KALIMPONG NEWS- (vol.1)

Opp demands mayor’s resignation

SNS, SILIGURI, 13 OCT: Trinamul Congress has demanded the resignation of the CPI-M backed Congress mayor and chairman of the Siliguri Municipal Corporation (SMC) as a precondition for joining the new SMC board. The response comes in reaction to Congress overtures requesting the Trinamul councillors to share the SMC treasury bench along with them. “If the Congress is really serious about reconciliation then, they will have to completely dissociate with the CPI-M. The Congress mayor and chairman of the Siliguri Corporation ~ who have swung to power with CPI-M backing ~ will have to resign first and only after that, we can think of some negotiation,” senior Trinamul leader Mr Partha Chattopadhaya told over the phone this evening. In the same breath, the Trinamul leader said that their primary aim was to live upto to the expectations of Siliguri people who have voted them as an-anti CPI-M entity. “We would rather be happy to adorn the SMC Opposition seat but would never ditch the peoples’ aspirations,” Mr Chattopadhaya said. The Pradesh Congress working president Mr Pradeep Bhattacharya on the other hand, has urged the Trinamul leadership to refrain from putting up any precondition to end the Siliguri stalemate. “Whatever happened in Siliguri (Congress forming SMC board with CPI-M support) was a momentary development and that should not stay as the benchmark in Congress-Trinamul relationship. “We are surely more eager to maintain relationship with the Trinamul than with the Marxists, but then the Trinamul would also have to reciprocate and must not put any precondition,” Mr Bhattacharya said. Amid these cross conversations, the 15 Trinamul councillors of the Siliguri Municipal Corporation today held a meeting to discuss the party's strategy vis-à-vis the SMC functioning. Senior district Trinamul leader Mr Pratul Chakroborty was also present in the meeting. “Despite differences and cross arguments over tactical issues, the councillors finally reaffirmed their confidence on party’s SMC leader and district president Mr Gautam Deb”, sources informed. Mr Deb however, said that the meeting was convened to discuss the party's campaign strategy for the upcoming by-poll in the Rajganj Assembly segment near Siliguri. “I would place the report of today's discussion before the Trinamul Core Committee meeting in Kolkata tomorrow,” Mr Deb said, adding that as of now, he was not seeing any possibility of a reconciliation with Congress over the Siliguri Municipal board.

ABAVP to support Independent candidate in Kalchini bypolls

SNS, JALPAIGURI, 13 OCT: The Akhil Bhartiya Adivasi Vikas Parishad has decided to support an Independent candidate in the forthcoming Kalchini by-poll. According to the ABAVP Jaigaon-Hasimara zonal committee president Mr Raju Bara, they are yet to decide the candidate. “We boycotted the last Parliamentary poll at Alipurduar Parliamentary constituency and the Adivasi people spontaneously responded to our boycott call. This time we have decided to support an Independent candidate who could press for our demands at the state Assembly,” he said. According to Mr Bara, the Adivasi people have lost faith on the political parties in circulation. “In the past we voted for candidates from our community belonging to one political organization or the other but the elected representatives did not do anything for our development. Hence, the Adivasi people would not back the conventional political parties anymore but select their own candidates who would be educated and have the capacity to speak for our demands at the state level,” the leader added. Adding to the point, the ABAVP Dooars Terai Coordination Committee secretary Mr Rajesh Lakra said that they would not engage in the forthcoming by-poll directly. “Being an NGO, we cannot contest as a body but our supporters can contest as Independent candidates and we do not object to that,” Mr Lakra said. Commenting on the ABAVP's stand, the Kalchni block Congress committee president Mr Mohan Sharma said that the ABAVP could be a factor in the forthcoming by-poll. “But, we would contest seriously as, the people have started understanding the futility of supporting the reactionary forces like the GJMM or the ABAVP. Our high command has not declared the candidate for Kalchini yet but we along with the Trinamool would throw up a good contest,” Mr Sharma claimed. The Congress may still be searching its candidate but the Left Front today declared Mr Binay Karketta of the RSP as their candidate for the Kalchini by-poll. The RSP Opposition leader in the Kalchini panchayat samiti Mr John Philip Xalxo said that they were expecting to win the Kalchini segment, which fell vacant after Mr Manohar Tirkey was elected MP from the Alipurduar Parliamentary constituency.

Dart death for bison, mate kills two

MAIN UDDIN CHISTI, Cooch Behar, Oct. 13: A pair of bison wreaked havoc in Ghoksadanga today, killing two women and injuring five persons, including a range officer and a policeman, before one of the animals was darted and it died. Villagers, who spent the entire morning chasing the two animals, said the bison were first spotted around 5am in Mechbil, 8km from the Bengdaki beat of the Jaldapara Wildlife Sanctuary on the border of the Jalpaiguri and Cooch Behar districts. Half-an-hour later, one of the animals, a female, entered Dwarikamari village, 10km from Bengdaki, and gored to death Chhaya Adhikary, 45, and Haridasi Mondol, 65. Chhoton Das, a resident of adjoining Lafamari, said the bison then entered his village, chased by a mob from Dwarikamari. Chhaya’s brother Nikhil Das said the two women were caught unawares. “Hearing a commotion, they had come out of their houses and suddenly they were attacked by the bison whose horns ripped their bellies apart,” Nikhil said. Three others, Durbar Naba Das, Babu Das and Jamuna Sarkar, were injured. They were first admitted to MJN Hospital in Cooch Behar. Later they were taken to the North Bengal Medical College and Hospital in Siliguri. At the time the female bison was wreaking havoc, the male had taken shelter in a primary school in Dwarikamari after injuring a cow and killing its calf and damaging houses on its path. Around 11.30am, the bison suddenly charged and injured Gopal Chakrabarty, a sub-inspector of the Ghoksadanga police station and then badly gored Smarajit Sarkar, the range officer of Mathabhanga. The ranger had come to drive away the animals into the forest. Manindra Biswas, conservator of forests, north Bengal, said two kunki elephants were pressed into service from the Buxa Tiger Reserve, about 25km from the spot where the animals went on the rampage, to drive away the female bison. By 2pm, it had retreated into Jaldapara, where last week suspected poachers from Assam had shot to death a rhino. “The female bison was chased away by the elephant back to Bengdaki. However, the male bison, that had been darted at 5pm near the school, died while being transported in a truck to the forest,” Biswas said. He added that the range officer had been admitted to a private nursing home in Cooch Behar and doctors attending on him have said his condition was serious. Forest minister Ananta Roy, who hails from Cooch Behar district, has announced a compensation of Rs 1 lakh each for the next of kin of the two dead women. “The incident is very unfortunate and we will bear the cost of treatment of the injured and also provide compensation for damage to property,” Roy said.

Chamling meets ACT leaders

PTI, Gangtok, 13 OCT: Sikkim chief minister Mr Pawan Kumar Chamling today defended his government's decision to tap its hydro-power resources for augmenting revenues for development of the state, even as he assured the apolitical outfit ~ Affected Citizens of Teesta (ACT) ~ that their genuine concerns and grievances will be addressed. Addressing the ACT leaders and activities for the first time after the apolitical outfit withdrew its 27-month long agitation last month, he said that the state government had gone ahead with tapping its hydro-power resources to generate revenues and ensure all round development in the state. On the ACT's contention that the hydel projects at Dzongu posed a threat to the socio-cultural and religious ethos of the indigenous Lepcha people, Mr Chamling sought to differ with the former saying that the majority there favoured hydel projects and had elected the ruling Sikkim Democratic Front (SDF) nominee Sonam Gyatso Lepcha as their MLA. However, the ACT was free to exercise its constitutional and democratic rights to take up cudgel against hydel projects and the state government has respect for opposite views, he said and complimented it for calling off its agitation to seek dialogue for resolution of its genuine grievances. The ACT leadership should submit their demands to the high powered committed headed by the Chief Secretary for redressal, Chamling said. Earlier, the ACT President Athup Lepcha justified the outfit's agitation against the hydro power projects in the larger public interest and it was viewed that the projects posed a serious threat to the ecology and environment of the fragile Himalayan State and the country. The ACT Chief Coordinator Tseten Lepcha sought to blame the hardline attitude of the state government in not not seeking to engage in dialogue with the outfit for the long duration of the agitation, which he said, generated interests in the national and international media. The ACT leadership always wanted the state government to hear out their grievances, but it did not not work out properly. The ACT had called off the 27-month agitation against hydro power projects, particularly those proposed at Dzongu in North Sikkim on September 27 last. The ACT leadership had also hailed the state government's decision to engage in dialogue with them for redressal of their grievances arising out of the hydro power projects in North Sikkim. At the same time, the apolitical outfit had said that it was keeping all its options open.