India, Madagascar and Uruguay are facilitating Bhutan’s review as ‘Troikas’ Created through the UN General Assembly on 15th March 2006,the UPR is one of the key elements of the HRC that reminds each of the member states of the UN their responsibilities to fully respect and implement all Human rights and Fundamental Freedom.
The final out come of the report will be adopted by the entire members of the Human Rights Council and then eventually will be followed up by the Bhutanese Govt. and the stake holders.
Created through the UN General Assembly on 15th March 2006,the UPR is one of the key elements of the HRC that reminds each of the member states of the UN their responsibilities to fully respect and implement all Human rights and Fundamental Freedom.
Weather report dated 12.11.09
- Local forecast for next 24 hours (Gangtok & its neighborhood):
Generally cloudy sky. Light rain in some areas. Maximum and minimum temperatures likely to be around 17°C and 11°C respectively.
- Gangtok city forecast of Max., Min. & Wx. Condition.
Valid for the period
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Max in oC
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Min in oC
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Rainfall
in mm
|
Wx condition
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Next 24 hours
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17
|
11
| 003.0 | Light rain. |
Next 48 hours
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16
|
10
| 004.0 | Light rain. |
- III. Met data dated 12.11.2009
Today’s Sun sets at (in IST)
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16:42
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Tomorrow Sun rises at (in IST)
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05:52
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Moon rises at (in IST)
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02: 17
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Moon sets at (in IST)
|
14:10
|
24 hours rainfall (in mm)
|
000.0
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Max Temp. (in 0C)
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16.3
|
Dep. from normal
|
-2.7
|
Min Temp. (in 0C)
|
10.0
|
Dep. from normal
|
+1.0
|
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