Category Archives: News
DARJEELING HILLS: GJM delegation in Delhi, reiterates mouza demand
Kolkata A three-member delegation of the GJM on Thursday met Union Home Secretary R K Singh in New Delhi over the determination of territory of the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA). The GJM leadership once again raised their pitch against the state government over the territory issue demanding the inclusion of 399 mouzas of Terai and Dooras region into the GTA.
The GJM leaders, who rejected the report of Justice Shyamal Sen Committee over the inclusion of mouzas into the GTA, reiterated their demand to the Centre.
Harka Bahadur Chtetri, GJM MLA and senior GJM leader, said: “We have waited for a long time. We want our territory to determined. Our leaders held a meeting today and the result is satisfactory. We want the report to be submitted soon.”
EDUCARE: NET exam seat website
Siliguri, Dec. 27: North Bengal University today appealed to the candidates appearing for UGC-NET this year to view the varsity website www.nbu.ac.in for the updated seating arrangement and venue of the examination.
The exam is scheduled to be held on December 30.
The Centre Code for NBU is 44 and the venues under it are NBU, Birla Divya Jyoti School at Uttarayon Township, Salesian College (Siliguri campus) and Siliguri College.
“This year, the number of candidates appearing for NET from north Bengal is 6,574. The UGC had sent us a new notification a few days back regarding the updated seating arrangement and the examination venue for candidates registered for Centre Code 44. We have posted it under the notice/circular section in the website,” said an NBU official.
SIKKIM: Sikkim to host global flower show – Over 15000 flowers to be displayed in 75 stalls at Rs 5-crore event
BY NIRMAL MANGAR
A flower show in Gangtok on Thursday. Picture by Prabin Khaling
Gangtok, Dec. 27: An international flower show with around 20 participants from India and abroad will be held in East Sikkim on February 23.
“Flower-growers from Australia, New Zealand, Holland, the US, Taiwan, Nepal and Thailand will be participating in the event. Bengal, the seven northeastern states, Delhi and Karnataka will also take part,” said D.K. Bhandari, the joint director of the horticulture, floriculture and cash crop department that will organise the event.
He added that Rs 5 crore had been allotted for the event, where more than 15,000 flowers of various species will be on display.
The show will be held at Saramsa garden, 10km from Gangtok. This is the second such international event in East Sikkim, the first being in 2008.
“There would be 75 stalls displaying cymbidium, coronation, lily, roses and other seasonal flowers. We will also organise a buyers-and-sellers meet,” a senior official of the horticulture department said.
According to Bhandari, the objective of the event is to promote and showcase developments in floriculture and horticulture in the state.
DARJEELING HILLS: Horses no longer run in the Hills
KURSEONG, 26 DEC: Horses were at one point of time one of the main modes of transport in Darjeeling Hills. They also used to carry goods. Horses were then found in abundance in the entire district and traffic from villages dotting the surround terrain used to be a sight of long line of horses laden with agricultural as well as citrus products for sale in the nearby towns.
On their way back to the villages the horses were again laden with rations for domestic use via the ancient trail of footpaths zig-zaging its way among the tea bushes that only these animals could traverse through the rough countryside of the then Darjeeling Hills.
After the Gorkhaland agitation of 1986-88 and the signing of the Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council (DGHC) accord in 1988 several development schemes and projects were taken up in the district and development of road was given the maximum thrust by the then chief, Mr Subash Ghisingh. Meanwhile, at several remote villages across Darjeeling Hills roads started to be constructed that linked them with major nearby towns.
That may be the main reason why horses gradually started to fade from the transport scene and finally disappeared altogether in the early 1990s.
However, it is learnt that presently, some horses are still being used for transport in a few remote villages like Bunkulung, Dhajay and others where there is no road connectivity worth the name. With the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA) also stressing on the importance of good road connectivity, the remaining remote villages will soon get linked with the outside world the consequence of which will be that horses from these places too will cease working as carriers and hence will ultimately disappear.
SIKKIM: Sikkim awaits quake funds – State receives 28% central aid
BY NIRMAL MANGAR
A cracked road in Sikkim following last year’s earthquake
Gangtok, Dec. 26: The state government has received only 28 per cent of the Rs 1,000-crore central funds announced by the Prime Minister during his visit to Sikkim after the earthquake on September 18 last year.
The state government received the first installment of Rs 200 crore last year but Rs 80 crore of the second installment of Rs 200 crore. The third installment of Rs 600 crore would be granted in 2013-14.
“The second installment of the relief fund approved by the Centre was meant for the financial year of 2012-13. The state government has so far received only Rs 80 crore and the remaining amount is expected by March next year” said S.B.S. Bhaduria, the relief commissioner of the state disaster management.
Bhaduria said the construction of 7,972 houses, which were damaged during the earthquake, had already started and Rs 391 crore would be spent till the end of this financial year.
The government wants to complete around 50 per cent of the houses by March and the remaining the next financial year. But construction has got over for about 30 per cent of the houses after over a year since the tremors.
Manmohan Singh had announced the relief package during his visit to the state after the 6.9 earthquake hit Sikkim on September 18, 2011, killing 62 people and causing considerable damage to property.
According to sources in the state disaster management wing, the central package was to be released to Sikkim in three installments — Rs 200 crore in the first two, Rs 600 crore in the third.
DOOARS TERAI: Leopards at safari but hardly a visitor – Out of order car hampers tourist visit to South Khayerbari forest
One of the male leopards in a cage in the South Khayerbari Eco Park on Wednesday. Telegraph picture
Alipurduar, Dec. 26: The leopards are here but they have no human visitors at South Khayerbari Eco Park.
Three male leopards have today been put in an enclosure in the eco park where visitors come for a safari ride.
But the ride itself is missing now. The only battery-operated vehicle that takes visitors around the 3-hectare area has been lying defunct for four months. So, South Khayerbari gets no visitors now.
Three months ago, the three male leopards — Khakalu, Ganesh and Mithun — were brought to Khayerbari from Gorumara National Park.
The leopards had been rescued from different tea gardens in the Dooars and were brought to Gorumara National Park. They were later sent to South Khayerbari and kept in three cages.The South Khayerbari forest is 100km from Jalpaiguri.
However, for the past few days the leopards have not been having food and showing signs of unnatural behaviour.
Today morning, the leopards were brought in their cages and kept in the enclosure, which is a part of the forest, so that they could adjust to the new surroundings.
Tomorrow. they will be released in the enclosure.
The safari car would generally move close to the leopards — there were some female leopards in the enclosure earlier — so people would be able to see the animals from up close.
DARJEELING HILLS: Morcha seeks hill panel visit
Darjeeling MLA Trilok Dewan in New Delhi on Wednesday. (Prem Singh)
Darjeeling, Dec. 26: The Gorkha Janmukti Morcha has demanded that the three-member fact-verification committee, constituted to look into the the party’s territory grievances, be asked to conduct a spot visit before its places its report before the government.
The demand was placed by the Morcha at the review committee meeting with Centre and state representatives in New Delhi today.
A field visit — an exercise that was not conducted before the Justice Shyamal Sen Committee filed its report — is unlikely to be conceded by the state government.
The Sen committee had recommended inclusion in the GTA of only five of the 396 mouzas demanded by the Morcha. Following the Morcha’s protest against the report, the three-member committee was formed to look into the grievances of the hill party.
“The visit is important to understand the ground realities,” said Roshan Giri, the general secretary of the Morcha who was at the meeting. The other Morcha representative was Trilok Dewan, the Darjeeling MLA.
The state government was represented by home secretary Basudeb Banerjee, while the Centre was represented by additional secretary (home) S.K. Skandan, Giri said over phone from Delhi.
The party has also demanded an increase in the Centre’s special package to the GTA, speedy transfer of departments, inclusion of all Gorkha communities in the ST list and the need for a Constitutional amendment for introducing a three-tier panchayat system in the hills.
DARJEELING: Speculation over CM’s Darjeeling visit
BY AMITAVA BANERJEE
Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Chief minister Mamata Banerjee’s North Bengal visit scheduled from December 26 to December 29 has sparked off anticipation whether she would be visiting Darjeeling. Though there is no official confirmation, there are strong chances of the chief minister inaugurating the tourist spot at Lamahatta and also taking part in the ongoing Darjeeling Tea and Tourism Festival.
When contacted, district magistrate Saumitra Mohan said, “I have not received any communication from the CM’s office yet regarding her visit to the Hills.”
Sources at Writers’ Buildings said the chief minister will be leaving Kolkata on Wednesday and after attending two important functions at Pundibari in Cooch Behar and another at Nagrakata in the Jalpaiguri District, she may arrive in Darjeeling on December 27 night or 28 morning and depart for Kolkata on December 29.
Mamata during one of her earlier visits, had stopped by Lamahatta, 20km from Darjeeling town and had expressed desire to develop this picturesque hamlet into a tourist destination. Accordingly the tourist department along with the forest department had built cottages and put up tents here. A watchtower, park and a walking trail is also being developed as part of the project.
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