“Take action against erring teachers” Wake up call from CM to HRDD
Posted by barunroy on June 4, 2008
Gangtok: Chief Minister Dr. Pawan Chamling “has expressed his extreme displeasure over the reports that some teachers are not attending their duties” which, he said, “is highly deplorable and has to be thoroughly verified and strict action taken as per the Service Conduct Rules”.
CM was speaking at a meeting recently held at Mintokgang which was chaired by him. The meeting was attended by Chief Secretary, Mr. N.D. Chingapa, Additional Chief Secretary cum Finance Secretary, Mr. T.T. Dorjee, Development Commissioner & Principal Secretary, Animal Husbandry and Food Security and Agriculture Development, Secretary, Human Resource Development Department (HRDD), Director, Fisheries and Principal Secretary to Chief Minister.
Some other specific tasks were also short listed by CM for HRDD. One, distribution of text books to different schools has to be reviewed by the department which has to also ensure their timely distribution. All the pending and arrear payment of scholarships and cost of text books already supplied have to be cleared by the department on priority basis. Two, explore possibilities of shifting Pelling Senior Secondary School to a suitable site to avoid the disturbances being created by hotels and other commercial establishments mushrooming around the present location of the school.
Three, strictly enforce government directive to speak only in English from Class VIII onwards in all the schools of Sikkim. Four, survey suitable sites, duly keeping in mind the public interest, for establishment of a college at Gyalshing and another in North Sikkim; properly study suitability and feasibility of the selected sites and submit a report to the government within a month. Five, submit a standard estimate for construction of play grounds and gender based toilets in different schools; urgently submit an estimate of the total requirement of such infrastructures.
In the meeting, Principal Secretary of Animal Husbandry, Food Security and Agriculture Development department reported that, while there was a bumper production of various vegetables including tomatoes all over Sikkim, the department has been facing the problem of marketing surplus products. It was reported that out of 500 families in Sumbuk village, 498 are growing tomatoes. Principal Secretary said that he had recently organized a meeting of tomato growers of the State with vegetable traders of Lall Market who have agreed to buy tomatoes grown in Sikkim at the rate of Rs. 8/- per kg, even though Nasik grown tomatoes are being sold in Siliguri at Rs. 3/per kg.
CM advised the department to provide price support to the farmers to market their surplus products and also to tell Fruit Preservation Factory, Denzong Cooperative Society and various hotels to buy these local products so that the glut in demand could be overcome and any loss to the farmers averted. CM also told the department to explore the possibility of increased cultivation of trout fish, a rarity in Sikkim, by making use of several lakes in the State to develop them.
He also advised the department to create infrastructures like guest houses, restaurants, sales emporium and footpath, and provide angling facilities around trout growing lakes so that the visiting tourists could have self contained tourist spots to spend an entire day strolling in the natural ambience and enjoying rare cuisine of local dishes with trout fish. “Sikkim today has made a name for itself in different fields of developmental activities”, CM said, adding, “more than the achievements, sustenance of the tempo of progress is of paramount importance”.
He underlined, “Attention should also be paid to improve the quality of life, health and society as a whole and whenever any kind of project or scheme is conceptualized, it should be examined in its multi-dimensional perspective, taking into consideration the impact of the projects on environment, revenue generation and other related aspects” [An IPR Release by the Govt. of Sikkim]
