Heartrending pictures of Jaipur Blasts

Dear Friends,

Greetings from Darjeeling! I hope you are all doing well. Please accept my best wishes and regards.

Our esteemed friend and an avid blogger Mr. Joseph Chamling has shared with us some of the heart rendering photos from Jaipur Blasts. I must warn you that the photos are greatly depressing and revolting. But they show in effect and in fact in all their rawness that Terrorism and Violence leads to nothing but death and agony. In a nation of great diversity of people culture, language, religion and thought we do have our share of problems and disagreements but violence, terrorism and militancy can only push us back to the DARK AGES.

Lets us today solemnly pledge our allegiance to Motherland India and promise never resort to violence for anything that leads to death on any one. And let us also condemn all those to resort to violence so that their demands are met.

These individuals who died were innocent victims. They have no race, religion, caste or creed. Lets work towards an era when peace, democracy and humanity prevails.

God Save India! God Save Humanity!

Regs

Barun

THE PICTURES TO BE VERY DISTURBING

Gorkha Freedom Fighters from Darjeeling Hills

THE HIMALAYAN BEACON [BEACON ONLINE] EXCLUSIVE

BY BARUN ROY

CLICK ON THE PHOTOS TO ENLARGE

Freedom Fighters Putaliya Devi, Helen Lepcha, Jung Bir Sapkota, Gaga Tshering Dukpa, Kr.s.na Bâhâdur Mũkhia and Pushpa Kumar Ghising respectively. Photos copyrighted to Barun Roy

In the early months of 1934, a group of young revolutionaries met at a local club house in Calcutta. The small club house situated at the Park Street was ordinary to say the least and only used by the local boys of the neighbourhood as a means to spend time playing various indoor games. At around 7 pm of the fateful day, a group of individuals walked in. Among them were Bhawani Bhattacharya, Rabindranath Banerjee, Manoranajan Banerjee, Ujjwal Majumdar, Madhusudan Banerjee, Sukumar Ghosh and Sushil Chakroborthy. A conspiracy to assassinate the Governor of Bengal John Anderson was subsequently hatched by these individuals and Bhawani Bhattacharya and Rabindranath Banerjee chosen for the same. As per the plan, both Bhawani Bhattacharya and Rabindranath Banerjee left for Darjeeling and on arrival began to live in the town incognito. Though it is not clear as to where they lived or who hosted them, it is known that they met frequently with the underground revolutionaries and supporters at the ‘Nipendra Nâ.râ.yâ.n Hyn.du Public Hall’ and practiced firing at the forests below the Shrubbery Park. On the 8^th of May 1934, the assassination attempt on the Governor however, failed when both the revolutionaries were arrested and the Governor saved by the local police. Bhawani Bhattacharya was later sentenced to death and Rabindranath Banerjee sentenced to life in prison. Later other revolutionaries who were found co-conspirators were also sentenced to prison. Among those who were indicted were all those who had conspired at the ‘club’ in Calcutta – Manoranajan Banerjee, Ujjwal Majumdar, Madhusudan Banerjee, Sukumar Ghosh and Sushil Chakroborthy.

Government of India has an online Grievance forum

Hi All,

Government of India has an online Grievance forum at http://pgportal. gov.in/ Can you imagine this is happening in INDIA ?

The govt. wants people to use this tool to highlight the problems they faced while dealing with Government officials or departments like Passport Office, Electricity board, BSNL/MTNL, Railways etc.

I know many people will say that these things don’t work in India , but this actually works as one of my friend in CSC found. The guy I’m talking about lives in Faridabad . Couple of months back, the Faridabad Municipal Corporation laid new roads in his area and the residents were very happy about it. But 2 weeks later, BSNL dug up the newly laid roads to install new cables which annoyed all the residents including this guy. But it was only this guy! Who used the above listed grievance forum to highlight his concern. And to his surprise, BSNL and Municipal Corporation of Faridabad were served a show cause notice and the guy received a copy of the notice in one week. Government has asked the MC and BSNL about the goof up as it’s clear that both the government departments were not in sync at all.

So use this grievance forum and educate others who don’t know about this facility.  This way we can at least raise our concerns instead of just talking about the ‘ System ‘ in India .

Invite your friends to contribute for many such happenings.

PLEASE SPREAD THIS MESSAGE IF U WANT OUR INDIA TO HAVE  A BETTER TOMORROW & FORWARD THIS MAIL TO AS MANY AS POSSIBLE.

Regards,

Bishal Rai

In Black and White

Dr. Mani Kumar Chettri – Padmashree

Personality of the Month

Dr. Mani Kumar Chettri,

MD (Cal), FRCP (Lon), FRCP (U.S.A), D.Sc (NBU), FAMS(India)

Managing Director,

Advance Medical Research Institute (AMRI)

Kolkata.

Some wit once said this “if the God of death (Yamaraj) himself ever suffered heart ailment, the first person that he would think of going to would be Dr. Mani Kumar Chettri”.

Place of Birth: Teesta Valley T.E

Father’s name: Late. P.L. Singh Chettri

Mother’s name: Smt. H.M. Chettri.

Educational Background:

Schools: Municipal Primary School (Upto class four),

Turnbull High School (Mid-English).

Matriculation: Govt. High School, 1936. District topper.

ISC: St. Paul’s College (Kolkata) (Rs 10/month scholarship provided by The Govt).

MBBS: Govt Medical College (Kolkata).

FRCP: London (1956).

Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru during his visit of Darjeeling

CLICK ON THE PHOTO TO ENLARGE

Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, the first Prime Minister of India during his visit to Darjeeling. He is seen here felicitating Darjeeling Hills based Gorkha Freedom Fighters. It has not been presently possible to identify the Freedom Fighter being felicitated. Photo reproduced with permission from The Gorkha Canvas – A History though the Lenses by Barun Roy [In Print - Mandalay Books [Pte] Ltd. The Photo is dated 1952

Gorkhaland Personnel recruitment and training in full swing

Recruits going through rigorous medical examinations

Ex-servicemen who have been looking after the recruitment and training of the Gorkhaland Personnel

Both photos by Himalaya Darpan

Ram Bahadur: Dehradun’s Dynamite

FROM SOCCER NET INDIA

ARTICLE SHARED BY AARDEE

Known as the ‘Dehradun Dyanmite’ in the maidans of Kolkata, Ram Bahadur was one of the greatest midfielder produced by India. Exquisite touches, nimble foot movements along with majestic ball control were some of the traits of the diminutive midfielder who started his football career with Amar Jyoti Football Club in Dehradun in 1954. Despite representing Uttar Pradesh for two consecutive years, it was his performance in 1956 DCM Cup in Delhi for Vijay Cantt Club that launched the midfielder into national stage. Bahadur’s gameplay caught the attention of East Bengal’s manager J.C. Guha who immediately offered him a contract with India’s elite club. “For me it was a dream to play for India’s biggest club East Bengal and after JC Guha offered me the contract there was no looking back”, remarked Ram Bahadur.

That was the start of Ram Bahadur’s association with East Bengal which lasted an incredible eleven years until 1967 before the midfielder decided to hang his boots from the beautiful game. “Ram Bahadur love for the red and gold shirt was amazing.” remarked Shyam Thapa, former East Bengal and Indian international. It was in 1958 when Bahadur rejected the advances of Mohun Bagan to commit his career with East Bengal. “I signed in front of Secretary Mantoo Ghosh that I will only play for East Bengal until the end of my footballing career”. Bahadur was awarded the midfielder of the Millennium by the club in January 2000 for his service to the famous institution and was also made the captain of the side three times during his career. Ram Bahadur’s best performance in red and gold outfit came in 1957 against Mohammedan Sporting. Despite receiving a serious injury on his head after collision with Mohammedan player Salim, Bahadur played the whole game and made around half a dozen goal line clearances. East Bengal ultimately went on to win the match 3-0 with goals from Tapash Bose and Moosah. At the end of the game, Bahadur laid senseless on ground with his head fully draped in blood. Remarking on Ram Bahadur’s gutsy performance, noted Calcutta football personality and East Bengal recruiter, Late Jiban Chakraborty said, “I never saw Ram Bahadur play a bad game in eleven years for the club. Such was his consistency and talent that he was like a wall in the midfield”.

“We will organize free medical checkups at Margaret’s Hope” says Estate Manager J. C. Pandey

Photo by Himalaya Darpan

Koirala to visit India today

FROM SOUTH ASIAN MEDIA NET

KATHMANDU: Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala is scheduled to fly to India to hold separate meetings with Indian National Congress party chairman Soniya Gandhi and leader of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Lalkrishna Adwani on Sunday. Prime Minister Koirala and the 35-member Nepali delegation will be leaving for India shortly after the 15th South Asian Association Regional Cooperation (SAARC) summit ends today.

According to the Ministry for Foreign Affairs, 35 delegation team led by the Prime Minister will be returning back on Monday after the visit to India.

Earlier today, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh urged Prime Minister Koirala to form a government based on a national consensus.

The Indian Prime Minister stressed on forming the government with a national consensus by maintaining unity among the political parties, during a meeting which lasted for about 45 minutes at Colombo this morning.

Emerging from the meeting, Prime Minister Koirala said that the Indian Prime Minster pledged that the Indian government will fully assist the country in peace process.

The duo also discussed on the present political situation, unity among the political parties, peace process, drafting new constitution and economic development at the meeting.

Quoting Indian Prime Minister Singh, Prime Minister Koirala said that India is positive on the present political developments of the country and said that there is no alternative than to forge a political consensus by maintaining unity among the political parties.

Prachanda seeks coalition govt led by Maoists

FROM INDIAN EXPRESS

Kathmandu, August 3 : Maoist chief Prachanda on Sunday met communist leaders to build support for a coalition government under his leadership in Nepal, a day after floating a 50-point common minimum programme (CMP) that seeks to allay the fears of the mainstream parties.

“Our meeting with senior Maoist leaders, including Prachanda, at CPN-UML central office in Balkhu on Sunday focused on forging a national consensus to form a new government,” said Communist Party of Nepal-UML (CPN-UML) leader Bhim Rawal, who participated in the meeting.

He said the CPN-UML will hold a meeting with senior leaders of Nepali Congress in a bid to forge consensus to form a government, which has been delayed due to disagreement among the mainstream parties.

The Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) on Saturday announced a 50-point CMP reiterating their commitment to multi-party democracy, federal system of governance and human rights.

Nepal declines China’s invite to Olympics

FROM GULF TIMES

KATHMANDU: In an unprecedented move, Nepal’s new head of state, President Ram Baran Yadav, has declined the invitation from northern neighbour China to attend the Olympic Games at Beijing this week. “The president is busy consulting the political parties about the formation of the new government and feels he should stay in the country to swear in the new government, which could be formed any time,” officials  from the president’s office and the foreign ministry told IANS.

Last week, Yadav had asked the Maoists, who became the largest party after the April election, to form the government within seven days. The deadline ends tomorrow. If the former rebels’ effort to cobble a consensus government fails, they have said they intend to muster majority in the house or even failing that, try to push a minority government of their own.

However, should that too fail, the president might ask the anti-Maoist coalition of three other major parties to have a go at forming the new government. This is the first time a Nepali dignitary has declined an invitation abroad on the ground that he is required at home.

In the past, the top political leaders have been known to abandon their stations at home even in the midst of dire crises to attend inconsequential junkets abroad.

The latest such controversy erupted in Nepal last week when caretaker Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala went to the 15th Saarc Summit in Colombo though his resignation had been accepted and the major parties were calling for the president to represent Nepal at the summit.

Nepal detains 253 Tibetans as Olympics near

FROM TIMES OF MALTA

Nepal detained 253 protesters, including Tibetan monks and nuns, who tried to stage a silent protest march in front of a Chinese visa office in Kathmandu today, days before the Olympic Games open in Beijing.

The protesters carried Tibetan flags and banners demanding “Free Tibet” and some that read “We Want Religious Freedom”. They were dragged away by police and put in waiting vehicles to be taken into custody. Some were seen weeping and begging.

Police said the 253 Tibetans would be freed later today.

Tibetan refugees began regular protests after deadly anti-government riots broke out in the Tibetan capital Lhasa and other areas in China in mid-March, to mark the anniversary of a failed uprising against Chinese rule in 1959.

Nepal says Tibet is part of China, an important trade partner and aid donor, and does not allow anti-China activities. Yet the exiles have managed to organise protests against Beijing regularly.

More than 20,000 Tibetans live in Nepal, which is the second-biggest home for Tibetans outside of Tibet after neighbouring India. Many of the refugees had fled their homeland after 1959.

Terror strikes have not dampened tourists’ spirit, feels industry

FROM THE HINDU

KOLKATA: Notwithstanding the threat perception in the wake of the recent serial blasts in some metro cities, domestic tourists still evince keen interest on tourism and travel around the country.

This was stated by representatives of tourism corporations from various States at the 64th Travel and Tourism Fair (TTF) that was inaugurated here on Saturday.

Assam, Jammu and Kashmir, Gujarat, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh were some of the States, which pitched in for aggressive marketing of their tourist spots at the Fair, which is billed as the largest in the country. The number of people milling the Fair, shopping for tourist destinations, pointed to the fact that they did not feel threatened by the recent serial bomb blasts.

Even international players were not left behind. Apart from the usual participants like Singapore, Malaysia and Dubai, countries like Indonesia, Nepal and Sri Lanka too tried to pursue tourists by allaying fears of Indian tourists about the countries’ internal terror quotient.

“We get a lot of Indian businessmen visiting Indonesia. We want it to get extended to tourists also,” said Orysa Rizky, representative of the Jakarta City Government Tourism Office. An official of the Nepal Tourism said that in spite of the political instability and subsequent disruptions, Indian tourists have continued flocking to the country.

“Not a single city can be found in India which is free from terrorism threat, so there is no reason why certain States and cities should be avoided only,” said P. Jeevan Prasad, divisional manager of Andhra Pradesh Tourism Development Corporation Limited.

Delhi police to seek transit remand for arrested blast suspects

FROM THE STATESMAN

SILIGURI, Aug. 3: The Delhi police will apply for transit remand of the two suspected terrorists arrested from New Jalpaiguri area in Siliguri late Thursday night.

The two terror suspects, one of them a Bangladeshi, were arrested in connection with the 31 January blasts at Malviya Nagar area in south Delhi and are currently on remand with the New Jalpaiguri police till 7 August.

According to the Jalpaiguri Sadar circle inspector, Mr VK Singh, the special cell team of the Delhi police, which is camping in Siliguri since Thursday, has expressed its desire to take the arrested duo to New Delhi.
“The Delhi police officers have told us that they want to take the duo on transit remand to New Delhi and carry forward the blast investigation. They are set to approach the honourable CJM court in Jalpaiguri for the transit remand when we produce the two terror suspects on 7 August,” Mr Singh said. Investigating the terror trail of the 31 January Malviya Nagar blasts, the Delhi police’s special cell team had reached Siliguri last Friday. They brought along another terror suspect, Muhammad Hakim, whom they had arrested from the New Delhi railway station on 29 July.

The Delhi police team then approached the New Jalpaiguri police to help them out with the investigations here.  After this following the revelations made by Hakim, the New Jalpaiguri police late on 31 July, arrested two more suspects ~ Muhammad Yasin and Muhammad Meheruddin from Shantipara and Chunabhatti areas out here. Of them, Yasin is a Bangladeshi hailing from Khelaspur village in Khulna district.

The police also recovered explosives and firearms from them and produced the duo before the CJM court in Jalpaiguri. The court remanded them to the custody of NJP police till 7 August.

Asok slams GJMM

FROM THE STATESMAN

SILIGURI, Aug 3: The 7 th Siliguri zonal conference of the DYFI was held in Siliguri from 2 to 3 August. An open rally was also held yesterday at the Indoor Stadium where the state urban development minister Mr Asok Bhattacharya was the principal speaker.

Addressing the rally Mr Bhattacharya slammed the Gorkha Jana Mukti Morcha for assaulting the CPI-M activists selectively. ” It is most unfortunate that at a time when a tripartite dialogue is going to be held to resolve the tangle at the initiative of the state government the GJMM activists have intensified their witch hunting against those who are associated with the CPI-M,” the minister alleged. “It is queer that the GJMM on one hand has been paying lip service to the Gandhian principles of non-violence and on the other has been systematically hounding the political opponents of the hills.

The CPI-M leaders in the Darjeeling hills have been asked by the GJMM to surrender by 4 August. This is an alarming development for all and particularly for those who are trying hard to restore peace,” Mr Bhattacharya remarked.

Narrow escape!

FROM THE STATESMAN

DARJEELING, Aug 3: Three people were injured when a mini bus hit them near the Railway Station located along the NH55 stretch at the precincts of the town today.

Puran Pradhan, Deepshikha Chettri and Susan Thami, the three injured were immediately rushed to the Darjeeling Sadar Hospital where they are presently undergoing treatment.

The tourists from Assam had hired a local driver Bhanu Tamang for convenience sake to drive them around the holy places in Darjeeling. The driver is however absconding after the incident.

Student beaten for eating waiwai

FROM THE STATESMAN

KURSEONG, Aug. 3: A student of Dowhill School, brutally beaten by a school matron was admitted to the school hospital.

Sagupta Hamid, (16) a student of class 9 was reportedly beaten by a school matron, on Thursday evening at the school dormitory as she was found eating Waiwai (packed noodles) inside the school dormitory. As soon as the news of the incident spread a team of news reporters immediately rushed to the school to find out about the incident. Sources revealed that the matron had previously beaten students and had also made personal attacks on students.

The students fearing strict action reportedly would not reveal such incidents to anybody. On questioning, the principal, Mrs S. Basu said that this type of incident has not happened previously but last Thursday’s incident was accidental. She said that efforts were being made to look into the matter and that a a meeting has been called tomorrow. The principal said that she too had problems with the matron’s uncontrollable rage.

“When the matron came to know about my eating Waiwai in dormitory, the matron started beating me and in the process of saving myself, I hurt myself, which is just a minor injury,” said the victim.

Chorus of peace in 3 languages

FROM THE TELEGRAPH

The poets at the session in Siliguri. (Kundan Yolmo)

Siliguri, Aug. 3: Age and backgrounds were no barriers. Nor was language.

For the first time, the district information and cultural department organised a “kavi sammelan” (poetry reading session) in which poets recited their work in the three prominent languages of the region – Hindi, Bengali and Nepali.

Bringing out the cosmopolitan nature of this trading hub, the session brought together about 40 amateur poets from different backgrounds, each with hopes of aspiring to be something close to a Harivansh Bachchan, a Tagore or a Bhanubhakta one day.

The session was inaugurated by Siliguri Mahakuma Parishad sabhadhipati Moni Thapa, who read some poetry herself. She preferred to recite Chhori po rahechha, a poem by Nepali bard Firoda Khadka.

One thing common was the general themes of the verses that were recited at the programme.

Hitting out at the corruption, the violence and the strife in one’s life nowadays, the writers conveyed that there was a better side, where prosperity and peace could be achieved.

“The aim of organising the session was to promote integration in the region, especially after the recent developments here,” said Siliguri sub-divisional information and cultural officer Jagadish Roy.

“We contacted professors and luminaries in the three languages to get hold of poets for the programme. Krishna Pradhan, a senior teacher of Krishnamaya Nepali Memorial High School, Haren Ghosh, former principal of Siliguri College of Commerce, and Asok Shahu, head of the Hindi department of Siliguri College helped us out,” Roy said.

Processing plant ties up with French firm – Siliguri company gets ready to send produce to Europe

FROM THE TELEGRAPH

BY AVIJIT SINHA

Dominique Coulombel (second from left) and Laury Bouchard (fourth from left) at the Rainbow factory on Saturday. A Telegraph picture

Kantivita (Phansidewa), Aug. 3: A Siliguri-based company has invested more than Rs 10 crore to raise a food processing plant here, the produce from which will make its way to several European countries.

Rainbow Agro Foods Limited will export fruits and vegetables grown in the Darjeeling district through the France-based Carrefour Group, which has more than 15,000 stores across the world.

“Around 150 self-help groups and 50 farmer clubs have been formed in Phansidewa and other parts of the district to supply us broccoli, green pea, cauliflower, carrot and pineapple. For mango, we have talked to a supplier in Malda,” said Vishal Gupta, one of the directors of the company. “We are identifying more cultivators to ensure that there is no dearth of supply for our plant has the capacity to produce eight metric tonnes of processed food, be it sliced, diced or pulp, in one shift (of eight hours).”

Vishal’s father R.K. Gupta, who is one of the promoters of the company, said this is the first-of-its-kind project in northeastern India where individual quick freezing (IQF) technology would be used.

In IQF cold air moves through the product, freezing each individual piece on all surfaces as it moves along on a belt.

Dominique Coulombel and Laury Bouchard, two representatives of the French group that claims to be the second-largest retailer in the world and biggest in Europe running units in 30 countries, visited the Rainbow factory, 30km from Siliguri, yesterday.

Morcha court threat to minister

FROM THE TELEGRAPH

Darjeeling, Aug. 3: The Gorkha Janmukti Morcha has threatened to drag Bengal urban development and municipal affairs minister Asok Bhattacharya to court for “trying to defame the party with fabricated stories”.

At a convention of the CPM’s youth wing in Siliguri yesterday, the minister had alleged: “A circular signed by (Morcha president) Bimal Gurung has been distributed across the hills. All those who are against the Morcha’s movement and demands… have been asked to quit their parties by August 4.”

Today, Binay Tamang, the media and publicity secretary of the Morcha, responded to the charge.

“The central committee of the Morcha has never issued such a circular, that too signed by Bimal Gurung, our president. We want him (Bhattacharya) to immediately show the circular signed by Gurung to the media since he claims he has seen one such copy. If he fails to do so, we will take him to court for trying to defame the Morcha with fabricated stories,” Tamang said.

The Morcha leaders said they were taking the allegations very seriously.

“Asok Bhattacharya is trying to vitiate the atmosphere in the run-up to the tripartite talks (on Gorkhaland). Such is the desperation among the CPM leaders that they are stooping as low as to come up with fabricated stories,” said Tamang.

The talks are likely to take place in the second week of August.

Asok hope for retailers

FROM THE TELEGRAPH

Siliguri, Aug. 3: The Bengal government will bring a regulation soon to ensure that opening of shopping malls does not affect the retailers’ business in the state, urban development minister Asok Bhattacharya has said.

“We are aware of the apprehension expressed by millions of retailers across the state, given the establishment of shopping malls in cities and towns. The state government has decided to come with a regulation to keep these malls under control and make sure that their business does not affect the retailers,” Bhattacharya said at an interactive session organised by the Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry, North Bengal (Focin) here yesterday.

He, however, did not clarify the clauses to be mentioned in the proposed regulation.

The minister’s statement came after Biswajit Das, the Focin general secretary, voiced the retailers’ concern. “Our members doing retail business are apprehensive of loosing their customers because of the malls and chain stores,” he said.

Bhattacharya referred to a recent survey by the Prime Minister’s Office to ascertain the business done by the shopping malls. “It shows that the malls can achieve only 60 per cent of its revenue target. Nevertheless, the state government is concerned about the problem articulated by several associations representing retailers and will take steps,” he said.

Tea exports rise, prices too

FROM THE TELEGRAPH

Siliguri, Aug. 3: Tea exports from India in the first half of 2008 have reported an increase of 24.62 per cent with the southern states performing particularly well.

Statistics available with the Tea Board of India indicate an unprecedented rise of 52.15 per cent in the export of tea from south India.

Exports from north India, including north Bengal, on the other hand, have come down by 4.03 per cent in the past six months.

“The rise in exports has been witnessed because of improved business in countries like the US, Russia, Iran, Egypt, Kazakhstan and UAE,” said Basudeb Banerjee, the chairman of the Tea Board. “Shortfall in production in Kenya and queries from Pakistan and Iraq indicate that Indian tea might capture these markets too.”

Monojit Dasgupta, the secretary-general of Indian Tea Association, agreed with the chairman’s observation.

“The bookings are high at the Amingaon Inland Container Depot in Assam, indicating a rise in exports,” Dasgupta said.

The average price of Indian tea in international markets has also increased in the current year.

“Last year, the average price of 1 kg of Indian tea was $ 2.21 while in 2008, it is $ 2.46, an increase of 11.31 per cent,” Tea Board officials said. “In the domestic market, prices rose by 14.98 per cent in north India and by 5.29 per cent in the south.”

Tinderbox hill town to get second fire station

FROM THE TELEGRAPH

The ground floor of the house that caught fire on Saturday. Picture by Suman Tamang

Darjeeling, Aug. 3: The fire services department has given the nod to a second station in Darjeeling town, but getting land may be a problem.

The nod comes even as fire officials continue to face people’s wrath as they grapple with frequent incidents of blaze in the tinder box town.

Encroachment, narrow roads that make the sites of blaze inaccessible to the big fire tenders and traffic along NH55 – the current station is located along the highway at Dali, 3km from town – has hampered work of fighting fire in Darjeeling.

Yesterday, the personnel of the department had to face the wrath of the residents of Rasik Gram where a fire, suspected to have started because of a leak in a gas cylinder, damaged the ground floor of Gangamaya Pradhan’s residence.

Such incidents have become regular features of the hill town and people of Pragrati Gram under the banner of Godawari Sangh had approached the fire department to set up another station and also bring in smaller tenders. A blaze in the village on March 16 this year had gutted three buildings.

Textbooks light up mid-day meal fires – sub-inspector of schools to start probe

FROM THE TELEGRAPH

Kotgram Palpara Primary School and (above) one of the cooks tears off pages from a textbook to light the oven. Pictures by Nantu Dey and The Telegraph

Raiganj, Aug. 3: A primary school here has been using textbooks to light the earthen-coal fired ovens to cook midday meals for its 150 students.

The headmaster of Kotgram Palpara Primary School, Debashish Singha, claimed the textbooks were dumped after the syllabus changed. While a CPM-backed teachers’ association felt that the incident was being blown out of proportion, the district primary school council said all books were to be either re-used or sent back to the department if the syllabus has changed.

“It cannot be burnt on any condition or used as fuel. In case there is a shortage in the supply of textbooks, the schools are supposed to manage with old copies. Some years, when there are minor changes in the syllabus, for example a new poem may be added or replaced, the authorities ask the students to copy them. And books on math can never become old or out of syllabus,” said the sub-inspector of schools (Raiganj Sadar), Supriya Chakraborty. She said she herself would conduct an inquiry.

Soon after the news spread, the headmaster and the village education committee started trading charges.

Two women tearing off pages after pages of Navaganeet Mukul (mathematics book for Classes III and IV), Kisholoy and Prakriti Porichay to stoke fire in the oven is a common sight at the school located 3km from Raiganj town.

Maya Pal, one of the cooks, claimed that the pages helped light up wet firewood. The problem becomes acute during the monsoon.

“The firewood gets wet and it is very difficult to light the coal-fired earthen ovens at this time of the year. So we use the books dumped inside a room. I am not supposed to judge if the work is unethical. The headmaster has given us a roomful of books to burn,” she said.