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Regional

Government agrees to GTA’s proposal to construct alternative routes in hills

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The GTA had submitted a proposal to the state government for the construction of three roads to ease traffic congestion in the hills, said GTA chief executive Anit Thapa
A traffic snarl on NH55 at Jorebunglow, 8km from Darjeeling: The Telegraph

Vivek Chhetri, TT, Darjeeling, 12.06.24 :The Bengal government has in principle agreed to the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA)’s proposal to construct alternative roads from Darjeeling to Teesta Bazar and from Bungkulung to Kurseong.

The two alternative roads are proposed largely to ease traffic congestion while travelling to Darjeeling.
“The GTA had submitted a proposal to the state government for the construction of three roads to ease traffic congestion in the hills. Of the three roads, the government has agreed in principle to construct two roads,” GTA chief executive Anit Thapa told The Telegraph.

The 35km-long alternative route from Darjeeling town will start at Lebong and end at Teesta Bazar. Lebong is at the opposite end of Jorebunglow where vehicles coming from Gangtok, Kalimpong, Siliguri and Mirik converge creating huge traffic snarls on a stretch of 8km.

During peak tourism season, it takes hours to cover the 8km stretch and the entire traffic in Darjeeling town also gets affected.

“This alternative route from Lebong would ensure that vehicles to Kalimpong and Gangtok can exit Darjeeling from the other end of town. In fact, from Teesta Bazar, one can also go to the Dooars and Siliguri,” said a GTA source.

The in-principle nod to the new road was granted on May 24, said the source.

The other road agreed on by the government is from Bungkulung to Kurseong. “This road will be 14km long and will ease travel from Mirik to Kurseong,” said a source.

Sources said the new road would touch the Pankhabari road at Ambootia Phatak, just a few kilometres below Kurseong town.

The third proposal made by the GTA was to construct a road from Bungkulung in the Mirik subdivision to Sukhiapokhri touching Nagri and Dhajea but it was not approved by the government immediately.

Sources said on June 3, the GTA also wrote to the secretary of the public works department (PWD) to take over the construction of a circular road from Lebong to 3rd Mile via Pandam tea garden.

The GTA has taken up the construction of the 13km stretch from Lebong to 3rd Mile via Pandam and Rangaroon tea gardens. “The GTA has requested the government to take up the balance work,” said a GTA source.

This route would also provide an alternative route to people travelling to Kalimpong, Gangtok, Takdah, Lopchu and Peshok among other places.

Courtesy & source- The Telegraph
Politics, Regional

In victory, BJP must do soul-searching for loss in hill vote share: Trinamool gains in hill votes in Darjeeling

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SANDIP C. JAIN, EOI, 12 June 2024 : The beautiful hills, forests, ravines and rivers of North Bengal have developed into a happy hunting ground for tourists from across the globe. Tourism has rapidly changed the economy and way of life of this area in drastic ways. 

Politically too, this area has for the past decade, become a happy hunting ground for the BJP which now considers this region as its own backyard. 
Having won seven of the eight Lok Sabha seats in the region in 2019 and six of the eight this time, north Bengal is a BJP fortress though the dream of the party of conquering the rest of West Bengal has received a setback. 
With a total of 12 seats in its tally from the state in the Lok Sabha poll from a total of 42, it has been a disappointing performance for the BJP in the rest of the 34 seats in south Bengal. 
The Darjeeling seat is one which the BJP has been dominating for the last three general elections and this time round was no exception. 
From Jaswant Singh to S S Ahluwalia to Raju Bista, the Darjeeling seat seems to have become a safe seat for the BJP over the years. Raju Bista, the sitting MP, has won the Darjeeling seat for a second time; though with a much reduced margin. 
There of course was no doubt that Bista would win again once his name was declared. Riding on the back of several developmental projects that he has brought into Siliguri, like the Balasan-Sevoke highway and the Bagdogra International Airport project, it was definite that the Siliguri voters would once again prefer Bista over Gopal Lama, the Trinamool Congress candidate. 
Bista of course did not have too much to show to the population of the Darjeeling hills by way of any development projects but then the hills anyway vote on sentiments, not development. Even on the subject of sentiments, there was a growing dissent against the BJP in the hills for the hill voters felt that they had been taken for a ride more times than they could digest. Despite exploiting the emotive issue of a separate state and tribal status for the remaining 11 communities, the BJP has nothing to show on this account. This was in some ways responsible for its reduced vote share in the hills. 
Bista polled 679,331 votes this time which was about 70,000 votes less than in the last elections. This figure shows that the BJP lost almost 9 percent of the votes to what it polled in 2019. In 2109 BJP polled 59.2 percent of the total votes cast whereas this year the percentage of the total votes it received was about 51.
Trinamool candidate, Gopal Lama on the contrary polled 500,806 votes which was a big rise from the 336,624 votes that the Trinamool candidate polled in the 2019 elections. 
With approximately 164,000 more votes this time, the Trinamool can take some solace in this year’s performance, despite losing the electoral battle. 
If this increase in Trinamool votes is analyzed, it clearly shows that it has gained both in the hills and in the plains. 
It has gained approximately 102,000 votes in the four assembly segments in the plains, Siliguri, Matigara, Phansidewa and Chopra; while in the three hill assembly segments of Kalimpong, Darjeeling and Kurseong it has gained about 62,000 votes. On a percentage basis, in 2024, Trinamool gained almost 60 percent votes in the hills over what it received in 2019. In 2019 it received a meager 103,500 votes in the hills while this time round they polled 165,494 votes. 
Percentage wise, the Trinamool received just 26.56 per cent votes in the Darjeeling seat in 2019 while getting 38.5 percent votes this time, recording a substantial increase of over 12 percent. 
An analysis of the BJP vote share in the hills shows that in 2019, the saffron party polled 344,100 votes from the hills while managing to get 258,978 votes this time. This shows a significant drop of over 85,000 votes. This means that the BJP has lost almost 25 percent votes this time in the hills in comparison to the last elections. 
The BJP leadership in the hills must take note of this big drop in vote share and try to analyze the cause of this vote loss. 
Of course the Anit Thapa led Bharatiya Gorkha Prajatantrik Morcha which is in alliance with the Trinamool is now a stronger force in the hills than what it used to be earlier; with it stranglehold over the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration and the panchayat bodies in the hills but the loss of BJP votes has more to do with just this. 
The fact that the overall image of the BJP across the country has taken a beating on bread and butter issues of the public also has contributed to the BJP vote loss in the hills. 
With the BJP now no longer in absolute control of things at the Central level, having to share power with conservative politicians like Chandra Babu Naidu and Nitish Kumar, the dream of the hills of a separate state or even scheduled tribe status for the 11 communities seems unlikely to be fulfilled in the near future. 
There is no way that the BJP will rock the already fragile boat that it will have to sail for the coming few years.
Another aspect that needs to be discussed is the better than expected performance of the Congress candidate this time. Polling 83,374 votes, Munish Tamang the Congress candidate supported by the CPI (M) did himself proud especially for the fact that he was brought into the election fray at the very last moment with almost no time to prepare.
Many in the hills had considered him to be the best of all the candidates in the election lineup. But the Congress has practically no grass-root infrastructure in the area. 
Hence he had always been just a marginal player in these elections. There is little doubt though that someone of his calibre, representing the hills in Parliament would have been a big plus for the entire Darjeeling region. 
The BJP will have to do some serious thinking if it wants to remain relevant in the hills in coming years. It has to realize is that the 258,978 votes it received in the hills this time were not just BJP votes but boosted by voters of the Gorkha National Liberation Front, the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha, the Communist Party of Revolutionary Marxists and a host of smaller parties. 
 (The writer of this article is the Editor of Himalayan Times,Kalimpong)
Regional

600 people from Jiribam in Manipur take shelter in Assam’s Cachar district

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PTI, 10 June 2024 : People affected by fresh incidents of violence in Manipur have started arriving in Assam’s Cachar district in search of safety, the local MLA said on Monday.


Security along the inter-state border has been tightened, a police officer said.

Two police outposts, a forest beat office and at least 70 houses were torched in Jiribam by suspected militants on Saturday, leading to fresh tension in the neighbouring state which has been witnessing ethnic violence since May last year.

Residents of the bordering areas claimed that about 600 people have taken shelter in various parts of Lakhipur in Cachar district, entering the state by crossing the Jiri river over the last four days.

They are taking shelter in villages at Jirighat and Lakhipur, though no government relief camp has been opened for them, they said.

“The people who have come from Manipur are being allowed to stay here safely. The local administration is taking all steps to ensure no spread of any violence here,” Lakhipur MLA Kaushik Rai told PTI.

Cachar Superintendent of Police Nomal Mahatto said that police and other security forces have been deployed in the border areas.

“There are no reports of any untoward incident in Cachar so far. Police patrolling in Jirighat on the border as well as along the national highway and nearby villages is being conducted,” he told PTI.

The SP added that the situation on the Assam side is completely under control and the police are keeping a strict vigil following the violence in Jiribam.

Jiribam, which has a diverse ethnic composition of Meiteis, Muslims, Nagas, Kukis and non-Manipuris, had so far remained unaffected by the ethnic strife that has been raging in the northeastern state since May last year.

The MLA said that most of the people who have entered Cachar are Kukis and Hmars.

The ethnic conflict between Imphal valley-based Meiteis and hill-based Kukis began in May last year and led to the deaths of over 200 people, besides rendering thousands of people homeless.
Regional, Sikkim

Prem Singh Tamang sworn in for second term as Sikkim CM

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PSikkim Chief Minister Prem Singh Tamang (Photo: IANS)

SNS | Gangtok | June 10, 2024 : Prem Singh Tamang, the president of the Sikkim Krantikari Morcha (SKM), was on Monday sworn in as the Chief Minister of Sikkim for the second consecutive term.


This follows his party’s overwhelming victory in the recent assembly elections, where the SKM secured 31 out of 32 seats. The swearing-in ceremony, held at Paljor Stadium, was conducted by Governor Lakshman Prasad Acharya and witnessed by a large crowd.

Tamang, 56, who successfully led the SKM to this decisive win, was also elected unanimously as the leader of the legislature party during a meeting on June 2.

Alongside him, a council of ministers consisting of 12 members, including the Chief Minister, was also sworn in.

To ensure the security of the event, the state government ordered the closure of all educational institutions in and around Gangtok on Monday.

Additionally, a half-day holiday was declared for all government offices and public sector undertakings (PSUs) located in the vicinity.

“In view of the swearing-in ceremony of the Hon’ble Chief Minister Designate and the Council of Ministers Designate…the state government hereby declares, 10th June, 2024 as a half working day till 12 noon, for all government offices and PSUs located in and around Gangtok,” Chief Secretary V B Pathak announced in a circular issued by the Home Department.

Tamang’s leadership has been pivotal for the SKM. Under his guidance, the party not only triumphed in the assembly elections but also secured the lone Lok Sabha seat in Sikkim.

He contested and won from both the Rhenock and Soreng-Chakung constituencies, showcasing his strong political influence and popularity.

The SKM’s victory marks a significant shift in Sikkim’s political landscape, further diminishing the influence of the opposition Sikkim Democratic Front (SDF), which ruled the state for 25 consecutive years until 2019.

The SDF managed to win only one seat in the recent elections, highlighting the extent of SKM’s dominance.

Prem Singh Tamang has promised to continue working towards the development and prosperity of Sikkim.

His administration aims to address various issues facing the state, including improving infrastructure, healthcare, and education, while maintaining the cultural heritage and environmental sustainability of Sikkim.