India could have won Olympic medal in boxing in 1964 – Padam Bahadur Mall

FROM GARHWAL POST

NEWS SHARED BY AARDEE

Dehradun, 22 Aug: Indian boxer Vijender Kumar brought cheer for the country by winning a bronze medal in boxing at the Beijing Olympics. He lost to Cuban Emilio Correa Bayeaux in the semi-finals of the 75 kg category on Friday. He created history by becoming the first Indian boxer to win an Olympic medal.

But India could have won its first Olympic medal way back in 1964, when the boxing squad was sent to Tokyo owing to a rift between the Indian Olympic Association and Indian Amateur Boxing Federation. Dehradun’s own Padam Bahadur Mall was in devastating form and was being considered a medal prospect for the Summer Olympics.

It is said that the IOA wanted to send Padam Bahadur Mall alone for the Tokyo Olympics, while the IABF was insisting on a three member team. Both the organisations never reached a compromise and, as a result, no boxer was allowed to participate in the Tokyo Olympics.

Padam Bahadur Mall caught the attention of the world of boxing by winning the first ever boxing Gold medal for the country at the Jakarta Asian Games in 1962. Mall thus became the toast of a nascent sporting nation. He thrashed Kanemura Shiratori of Japan in the final to bring home the Gold and also the Best Boxer’s title, the only Indian to achieve this feat in the Asian Games till date.

Remembering Shahid Durga Malla

FROM GARHWAL POST

NEWS SHARED BY AARDEE

By LP Thapa

DEHRADUN, 25 Aug: “The sacrifice I am offering shall not go in vain. India will be free. I am confident. This is only a matter of time, Sharda! Don’t worry, crores of Hindustanis are with you.” These were the last words of Major Durga Malla to his young wife before he was sent to the gallows for defying the British in favour of his motherland, India. He was hanged on 25 August 1944. He was the first Gorkha soldier of the Indian National Army (INA) to sacrifice his life for the cause of the nation. His martyrdom day is now celebrated as ‘Balidan Diwas’ by the Gorkha community every year.
The equestrian figure of this legendary hero now stands proudly in the precincts of the Indian Parliament.

The eldest among four sons and three daughters, Durga was born on 1 July, 1913 at Khate Gaon, Doiwala, to Parvati Devi and Ganga Ram Malla, an army man.

Durga Malla was an extremely self-respecting, laborious, dedicated and honest person. “He was a good elder brother for all of us younger siblings,” says 84 year old Prem Singh Malla, the youngest brother of Durga, who resides, presently, in Ranjhawala. Though he is hard of hearing and losing his memory, he recalled that his elder brother was a good footballer. “I remember, he used to study in the Gorkha Military Middle School (presently Gorkha Military Inter College) and play football passionately and wrote poetry in Nepali and Hindi.”

Since when he was a student of ninth standard, Durga was actively engaged in anti-British activites in his locality. He was greatly inspired by Gandhian freedom fighters of Dehradun like Thakur Chandan Singh, Kharag Bahadur Singh Bisht, Pandit Ishwaranand Gorkha and Amar Singh Thapa.

He was much influenced by Gandhi’s Dandi March in 1930. Due to his anti-British activities, his family was frequently subjected to interrogation by the British government. To avoid being arrested by police, he moved to his uncle’s house in Dharamshala in present day Himachal Pradesh, and in 1931 joined the 2/1 Gorkha Rifles at the age of 18 years.

CM & Public pay tribute to martyr – Rifleman Pankaj Gurung

FROM GARHWAL POST

NEWS SHARED BY AARDEE

DEHRADUN, 26 Aug: Chief Minister B C Khanduri today paid floral tribute to martyred Rifleman Pankaj Gurung at his residence in Johri village and took  part in his funeral ceremony. Gurung lost his life in an encounter with terrorists in Manipur, recently.

On the occasion, the Chief Minister expressed his condolences to the soldier’s father, Prabhu Gurung, brother Prashant Gurung and other family members, and said that his sacrifice had made his family and state immensely proud. He also praised the Gurung family for their contribution towards the defence of the nation.

Rajpur MLA Ganesh Joshi, ADM UC Kabadwal and others were among the hundreds of people present on the occasion.

Gurung was taken on his last journey in procession, with an Army Band leading the way. People from all walks of life attended the cremation to pay their respects to the brave soldier.

Bhaichung Bhutia Foundation for Stadium and Football Academy at Barasat

THE HIMALAYAN BEACON [BEACON ONLINE] EXCLUSIVE

BY ANIL ROY [FOR BEACON ONLINE]

Kolkata, 30 August: All India Football Federation (AIFF) has accepted Indian Football Captain Bhaichung Bhutia’s proposal to establish a Football Academy at Barasat. Speaking to the press at Mohammedan Sporting Club,  AIFF President Priyaranjan Das Munshi said, “Bhaichung’s proposal of making a stadium and a football academy at Barasat is fantastic. We at AIFF are even ready to help financially in his quest.”

According to sources close to Bhaichung Bhutia, the Bhaichung Bhutia Foundation has sent a proposal to the administrative authorities of North 24 Paraganas. The proposals calls for the renovation of the Barasat Stadium to international standards and establishing a football academy there. According to the proposal by Bhaichung Bhutia Foundation, there will be facilities for swimming. A gymnasium will also be established.

Barasat (Bangla: বারাসাত) is a city in the outskirts of Kolkata and is the district head quarter of the district North 24 parganas. It is a part of the area covered by Kolkata Metropolitan Development Authority. The town is an important railway and roadway junction. Barasat is also the name of a sub-division centering the city.

Cultural Mannequins – Preparing for Dasain Festivals

Cultural Mannequins

Photo by Himalaya Darpan

A monkey looks for ticks on a woman’s head

A monkey looks for ticks on a woman’s head. Photo by Himalaya Darpan

State Secretaries to attend the Tripartite Meeting

THE HIMALAYAN BEACON [BEACON ONLINE] EXCLUSIVE

BY ANIL ROY [FOR BEACON ONLINE]

Kolkata, 30 August: “West Bengal State Principal Secretary Amit Kiran Deb, Home Secretary Ashok Mohan Chakraborty and Jalpaiguri Departmental Commissioner and Caretaker Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council Biharilal Meena will attend the Tripartite Meeting to be held at New Delhi on the behalf of West Bengal Government,” said Principal Secretary Amit Kiran Deb at Writers Building here in Kolkata. [Inset: Amit Kiran Deb]

The Principal Secretary further added that the Chief Minister Buddhadev Bhattacharya took stock of the Gorkhaland movement that has entirely engulfed the hills. The Chief Minister took information on the ground realities from District Secretaries. The Principal Secretary said, “The West Bengal Government will not take any legal steps against the implementation of Gorkhaland vehicle registration plates in the hills at least before the Tripartite Meeting. The Government is trying to work patiently towards the restoration of normalcy in the Hills. The Chief Minister is of the hope that all problems will be discussed and solved through the Tripartite Meeting.”

Meanwhile, news emanating from Siliguri and Darjeeling Hills suggesting forceful implementation of Gorkhaland vehicle registration plates on even the Governmental vehicles have raised grave concerns at Kolkata.

GJM clarifies on which ethnic dresses to wear

BY ANIL THAPA [FOR BEACON ONLINE]

Darjeeling, 30 August: Pursuing towards Home Rule, Gorkha Janmukti Morcha has declared that everyone should wear their ethnic dresses from 7^th of October to 7^th of November heralding China inspired Cultural Revolution, albeit for one month. [Inset: Tamangs in their ethnic dresses. File photo]

The Central Committee of Gorkha Janmukti Morcha has further requested the people that they were ethnic dresses not just pertaining to race but also sub-races offering more depth to the culture of the Hills. While the request has remained ambiguous, the request it is believed means that Brahmins wear their ethnic costumes pertain to their caste as wells. Buddhist Tamangs wear Buddhist Tamang costumes and Non-Buddhist Tamangs were their own costumes. People from all ethnic back grounds have also been requested to attend numerous cultural functions to be organized by different neighbourhood committees in their ethnic dresses.

Forest Department Vehicles allowed to use WB vehicle registration numbers

THE HIMALAYAN BEACON [BEACON ONLINE] EXCLUSIVE

BY BARUN ROY

Darjeeling: Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) has allowed Forest Department Vehicles from Darjeeling Hills and Dooars Terai to use WB vehicle registration numbers. Informing the press about the issue, GJM Press and Publicity Secretary Binay Tamang said, “We have allowed Forest Department CF North, DFO Kurseong, DFO Darjeeling, Wildlife Department, Panighatta Range Office, Sukna Elephant Squad to ply with WB vehicle registration numbers. They may not use Gorkhaland vehicle registration numbers. However, we request the officials of the Forest Department to write prominently ‘Forest Department’ on their vehicles so that they cannot be mistaken for others.”

Tamang further added, “We have come to know that there has been an increase in the number of elephant attacks at villages in Panighatta, Nirpania, Chyanga, Naxalbari, MM Terai, Dudhey, Bahunpokhri among others. We request the forest department to swift act and offer relief to the villagers.”

When asked by this reporter about the rampant killing of the elephants by local poachers and villagers and the steady rise of the death of Elephants numbering almost 14 this month, the GJM Press and Publicity Secretary said that was for the Forest Department to see.

Siliguri inanduated by days of consistent rainfall

Siliguri inanduated by days of consistent rainfall. Photo by Bikram Sashankar [Himalaya Darpan]

“India is ready to review 1950 Friendship Treaty among others” Nepal

THE HIMALAYAN BEACON [BEACON ONLINE] EXCLUSIVE

BY BARUN ROY [With inputs from Roshan Shrestha]

Kathmandu: India is ready to review the 1950 Friendship Treaty among other treaties she has signed with Nepal. According to the Nepalese Foreign Minister, the Indian Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee had during his visit to India told him that India is ready to sit with Nepal and review the 1950 Friendship Treaty. India is also open to review other treaties with Nepal if Nepal so desires. It may be noted that this is the first time that India has shown her readiness to review the 1950 Friendship Treat signed between India and Nepal.

The Nepalese Foreign Minister Upendra Yadav also discussed about the Nepalese Prime Minister’s proposed visit to India. The Indian Government has settled for the date of 26 September but the Nepalese Government has requested the Indian Government to propone the scheduled visit date.

Political Observers both in Nepal and India have now started frantically discussing on how the 1950 Friendship Treaty would take shape. “The 1950 Friendship Treaty if ever reviewed or replaced by another treaty, it would have far reaching consequences among the Nepalese both in Nepal and India,” Prof. Sridhar Newar, an academician of repute said from Kathmandu. Questions of whether, the Nepalese Prime Minister will talk on the issue, Prof. Sridhar Newar said, “The Maoists are essentially anti-India and they view the 1950 Indo-Nepal Friendship Treaty as biased. While offering concessions and an open border between India and Nepal, the treaty also essentially closes all other border for Nepal. It’s intention was to make Nepal into another of Bhutan. India must now treat Nepal as an equal and while closing all borders will be better for both the nations, Nepal must be free to chart her own destiny without having to take India into confidence. I think the Nepalese Prime Minister understands that and that he will try to set out his quest for the Prachandapath by replacing the 1950 Friendship Treaty by another Treaty.”

Janmukti Reliance Employees Association’s call for indefinite strike threatens Online and Mobile blackout

THE HIMALAYAN BEACON [BEACON ONLINE] EXCLUSIVE

BY BARUN ROY

Darjeeling: The indefinite strike called by Gorkha Janmukti Morcha affiliated Janmukti Reliance Employees Association starting from 30^th August at exactly 11 am threatens Online and Mobile blackout throughout Darjeeling Hills, Sikkim and parts of Siliguri.

“We have been forced to call for the strike since our 11 demands have not yet been accepted,” said Rakesh Pradhan, President of the association. The association comprising mostly of the Reliance Tower workers have threatened to switch off the towers disrupting all services mobile and internet.

A meeting had been organized at Labour Office between the members of the agitating workers and Reliance Authorities yesterday.

“We called off the meeting since no one from Reliance came to the meeting,” Rakesh Pradhan said. When asked besides the essential mobile services, online news-sites like The Himalayan Beacon which operates on Reliance Broadband service could face an internet blackout, Rakesh Pradhan said, “We know about that but we do not have any other way to make the Reliance authorities realize our demands.”

Echoes Of Merdeka In Snowy Himalayan Mountains

FROM BERNAMA.COM

By P.Vijian

KATHMANDU, Aug 30 (Bernama) — Even in the icy Himalayan mountains, echoes of Merdeka appear to waft along on the snow-capped summits, bringing memories of Independence Day to the growing number of Malaysians in this tiny land-locked country.

This year’s Merdeka celebration here is expected to be a colourful event, with the Malaysia-made Perodua Viva and Naza Foza cars being displayed at a hotel, where a reception will be held for some 300 guests.

The newly appointed Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal alias Pracanda, the first in the post-monarchy Nepal, has been invited to grace the event.

“We want to use the Merdeka celebration to cultivate closer relations with our Nepalese friends. The prime minister has agreed to come but we are still waiting for his final reply from his office,” Malaysia’s ambassador to Nepal, Datuk Ilankovan Kolandavelu, told Bernama in conjunction with Merdeka Day.

Today, an estimated 400,000 Nepalese work in Malaysia, a reflection of the strong relations or connections between the two countries.

The “Look Nepal Magazine”, a local publication has dedicated a 50-page special supplement on the occasion of Merdeka Day, which only reflects the growing interest among Nepalese for Malaysia, Ilankovan said.

And more Malaysians, especially businessmen, are visiting the Himalayan country to explore business opportunities while three higher education institutions are currently hosting an education fair in Kathmandu.

A large spread of spicy Malaysian cuisine will be prepared by local chefs and assisted by women from the Malaysian embassy to be served to the guests at the Aug 31 reception.

Call to make status of missing public

FROM SOUTH ASIAN MEDIA NET

KATHMANDU: Human rights activists and families of the disappeared people have demanded that the status of their missing relatives be made public.

Tika Kandel said no one has bothered to make public the whereabouts of his disappeared son. Kandel, who hails from Dhading district, said the state was behind his son’s disappearance. “My son was disappeared six years ago. Since then, we have been living in miseries galore,” he said. The armed conflict ended two years ago, but no one has bothered to make public the whereabouts of my son, he said, urging the government to make public the status of the disappeared. Speaking at a gathering of families of the disappeared, he said, “Leaders came to power as a result of sacrifice made by the disappeared people. Thanks to the culture of impunity, those behind forced disappearances are still roaming freely.”

OHCHR-Nepal representative Richard Bennett said disappearances continued to haunt Nepal’s transition to peace and democracy and it was imperative to hold accountable those responsible for the disappearances.

He said, “We should recall on this day that affected families predominately comprised of women and children have been prevented from moving ahead with their lives emotionally and practically.”

“The cases of forced disappearance have caused suffering to thousands of people,” he said, calling on authorities concerned to develop a mechanism to put an end to disappearances.

Two Bangladeshis held with fake Indian currencies

FROM GORKHAPATRA SANSTHAN

The Metropolitan Police Crime Division (MPCD) Office, Hanumandhoka Friday made public two Bangladeshi citizens on charge of possessing fake Indian currencies (IC) having 1,000 denomination.

The two Bangladeshi citizens rounded up by the metropolitan police Thursday were Salamat Ullaha, 60, a permanent resident of Kasbazar of Bangladesh and Jalal Ahamad, 38, of the same place.

They were rounded up by the police at Hotel Emperor, Sundhara with fake currencies in their suitcase, Thakur Gyanwali, Deputy Superintendent of police (DSP), said at a press conference organised at the Hanumandhoka premises.

Police confiscated fake IC currencies worth Rs. 1,980,000 from the two Bangladeshis. Along with the amount, police have seized their passports with registration number W00000964 and X0491908, two sets of mobile phones and two suitcases and Bangladesh currency (Taka) of about Rs. 2,304.

Speaking at the press meet DSP Gyanwali said that the criminals rounded up today used to visit Kathmandu frequently and were involved in the circulation of fake currency in different parts of Nepal.

“The arrested duo were indirectly involved in the transaction of fake currency in the guise of cloth merchants,” Gyanwali said.

Nepalis’ messages to Prachanda

Nepal’s new government, led by former Maoist rebel leader Prachanda, has been in office for one week now. Despite the end of the civil war, the country is still faced with huge social and economic problems.

Here, people in Nepal compile their messages to Prachanda setting out their priorities for the nation.

---

SHAMMI SHAH, COMPUTER ENGINEER, 26, KATHMANDU

On what basis should we consider you our new leader when what you have shown is little different to those who ran government previously?

Your long war for the country’s peace, prosperity and development has in fact turned our country into ruins.

How can we trust someone who killed all those journalists, teachers, intellectuals and commoners just because they chose to oppose you?

The only reason I voted for you was that I had no better options to choose from. I hope that maybe you could make a difference – and believe that you should have a chance to prove yourself.

Your top priorities should definitely be to return all the hard-earned properties of the people that you and your cadres have seized. You must be able to bring and enforce law in our country and keep people from taking to streets and vandalising property for every little thing they don’t like.

I would encourage you to promote national goods and develop them. We have so much cultivable land, beautiful landscapes and lots and lots of water.

Everyone here in Nepal wants an end to the political instability and fear. You really need to make people believe in you if you want to get any work done.

Assam MP Subba’s documents are fake, CBI tells SC

FROM REDIFF.NEWS

The Central Bureau of Investigation has told the Supreme Court that Congress member of Parliament from Assam, Mani Kumar Subba, has obtained a birth certificate in a “fraudulent” manner for the purpose of establishing his Indian nationality.

Rejecting the claim of Subba that he was born in Assam’s Silguri district, the CBI told the apex court that the MP had given different dates of birth and places of birth to various authorities for different reasons and was thus “prima facie” guilty of various criminal offences.

The CBI’s report comes in the backdrop of the apex court’s direction to probe the nationality of Subba, who according to a public interest litigation was a Nepalese citizen who fled that country in the 1970s after a murder case was registered against him there.

Subba, in an affidavit before the apex court, had claimed his date of birth as March 16 1958. He had claimed that he was born in Dadgram village in Darjeeling district of West Bengal and his parents had migrated from Singtam village in Sikkim. The Lok Sabha MP from Tezpur had claimed he was born at a house with address Door No 1, Dabgra, Ward NO XXIII, PO-Silguri and named Phanindranath Sarkar as its owner.

The PIL had alleged that Subba has changed his name from Mani Raj Limbo to Mani Kumar Subba after fleeing Nepal.

The CBI has said that its verification has revealed that the certificate was bogus and obtained in a fraudulent manner. ‘The certificate of birth produced by him in this regard along with his affidavit has been obtained by misrepresentation of facts and in a fraudulent manner since the given birth place was neither in existence nor Phanindranath Sarkar was its owner during and prior to 1958,’ the CBI has stated in its report.

Rock sounds richer

FROM THE STATESMAN

Many bands in Sikkim still continue to produce rock music ~ purely out of passion. But with hardly any takers for such music, bands are reduced to managing on their own, shelling out funds from their own pockets, not to forget tackling legal and marketing hassles, writes Bishal Cintury

The gulf war of 1991 opened the floodgates to media in India. Music Television was one of the channels that beamed along with CNN. Like a godsend, it brought to us what we had been missing all these years. Pop music apart, it was rock we lapped up like hungry dogs.

It was only bands like Def Leppard, Bon Jovi, and U2 that caught the fancy of those who preferred Spice Girls to Santana. To a large majority, rock began and ended with Deep Purple’s Highway Star – their love for rock only amounting to name-dropping and wanting to sound fashionably rebellious and with it.

The Indian rock scene seems to have become a melting pot of influences, and comes across as more open to experimentation than bands outside of the country. Add to it the plethora of options to experiment with, the rich and diverse Indian classical and folk music. This is where Indian rock bands have an edge, and a chance of creating sounds quite distinct from mainstream rock elsewhere.

GJMM students’ wing to start for Kolkata today

FROM THE STATESMAN

DARJEELING, Aug. 29: Five hundred students under the Gorkha Jana Vidyarthi Morcha (GJVM) will head to Kolkata tomorrow to fight for Gorkhaland.

“We will hold rallies and demonstrate at the Metro Channel in Kolkata on 1 September. It is an effort from the students to generate support for the Gorkhaland demand and to make people aware that the demand is being supported by all sections,” GJVM president Mr Kismat Chettri said.

The GJMM students’ wing, which has been actively participating in the statehood movement had earlier organised a 10-day relay hunger strike in all regions of the proposed Gorkhaland territory. Students of several schools also conducted various rallies during their summer vacations and sent mails to different ministers in support of a separate state.

Students’ protest against misconduct of teachers

FROM THE STATESMAN

SILIGURI, Aug. 29: Members of the Siliguri College Students’ Union today took out a procession in the college premises protesting against the alleged misbehaviour by two senior lecturers of the college with the union secretary.

They also submitted a memorandum to the principal of the college urging immediate action against the two “errant teachers,” who they alleged, do not take their allotted classes. The secretary of the students’ union, Mr Avijit Debnath alleged that the two teachers, against whom they had complained to the principal a few days back, called him inside the staff room this afternoon, abused him and threatened him with dire consequences.

The accused teachers, namely Mrs Krishna Pal, (HOD) History and Dr Pradip Kumar Dutta, reader, department of Economics denied the allegations, which they said were “politically motivated.” They lashed out at the Principal, Mr Malay Karanjay for instigating the students against them.

Tripartite talks: LF sceptical, but positive

FROM THE STATESMAN

SILIGURI, Aug. 29: The leaders of the principal Left Front constituents today sounded sceptical about the proposed 8 September tripartite talks on the Gorkhaland issue though they expressed hope that the dialogue would continue.

“A spectacular outcome from the first round of talks is unlikely. But efforts should be on from all three sides to evolve an enduring solution to the protracted crisis,” said the leaders of the Forward Bloc, CPI and RSP. Mr Debabrata Biswas, the general secretary of the All India Forward Bloc, said that with the situation in the Hills having frozen into an icy impasse a thaw was unlikely from the first round of talks.

“Yet, pessimism has no place in this crucial matter. Efforts should continue in earnest to evolve a lasting solution to the tangle,” Mr Biswas said.

“The paramount issue involved in the tangle is to win back the confidence of the people of the Darjeeling Hills and it would prove to be a tough task in view of the mood of exasperation prevailing in the Hills over the state government’s abject connivance with the misrule of Mr Subash Ghisingh for a considerably long time. To break the impasse the state government must show flexibility,” the FB leader added.

Gorkhaland movement inspires agitators to fight for Telangana

FROM THE STATESMAN

SILIGURI, Aug. 29: Traits of the ongoing Gorkhaland movement in the Darjeeling Hills seem to be influencing the Telangana statehood agitation in Andhra Pradesh.

Imitating the Gorkha Jana Mukti Morcha’s (GJMM) recent act of replacing the vehicle number plates to ‘GL’ (indicative of Gorkhaland) in Darjeeling district of West Bengal, the Nava Telangana Praja Party headed by the former Andhra home minister Mr Devender Goud has called for a similar drive in the Telangana region from 1 November. “It is one way of expressing our anger…Wherever Andhra Pradesh is there, we will replace it with Telangana,” Mr Goud said in a television programme aired this afternoon.

“It is very encouraging and would certainly boost our morale. Both the Gorkhaland and Telangana statehoods are valid demands and a similar kind of agitation programme would be mutually beneficial,” said the GJMM general secretary Mr Roshan Giri. With help from the Telengana Rashtra Samithi (TRS), a GJMM delegation had in fact carried out a signature campaign in favour of Gorkhaland in the Telangana region last month.

Traffickers thrive in garden

FROM THE TELEGRAPH

Birpara (Alipurduar), Aug. 29: The secretary of the Birpara Welfare Organisation has alleged that two brothers from Mujnai Tea Estate are trafficking girls living in the closed gardens of the Dooars to different parts of the country.

Indrajit Deb said today that Raju and Bharat Kawat, who stayed in the capital, would lure the girls away mainly from the closed tea estates of Madarihat-Birpara block and send them to places like Delhi, Ludhiana and Ghaziabad.

“Raju has opened offices in Delhi, Ludhiana and Ghaziabad for recruiting girls to these places. I have information that he had shipped off the girls even to Gulf countries,” said Deb.

He was speaking at the inaugural function of a programme launched jointly by his organisation and the Bengal government to train 30 girls in sewing. The girls had been trafficked from the gardens and later rescued from their workplaces elsewhere.

The six-moth long training is one of the six programmes being implemented in the Jalpaiguri district under a project called Swabalamban launched by the Woman Child Development Social Welfare department to make women self-reliant. The training was inaugurated by Supriyo Sarkar, the Jalpaiguri district social welfare officer.

Ready to quit for Gorkhaland

FROM THE TELEGRAPH

Kalimpong, Aug. 29: A former DGHC councillor from Gorubathan said he was ready to leave his home town if it helped the statehood cause after the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha served an ultimatum asking him to quit the hills.

“They asked me to leave and I have obliged. This is my way of extending support to the Morcha,” said K.N. Subba, the former GNLF councillor.

Subba had left Gorubathan, 65km from here, a day after a Morcha supporter was killed in Darjeeling allegedly by a shot fired from a GNLF leader’s house on July 25. “Even though I have always been a strong supporter of Gorkhaland, I am not attached to any political party right now,” Subba said over the phone.

The local units of the Morcha and its youth and women’s wings had pasted a notice on one of the two houses owned by Subba in Gorubathan on Wednesday, asking him and his family to leave the place within 96 hours. “We served him the notice since in all these years of being a councillor, Subba did nothing but abuse the rights of the people,” said Mahendra Rai, a local Morcha leader.

Alert on rising rivers – Flood-like situation in three north Bengal districts

FROM THE TELEGRAPH

The waterlogged campus of the small-scale industrial estate at 2nd Mile in Siliguri on Friday. Picture by Kundan Yolmo

Siliguri, Aug. 29: Flood-like situations have occurred in Darjeeling, Jalpaiguri and Cooch Behar districts with no signs of the rain stopping even after 48 hours.

Water levels are on the rise in almost all the rivers including the Mahananda and Balason in Siliguri, Karala in Jalpaiguri and the Leesh, Gheesh, Chel and the Murti in the Dooars.

In Siliguri, the zonal office campus of the West Bengal State Electricity Distribution Company Limited and the small-scale industrial estate, both located at Second Mile, are waterlogged and so are areas like Samarnagar, Santinagar and Santoshinagar.

The district administration in Jalpaiguri is concerned over the rise in the water level of the Karala that flows through the town and the detection of multiple fissures in the Teesta embankment.

“We have sent employees for inspection. Repair will start soon,” said Debasish Das, a member (execution) of the North Bengal Flood Control Commission that has issued an alert on the Teesta.