SIKKIM OBSERVER April 14, 2012
PIPLINES DAMAGED, WATER SUPPLY DISRUPTED
Addl. Chief Secy takes charge; water to be restored by Saturday, alert on North Sikkim
Gangtok, April 13: A meeting was held at the Conference hall of the Secretariat under the Chairmanship of Additional Chief Secretary, R. Ongmu on Thursday to discuss the water problem faced by the people due to major slide at Km 12th along Selep and Ratey Chu, which has damaged and washed away water pipes disrupting regular supply of water to the capital.
The Additional Chief Secretary took stock of the situation and directed the concerned department and district administration to gear up activities to ensure that the people of Gangtok and adjoining areas do not suffer due to non-supply of drinking water.
The meeting was also attended by Mayor KN Tobgay, GMC Councillors, District Collector and Superintendent of Police (East), and officers of PHE (Public Health Engineering) Department.
Meanwhile, the capital witnessed emergency supply of water by the department in trucks and vehicles in the capital. The department has promised supply of regular water by Saturday morning.
Keeping in mind that the monsoon is on the door step and that North Sikkim has been shaken by last year’s earthquake, Ongmu directed all the officers present in the meeting to ensure that on emergency basis to cater to the public of North Skkim that the bare necessary services in regards to telecommunication, road networking essential commodities, including the supply of LPG and the banking facilities, should be restored and made available to the public of North Sikkim immediately.
D.C. (North) was specifically directed to tie up with the Officers of Reserved Bank of India, State Bank of India, Border Road Organization and Food & Civil Supplies Department and to ensure that all essential services are made available to the public of North Sikkim. She also directed Secretary, Food & Civil Supplies to tour North Sikkim and ensure the Buffer Stock of essential commodities are provided in respective godowns.
Power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely
By Padam B. Chettri
As you are all aware, there were reports in the papers stating that the Sikkim Government had “entered into a strategic joint-venture with ATPIL … which was selected from among the best performing private hydel developers in the State”. A local daily this week also reported: “This decision was taken by the State Government in light of the poor performance of the SPDC over the past years [among other factors] and in order to infuse some professionalism and expertise into the corporation. For the selection of the strategic joint venture partner, tenders were floated on the basis of which ATPIL was selected to take 49% of the stake in SPDC, it is further learnt.”
I understand that Dr Chamling manipulated the recommendation of the White Paper for handing over hydel projects to ATPIL. In case of enquiry, Dr Chamling will blame the officials who “misled” him as in many other instances.
Subject to verification, M/S ATPIL is the Company which was blacklisted by the State government a few years ago. The reason is given in a RTI application. In reply to an RTI query pertaining to allotment of hydropower projects to Amalgamated Transpower India Limited, the Sikkim Power Development Corporation stated: “The total interest against the Bond of Rs. 50.10 crores paid by SPDC as on 31. 3. 2009 is Rs. 38, 45, 43, 219.00”. As of now, the amount will be far more than thirty-eight crore forty-five lakhs, forty-three thousand two hundred and nineteen rupees.
Also ATPIL is in the notice of Central Bureau of Investigation, Calcutta. The CBI “requested that the approval of the Government of Sikkim required under section 6 of the Delhi Special Police Establishment Act, 1946, for registering cases, may kindly be accorded expeditiously, to enable CBI to conduct formal investigation into the matters”. The letter dated 12 October, 2010 from Suman Bala Sahoo, Joint Director, East, addressed to T T Dorji, IAS., Chief Secretary, Government of Sikkim, mentions ATPIL.
It is the misfortune of the people of Sikkim that we have to tolerate a rogue administration under a rogue who does not allow CBI into the State. But take heart, the CBI will finally nail him. (The writer is President of Sikkim unit of BJP)
Former Sri Lanka PM on Sikkim visit
Observer News Service
Gangtok, April 13: Former Prime Minister of Sri Lanka Ranil Wickremasinghe arrived here today on a five-day visit to the State.
The former prime minister was accompanied by Prof. Maithree Wickremasinghe. During their visit they will be staying at Raj Bhawan and Hotel Mt. Pandim, Pelling, West Sikkim. They will be visiting flower show at Chogyal Palden Thondup Namgyal Memorial Park, Directorate of Handicrafts and Handloom.
The guests will also be visiting Rumtek monastery, Lingdum Monastery, Namgyal Institute of Tibetology, Temi Tea Estate, Samdruptse, Char Dham, Pemayangtse monastery and ruins of Rabdentse Palace in West Sikkim.
Editorial
WATER CRISIS
Accountability Must Be Fixed
Disruption of water supply in Gangtok has now become a regular feature. In the past few months and years Gangtokians have witnessed numerous occasions when residents and tourists faced acute water shortage. It is, therefore, the right time to stop blaming the government and the concerned authorities over the crisis and doing nothing about it ourselves. Rain harvesting is something that needs to be taken seriously even as the monsoon is on its way in a month’s time. Relying on the government alone to face the crisis would be unwise and disastrous at times.
However, one cannot pardon those in power who are responsible for serving the public. Though there are many engineers in the Public Health Engineering Department yet the water supply pipelines from Ratey Chu to Gangtok is constantly damaged the moment there is a downpour. It is learnt that several crores of rupees have been spent recently for ensuring that the water supply lines on this route is kept intact. And yet the water crisis continues. A thorough probe needs to be ordered into this messy affair. Accountability must be fixed before the public is made to suffer further.
IDENTITY CERTIFICATE
Action Against Fake Sikkim
The Chamling Government’s delay in taking legal action against holders of fake Sikkim Subject Certificate has been questioned by bonafide Sikkimese who have justifiable reasons to dount about the establishment’s real intentions on the issue. So far action has been taken against only 212 persons who possess fake Certificate of Identity (CoI), which state that they belong to the special category of Sikkimese who were called ‘Sikkim Subjects’ and issued Sikkim Subjects Certificate during the Chogyal era prior to the ‘merger’.
Even on this matter the initiative came from Sikkim RTI Forum and not the government. The Forum has stated that of the 3,15, 396 Sikkim Subject Certificate holders in Sikkim
Gurung in a dilemma over Nepal
Darjeeling, April 13: A Nepal-based culture group’s decision to felicitate Bimal Gurung in Kathmandu has put the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha in a spot as the party’s statehood agitation had centred on a separate identity for Indian Gorkhas.
Receiving an award from a neighbouring country like Nepal India needed a separate identity distinct from the citizens of Nepal
Kurseong British era landmark crumbling
Kurseong, April 13: Chimney, a landmark during the British Raj for travellers en route to Darjeeling on the outskirts of this town in Darjeeling district, is gradually falling prey to time and neglect.
A quaint halt for travellers with a 27-foot-tall brick built chimney situated at 7000 feet above sea level it offered a warm hearth with a fire crackling on chilly nights for travellers when the temperature dipped below zero degree Celcius. There was also a stable for horses at Chimney, PTI reported.
As per accounts of villagers, the British used it as a place for rest at night and to cook food. When the present Hill Cart Road Darjeeling
The Old Military Road Aryan Sarani Road
With the passage of time and no upkeep, two to three feet of the top portion of the chimney has tumbled down. One resident, Dipesh Chetrri said that the authorities should take immediate measures to preserve the landmark as well as to include it among world heritage sites.
He said to protect it the authorities should declare Chimney as a tourist spot with the help of the forest and tourism department. Councillor Vinod Sharma, who is the in-charge of the Conservancy Department, told PTI that a part of Chimney was within the limits of the municipality. Sharma said that steps for its maintenance would be raised at the next meeting of the municipality.
24-hour anti-GTA bandh hits normal life in Darjeeling
Observer News Service
Siliguri, April 13: A 24-hour bandh called by the Dooars-Terai Joint Action Committee(DTJAC), brought life to a near-standstill in Darjeeling and Jalpaiguri districts of North Bengal , police said. However the bandh had partial effect in pockets like New Malbazar and Alipurduar which have bigger concentration of Gorkha population, a national daily reported.
The bandh was called by DTJAC a mosaic of a dozen political outfits to protest against the proposed inclusion of Dooars and Terrain areas of the Himalayan foothills into the Gorkhaland Territorial Authority(GTA).
The pro-Gorkhaland outfit Gorkha Janmukti Morcha(GJM) had been demanding inclusion of 400 moujas from the contiguous Plains to the GTA which after coming into force would be an extension of the now-defunct Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council.
A one-man high-powered committee headed by Justice Shyamal Sen was looking into the matter and would submit its report in the coming weeks.
However, the people of the adjoining Plains comprising Bengalis, Adivasis, Kamtapuris, Bodos have strongly resented the inclusion of these areas into the GTA.
Apart from the fear of becoming ethnic minority in the newly formed body that would be headquartered in Darjeeling, the local leaders feel that the refusal of the GJM to drop the separate Gorkhaland demand would one day pave the way for inclusion of non-Gorkha areas of the Plains into a separate Gorkhaland.
After the Congress labour arm like Intuc and Bodo groups joining the new fold the multi-party anti-GTA group of the plains have gained in force. The RSP and CPI(M) labour unions like CITU have already been backing the group.
However the biggest support base comes from the Akhil Bharatiya Adivasi Vikas Parishad which has about 4-5 lakh votes in the area. This notwithstanding the fact that a small group backed by ABAVP leader John Burla has sided with GJM leader Bimal Gurung.
Talks possible if Dalai Lama gives up Tibet independence demand: China
Beijing, April 13: As suicide bids continued unabated in Tibetan-inhabited areas seeking return of the Dalai Lama, China, for the first time in recent months, has indicated its willingness to reopen the stalled talks with him if he "truly gives up Tibetan independence."
"The central government has also made clear its willingness for talks if the Dalai Lama truly gives up Tibetan independence. The door remains open to him," the state-run China Daily said last week.
This is perhaps the first time that an indication has come up in the official media after the previous dialogue between Chinese officials and representatives of the Dalai Lama failed to make any headway in 2010.
It follows a barrage of criticism unleashed against him in recent weeks, with China alleging that he was instigating suicides, specially among the Buddhist monks in Tibetan-inhabited areas.
Besides, he wanted his authority to cover all of Tibet, including, Sichuan, Qinghai, Gansu and Yunnan. All these regions put together constitute one fourth of China's territory, Qu said.
Though the Dalai says on one hand that he renounced the independence demand, his other demands that all troops and mainland Chinese should leave the areas amounted to seeking independence, he said.
Asked about the prospects of the resumption of talks, Qu had said the Chinese Central Government can consider if the Dalai abandons his "independence political objective."
The article in the China Daily said the "Chinese government has repeatedly shown good intentions to the Dalai Lama by arranging the visits of his private representatives and relatives.”
Tragic end to a Sikkimese chasing his dreams in US
Gangtok, April 13: About 50 friends, family members and people from India's north-eastern regions paid their final tribute to Tshering Rinzing Bhutia, 38, a student from Sikkim who was among the seven killed in the Monday, April 2, shooting at Oikos University, a religious college in northern California.
A large number of local Tibetans and others held a prayer vigil for Bhutia, Sonam Chodon and five others who were shot dead by a disgruntled college student who carried out an execution type killing spree in a religious college in California.
On Saturday afternoon, Bhutia's body was brought in a silver casket to the McAvoy O'Hara the Evergreen Mortuary in San Francisco for a prayer service before his body is flown to his native place, Gyalshing in Sikkim, by Air India.
Bhutia's body reached his home just a day before his 39th birthday.
"His body will be going to Chicago and from there it will be reaching to Bagdogra airport, Sikkim, at about 1.30 pm on April 11," Anand Kumar Jha, consul (community affairs) at the Indian consulate in San Francisco, who attended the prayer service and helped set up the funeral home and clear the documents required before releasing the body, told rediff.com.
Bhutia's nephew Karma thanked everybody for coming to the funeral service and recalled, "My uncle was very smart and hard-working." Karma, who lives in Los Angeles, is doing his masters in electrical engineering from UCLA (University of California, Los Angeles). He recalled that when he came to the United States a year ago, Bhutia came to meet him in Los Angeles. "He was very helpful. He used to say if you are hard-working, do not give up your American dream."
Bhutia, a nursing student, was killed when the shooter stole his car outside the university's parking lot on Monday morning at about 10:33 am.
Thepo Tulku, member of the Tibetan Association of Northern California, was among those, including Tibetans, who paid his tribute to Bhutia at the funeral service.
Bhutia, 38, worked odd, long hours, and for at least six months he had balanced a graveyard shift as a janitor with nursing school. He may have felt isolated at times, living thousands of miles from his family and home, but he was a hard worker and a lively, cheerful man, friends said.
"I will remember him, and not because he was the victim of this crime, but because he was a gentle person," said Sandy Close, a San Francisco journalist who met Bhutia when he was a waiter at an Indian restaurant in her neighborhood. "I don't want his dying to go unnoted."
Indeed, based on his Facebook account, Bhutia seemed to have friends spread around the globe, including a brother and other family in India. But Close and others who knew him in San Francisco said he seemed to live a mostly solitary life in the United States.
Bhutia was Buddhist, but it's not clear if he was a member of any particular temple, and there are few people from his home state living in the Bay Area, San Francisco Chronicle reported.
"He was a very hard worker," said Punam Devi, manager of the North Beach residential hotel where Bhutia had lived for four years. "He worked at the airport all night, and then he'd go to the nursing school, and then he used to sleep in the daytime. He seemed to have no time for friends."
Bhutia had worked the overnight shift at San Francisco International Airport for about a year, cleaning the food court areas. His boss there said Bhutia had recently talked about taking a test to become a custodial supervisor, and his colleagues all knew he was studying nursing, too.
"He was articulate, educated," Close said. "He was very much a searcher, very much looking to get on in the world, even if he was not quite sure how to do it."
BJP leader visits State on grievances
Observer News Service
Gangtok, April 13: The BJP MP from Baroda , Bal Krishna Shukla, in-charge of the party in Sikkim
Speaking to mediapersons here at the Circuit House, Shukla said that although some states did not have elected representatives from BJP, the party still feels it necessary that grievances of people from these places must reach Delhi
"In pursuance of such initiative" he has been deputed to Sikkim and would take up grievances of people of Sikkim
One of the issues to be taken up would be the Doordarshan Kendra in the capital. The Kendra was completed eight years ago but is yet to function, giving the Nayuma TV channel, owned by members of the ruling party, an upper hand.
SIBLAC mourns death of a Sikkimese, observes Chogyal birthday
Gangtok, April 13: The Sikkim Bhutia-Lepcha Apex Committee (SIBLAC) mourned the untimely death of a Sikkimese, Tshering Rinzing Bhutia, who was gunned down in San Francisco recently.
During its meeting held here this week and chaired by SIBLAC Convenor Tseten Tashi Bhutia, members described Bhutia as a “promising” Sikkimese who was an asset to the State.
The members decided to write to US President Barack Obama urging him to ensure that the body of deceased be flown to Sikkim to observe his death rites according to Buddhist tradition.
During the meeting SIBLAC observed the 89th birthday and 57th Coronation Day of late Chogyal Palden Thondup Namgyal who passed away in early1982.
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