CM meets PM, gets airport project cleared

NEW DELHI, May 30: After a spat between the civil aviation ministry and the Planning Commission over delay in the modernisation of Kolkata airport, chief minister Mr Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee today met the Prime Minister and asked the Centre to expedite the process. And within hours, the Public Investment Board cleared the Rs 2,000 crore Kolkata airport modernisation project. The CM-PM interaction also touched upon clearance for the proposal to set up a deep-sea port in Bengal for which clearance is pending. Later, Mr Bhattacharjee met Union home minister Mr Shivraj Patil and suggested that the legislation to grant Sixth Schedule status to the Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council be put on hold for some time, following demands by several organisations including the GJMM.

Meanwhile, the CPI-M central committee today admitted that Left Front “disunity” in the recent panchayat elections had led to some reverses and wanted the state party unit to learn “lessons” from the experience. The party general secretary, Mr Prakash Karat, told reporters that despite the large “gang-up” of political parties and “communal forces,” the Left Front had done well in the polls.

But the “apprehensions about land acquisition” for industry had led to loss of support in some areas, he said. The plan for industrialisation must take this into account, the party leader said.  The state unit, he said, would carry out a detailed examination of the poll results in a month, and take remedial policy steps and organisational measures to overcome the shortcomings. [The Statesman]

Explosives seized near Nepal border

SILIGURI, May 30: A powerful explosive device connected with a timer was recovered last night from one Abbas Ali, a resident of Kamargunj, North Dinajpur district at the Mechi bridge near the Nepal border around 30 Km from Siliguri.  The Kharibari police and the Sashastra Seema Bal personnel nabbed the man at around 10 pm last night. According to the police, the explosive weighs around 2.5 Kgs. Four detonators and some raw material for producing four more bombs were also recovered from the arrested man’s person. The police are investigating into the findings and the nature of the explosive is yet to be ascertained. The arrested person is also being questioned.

The deputy superintendent of police Siliguri, Mr Pradip Dutta today said that Abbas Ali was heading for Nepal, crossing the Mechi Bridge. “He was coming from Islampur in North Dinajpur, though originally he is a resident of Kamargunj in the same district. The motive of carrying the time device into Nepal is not yet clear to us. An investigation is going on,” the DSP added.

The second officer in-charge, Kharibari police station Mr Chinmoy Bhattacharya said that the timer device was deposited at the Army Camp, Sukna and defused. The police are not yet certain whether the arrested person is linked with any Bangladesh-based terrorist outfit or not but are not ruling out the possibility.“The arrested man is perhaps a supplier of explosives. We are, however, keeping all angles open,” Mr Bhattacharya said. [The Statesman]

Opposition threatens to boycott SMC meets

Siliguri, May 30: All 11 Opposition councillors of the Siliguri Municipal Corporation have decided to boycott every meeting called by the civic authorities till the three demands they placed before the SMC chairman today are met.

The councillors, representing the Trinamul Congress, Congress and the BJP, have demanded that all SMC meetings, including the speeches made by the councillors, be recorded. They also wanted the details of expenditures in all 47 wards of the corporation from November 1, 2004 till date be made public.

The third demand seeks action against the ruling party members for their “objectionable and unruly behaviour” at a board meeting held in November 2006.

“We will first confine the agitation to the SMC. If there is no action even after that, we will hold meetings across the corporation area to make the people aware of what is going on in the SMC,” said Opposition leader Krishna Pal of Trinamul.

Tour agents to stop work today

Gangtok, May 30: Travel agents of Sikkim will suspend their business for 24 hours tomorrow to protest against the arrest of three of them in connection with a cheating case.

Two tour operators and a driver were arrested on Wednesday after a tourist couple filed a police complaint, accusing them of cheating.

The suspension of business by the operators means the tourists cannot go to Nathu-la on the India-China border and other restricted areas as permits required for visiting these places will not be handed over to them.

“All our members and those of the Sikkim Association of Adventure Tour Operators (SAATO) will stop selling permits and packages for various destinations,” S.K. Pradhan, the president of the Travel Agents’ Association of Sikkim (TAAS), told reporters today.

The TAAS and the SAATO are the two apex tour operators’ bodies in Sikkim.

“The decision to suspend business in the peak tourist season has been taken because of the constant humiliation being meted out to us,” Pradhan said. “Tourism is growing, but we need to address the problems sincerely. If we do not do it now, we will face them every day,” he added.

Request to probe bridge cave-in

Gangtok, May 30: The rural management and development department (RMDD) has asked the Sikkim government to set up an inquiry committee to probe the collapse of an under construction bridge that killed four labourers at Chenzey yesterday.

The dead have been identified as Latif Haq, Munna Haq, Kanu Urawu and Parimal Urawu. At least 25 workers were also injured when the scaffolding supporting the bridge gave way while a concrete slab was being cast. Rural management and development secretary Anil Ganeriwala said a departmental inquiry has been started. He said a proposal for an independent probe has been put before the government.

The divisional engineer (East) of the RMDD has registered a complaint against government contractor T. Lachungpa with Ranipul police station, accusing him of flouting guidelines laid down for constructing bridges in the hills. The police have registered cases under Section 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) and Section 337 of the IPC. Lachungpa, too, had been injured.

Yesterday, the contractor had said that the scaffolding may have weakened after the soil below it loosened following heavy rainfall in the past few days.

Border arrest throws up explosives

Siliguri, May 30: A resident of Islampur has been caught with explosives and detonators at Panitanki on the border with Nepal. [Inset: Ali at the Kharibari police station. (Kundan Yolmo)]

The Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) has seized 350gm “high intensity” and 2.5kg “low intensity” explosives, four detonators and a wire to be used as fuse from Abbas Ali, who was handed over to Kharibari police this afternoon. The nature of the explosives is yet to be identified.

“Based on a tip-off, our intelligence wing caught Ali at Doodhgate in Panitanki, 40km from here, when he was trying to cross over to Nepal with his friend yesterday. The friend, however, escaped,” said Rajesh Tikku, the deputy commandant of the 22nd Battalion of the SSB’s Ranidanga sector headquarters, who was present at the police station.

The explosives were later handed over to the army at Bengdubi, where they were detonated.

Darjeeling to evict hawkers

Darjeeling, May 30: The Darjeeling Municipality has decided to start evicting hawkers from next week. [Inset: Shops along the Orient Line in Darjeeling. Picture by Suman Tamang]

“We have identified about 150 people who have put up wares on footpaths. Pedestrians are increasingly finding it difficult to walk through the town. We will not serve any notice on the hawkers as they do not have the permission to do business on footpaths. The drive to remove them will start next week,” said Dinesh Gurung, the vice-chairman of the civic body.

The municipality plans to clear the pavements along the roads in Orient Line. Gurung said even the hawkers in front of the G Building of the municipality would not be spared.

Morcha glad over CM’s bill stall plea

Darjeeling/Delhi, May 30: The Gorkha Janmukti Morcha has welcomed Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee’s request to the Centre to stall the Sixth Schedule bill. This, however, has failed to clear the shadow of uncertainty that looms over the plains, where the party has decided to launch a hunger strike from June 2.  [Inset: Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee]

The fast is a protest against the Bengal government’s decision to deny the Morcha permission to hold a public meeting in the plains.

The party, while indicating, that Bhattacharjee’s request was expected maintained that it was more important to open a tripartite dialogue on Gorkhaland involving the Morcha, the state government and the Centre.

“The people of the hills have already rejected the Sixth Schedule status. Nevertheless we welcome the chief minister’s request to the Centre. However, the more important issue is to open a tripartite dialogue,” said Roshan Giri, the general secretary of the Morcha.

Although it was largely accepted that Union home minister Shivraj Patil would not press immediately for the passing of the Constitutional Amendment Bill for inclusion of the Darjeeling hills under the Sixth Schedule given Subash Ghisingh’s loss of popular support, the chief minister’s request is expected to boost the Morcha morale.