TT, Siliguri, Jan. 22: The Darjeeling district Left Front will ask the state government to ensure that the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha does not set up any blockade on the national highway between Siliguri and Sukna so that students attending the educational institutions on the stretch are not affected.
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A woman walks with the help of crutches at Darjeeling Motor Stand where she could have taken a vehicle had there been no blockade by the Morcha on Friday. Picture by Suman Tamang
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The Morcha has started two-hour road blockades in the hills and the Dooars as part of its statehood agitation.
“We will ask chief secretary Asok Mohan Chakrabarti to pass on instructions to the district administration to ensure it,” front district convener Asok Bhattacharya said here today. “There are a number of English-medium schools, colleges and other educational institutions on both sides of NH55 on this stretch (Siliguri-Sukna). The blockades are affecting studies in these institutions. Also, the students are getting late in reaching their schools and colleges because of traffic congestion.”
The front accused the Morcha leadership of hoodwinking the hills people. “They (Morcha leaders) are unnecessarily creating disturbances. Activities like setting up blockades are nothing but gimmicks to hoodwink the hill residents, who do have a sentimental attachment to the statehood issue,” said Bhattacharya, also the urban development minister.
Contacted in Writers’ Buildings, home secretary Ardhendu Sen said: “If normal life is disrupted on a regular basis, the state will have to take firm steps to ensure normality.”
Authorities of the educational institutions located till Sukna, 10km from here, have also expressed apprehension over the blockade.
“Our semesters will commence after January 26. If the blockades continue till then, the students and the staff will face problems. Many of them avail local transport and if the traffic comes to a halt, they have to walk several kilometres,” said S. Dasgupta, the principal of Siliguri Institute of Technology, at Salbari on way to Sukna.
Sushanta Ghosh, the administrator of Gyan Jyoti College located at Dagapur off NH55, spoke on similar lines. “The situation is pretty volatile here and can change any time, causing inconvenience to the students,” he said.
The subdivisional officer of Siliguri, Rajat Kumar Saini, said he had instructed police to ensure safe passage to the students. “The inspector-in-charge of Pradhannagar police station has been asked to monitor the vehicles of the educational institutions.”
The Morcha, however, claimed that it was not blocking vehicles belonging to educational institutions, army and the ambulance. “The allegation raised by the front is baseless as we are not obstructing students or the vehicles run by the schools and colleges,” said Shankar Adhikari, the convener of the party’s Terai unit. “Not a single student has faced any inconvenience so far.”
The Bangla O Bangla Bhasa Bachao Committee iterated that it would go ahead with its scheduled Darjeeling Chalo programme tomorrow to protest the Morcha’s statehood agitation. “We will head for Darjeeling peacefully, deleting Gorkhaland from all signboards from Panchanoi onwards,” said Mukunda Majumdar, the committee president.
The home secretary said in Calcutta that he had not received any report on the Darjeeling march from the district magistrate. “However, these are sensitive things and the district administration will have to deal with it in the interest of maintaining law and order,” Sen said.
Magic touch to hill civic amenities
TT, Darjeeling, Jan. 22: All major roads in town have suddenly become smooth and new as if touched with a magic wand: The Darjeeling Municipality has repaired 11 roads in three months.
This has been possible although government offices had remained closed most of the time because of the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha’s ongoing agitation.
The local people cannot recall the last time when all the roads in Darjeeling (see chart) had been simultaneously repaired.
“The roads over, we will start repairing the 20 footpaths soon,” said Amalkanti Ray, chairman, board of administrators of the civic body, and the subdivisional officer of Darjeeling. The municipality has also repaired 10 jhoras or streams and completed around 25 protection walls.
Civic engineer Bijay Tamang said the quality of work, too, has been better this time. “I think we can guarantee that these roads will last for at least four years,” he claimed.
Many hill residents believe that the government flow of funds has been unhindered because of the present political turmoil. “There is no doubt that the state is giving Darjeeling a priority,” said an observer.
In the last three-four months, the municipality has received Rs 2.5 crore from the DGHC. Not just roads, but even railings, footpaths and street lighting have been repaired. Sources said during the 20-year tenure of Subhas Ghisingh as the DGHC chairman, the municipality had been hardly allocated any funds.
“Ghisingh used to allocate funds to the municipality only in emergencies, concentrating mainly on rural areas. Now, however, the civic body is getting a decent quantity of funds from the DGHC,” the sources said.
“For street lighting, about Rs 12 lakh has been allocated while Rs 10 lakh is being spent on road railings and foothpaths,” said Tamang.
The municipality, which did not even have a road roller, has now bought one for Rs 11.30 lakh.
“We used the machine in two shifts of day and night for the repairs. Had problems like availability of bitumen and less number of road workers not cropped up, the repair would have been completed even earlier,” said Tamang.
A buoyant municipality has already come up with a plan that can change the face of the dilapidated hill station.
“We want to construct three pedestrian flyovers at Chowk Bazar, Motor Stand and near the railway station. We want to improve the sewerage system, repair the Motor Stand, the abattoir and improve the water supply. If funds are available, we can change the face of the town within the next six months,” SDO Ray said.
The funds required for these projects are huge but the municipality is hopeful that it will be granted. “We will need at least Rs 6 crore to improve the distribution of water. The project to upgrade the sewerage system will require Rs 42 crore,” said Ray.
Ray was appointed the chairman of the municipality’s board of administrators when no nominations were filed for the June 28 civic elections.
The Morcha had given a boycott call demanding the implementation of a three-tier panchayat system across the hills.
No Taxes declared Telangana JAC
Ashoke Das, HT, Hyderabad: The all-party Telangana Joint Action Committee decided on Friday to begin non-cooperation with the state if the Centre did not come up with a time-bound plan to create Telangana by January 28.
The JAC will advise its district, panchayat and village units to stop paying taxes and electricity and water dues. Even bank loans and other dues to government agencies will not be paid.
The move will add to the problems of the K Rosaiah government, as the state is already in a financial crisis. A state finance department source said on condition of anonymity that the Rs 40,200-crore state plan for 2009-10 might be downsized by about Rs 6,000 crore.
However, non-cooperation has actually begun in the state. On Thursday, local newspapers carried pictures of K. Subrahmanyan, an assistant divisional engineer of AP Trsansco, a power utility company, being chased and beaten up by JAC members. Subrahmanyan went to Bibipet in Nizamabad district to ask villagers to pay electricity dues.
Earlier, the villagers locked up two of his colleagues. They said they would pay up only after Telangana is formed. What’s more, the JAC is planning to create a constitutional crisis by forcing the 119 MLAs of the Telangana region to resign en masse.
But the move failed to take off, as the Congress MLAs threatened to walk out if the Telangana Rashtra Samiti and the Telegu Desam Party did not stop criticising the party and its president Sonia Gandhi.
Gangasagar Mela
Report & Pics- Samiran Paul :Gangasagar Mela or Ganga Sagar Fair is the largest mela in West Bengal. Gangasagar Mela is observed during Makar Sankranthi. Ganga Sagar Mela 2010 starts on January 14 and ends on January 15, 2010. The mela is celebrated at Sagar Island where the holy river Ganga connects with the Bay of Bengal. Ganga originates from Gangotri and flows through Himalayas, plains at Haridwar, Benaras, Prayag and then ends in the Bay of Bengal.
Makar Sankranti is celebrated in the last day of the Bengali month of Poush. In Bengal, this day is one of the most auspicious time of the year. Thousands of pilgrims from different parts of the country gather at Gangasagar, the point where the holy river Ganges meets the sea, to take a dip with a belief that it will wash away all the committed sins. Makar Sankranti falls on the day of the year when the sun-considered the king of all grahas (planets)-is in the rashi (zodiac sign) known as Makar (Capricorn). This is considered the most beneficial and auspicious zodiac of the sun. The calculations for determining Makar Sankranti is done according to the solar calendar. Therefore, Makar Sankranti always falls on the 14th January according to the English calendar. It is usually the month of Magh of the Hindu calendar, the 'Tithi' or the position of the moon keeps shifting because of the difference in calculations.
Makar Sankranti is celebrated in the last day of the Bengali month of Poush. In Bengal, this day is one of the most auspicious time of the year. Thousands of pilgrims from different parts of the country gather at Gangasagar, the point where the holy river Ganges meets the sea, to take a dip with a belief that it will wash away all the committed sins. Makar Sankranti falls on the day of the year when the sun-considered the king of all grahas (planets)-is in the rashi (zodiac sign) known as Makar (Capricorn). This is considered the most beneficial and auspicious zodiac of the sun. The calculations for determining Makar Sankranti is done according to the solar calendar. Therefore, Makar Sankranti always falls on the 14th January according to the English calendar. It is usually the month of Magh of the Hindu calendar, the 'Tithi' or the position of the moon keeps shifting because of the difference in calculations.
NOTICE-Combined Defence Service
The Union Public Service Commission will be conducting the CombinedDefence Services Examination (I) – 2010 at 41 Centres in the country on February 14, 2010 (Sunday). Admission Certificates to all the eligible candidates for the Examination have been despatched. Rejection Letters citing the ground(s) for rejection have also been issued. If any applicant who has not received either the Admission Certificate or the Rejection Letter, may contact the UPSC Facilitation Counter on Telephone Nos. 011-23385271, 011-23381125, & 011-23098543 and 011-23387402 during working hours. The candidates can also send message on FAX No. 011-23387310. Detailed information on “Venues” is available at Union Public Service Commission Website http://www.upsc.gov.in (PIB)
Miscreants damage Church
Karwar (Ktk), PTI, Jan 22: Unidentified persons today damaged a cross a top a church at Mundahalli, about 14 kms away from here, triggerring off tension in the village.The incident was occurred in the evening, police said
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