Toy train finds love at home with holiday specials

 

Siliguri, Feb. 14: The Darjeeling Himalayan Railway (DHR), once a predominantly British obsession, has now begun to find more takers closer home. [Inset: Local school children enjoy toy train ride back home. Photo by Prabin Pradhan]

“The local response to the toy train in recent times has been tremendous,” said DHR director Subrata Nath. “Since the holiday specials (marketed variably as heritage safari, jungle safari or special train) were started in the second half of last year, there have been about 30 charters already.”

Nath added: “We have set a target of ferrying 3,000 heads on the holiday specials every year, which we hope to reach by the end of March.”

More than tourists from outside, it is residents of Siliguri in search of day-long outings on weekends who hop on to the DHR holiday specials, said sources.

The Indian response to the DHR charters other than the holiday specials has also improved over the years.

Four Gorkha Janmutki Morcha cadres arrested!

 

Kurseong, Feb. 14: Four Gorkha Janmukti Morcha supporters were arrested after the GNLF set up a road blockade and threatened to launch an agitation, following the removal of its party flag from a martyrs’ memorial in Dilaram, 10km from here. [Photo: Barun Roy]

In the morning, the GNLF had set a deadline of 48 hours for police to arrest the culprits, failing which it said it would launch a “bigger agitation”. The arrests came in the afternoon. Phurba Sherpa (40), Tshering Dorjee Lama (23), Sudesh Sinha (29) and Nima Sherpa (35) were later released on a personal risk bond. This means, in the case of another violence, the four would be held responsible and re-arrested.

The road blockade that had started at 8am lasted for two-and-a-half hours. It was lifted after the inspector-in-charge of Kurseong police station, Tara Rai, assured protesters that action would be taken at the earliest.

The GNLF had lodged a complaint with the Dilaram outpost without naming anyone. “Since there were no confirmed reports about the people behind the crime, we did not name anyone. But circumstantial evidence showed that the Morcha supporters removed the flag. They were there shouting slogans around 8.30pm and we suspect that they removed the flag,” said N.B. Khawas, the general secretary of the GNLF in Kurseong. “If the culprits are not arrested within 48 hours, we will launch a bigger agitation,” he had said in the morning. Later, the GNLF put up a new flag on the bedi.

The Morcha has denied that it had any hand in removing the flag. “The GNLF itself took it off so that they could accuse us. The purpose is to spoil the image of our party,” said R.B. Lama, the vice-president of the Dilaram-Tung region of the Morcha.

Hawkers no to daily tax - - Darjeeling Municipality threatens action after shop owners stop paying rent

Darjeeling, Feb. 14: Members of the Darjeeling Paathpasala Sangh (hawkers’ union) have stopped paying the daily tax of Rs 10 to Darjeeling Municipality since yesterday to demand permanent establishment status.

The move has thrown the cash-strapped civic body into doldrums as the municipality uses the money to pay the salaries of its employees.

Dinesh Gurung, an adviser to the union, said: “The civic body has been collecting the money illegally.”

The tax collectors hand over paper chits with the municipality stamp to the hawkers. Although Gurung is the president of the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (Sadar committee) and the commissioner of Ward 25, he repeatedly stressed that the decision was not political and had been taken solely by the hawkers.

The civic body, according to Gurung, had built a concrete structure for 32 shops after Chowk Bazar was gutted in a fire in the mid-90s.

“Instead of monthly rents from these structures, the civic body continued to collect daily taxes. Even the other hawkers (besides the 32) have permanent establishments, but they, too, pay a daily tax. As a result, they are also deprived of trade license and benefits like bank loans, which other business establishments enjoy.”

Till some time ago, the hawkers’ union was largely perceived to be a GNLF organisation, but with the changing political scenario in the hills, the members switched allegiance to the Morcha.

“The GNLF under the leadership of Ghisingh has not done anything for the hawkers. The collection of taxes is similar to haftas that goondas collect elsewhere,” said Gurung.