Padayatra plan to open tea gardens
COOCH BEHAR, June 15: Dooars Cha-Bagan Workers’ Union (DCBWU) will organise a ten-day padayatra (walk) from Sankosh to Tista (Jalpaiguri) to highlight the situation of the closed and abandoned tea gardens of Dooars. A DCBWU spokesman said that the participants of the proposed 300-kilometre padajatra will demand opening of closed and abandoned tea gardens, setting up of an office of Tea Board at Alipurduar, state government to took up the responsibility of the students of closed tea gardens and withdrawing of lease agreement of the closed and abandoned tea estates. The padayatra will end at Jalpaiguri where the participants will submit a memorandum to the divisional commissioner, Jalpaiguri, Mr BL Meena. The proposed padayatra will start on 31 July.
The decision for the proposed padajatra was taken at a meeting of the DCBWU in Alipurduar today. Senior leaders like Mr Rana Sen, Mr Manohar Tirkey (minister), Mr Jochim Buxla (MP), Mr Nirmal Das (MLA), Ms Kumari Kujur (MLA), Mr John Phillip Xhalko (saha-sabhadhipati of Jalpaiguri Zilla Parishad) and others attended the meeting. In the meeting the leaders agreed that the Centre should not extend its packages for the benefit of tea garden owners only. The interest of the workers should also be kept in mind, they maintained. []
Lightning deaths
COOCH BEHAR, June 15: Two members of a family were killed of lightning at Kisamat Dasgram village in Dinhata this morning. Ratneswari Barman (85) was entertaining her newly-wed grandson-in-law, Sanjay Barman (27) with mangoes when thunderbolt struck them. The incident occurred around 9 a.m. Four others of neighbouring villages were also injured of lightning. They were sent to Dinhata sub-divisional hospital. []
Blast mystery still in dark
COOCH BEHAR, June 15: Special IG and DIG (North Bengal), Mr R Thyagaraju visited Cooch Behar today. He visited the place near Cooch Behar Railway Station with senior police officials where a blast was occurred last night. The cause behind his visit was to make an on-the-spot study of the situation. Mr Thyagaraju said after primary investigation it was found that there were some similarities between last night’s explosion and the explosives that were seized from Barobisa recently. He believes that the blast was done only to make people panicky because it was not targeted to anything important. The splinters like parts of ball bearings collected from the place of occurrence, pebbles and sample of earth are being sent for forensic examination. After that test it will be clear what kind of explosives were used for the blast, he said.
It may be mentioned here that a powerful explosion was occurred near Cooch Behar Railway Station and close to Station Choupathi at around 10 p.m. last night. The Circuit House is also at a stone’s throw distance from the spot. The blast was done on the roadside adjacent to the boundary wall of Chilarai Barrack of the Army. A passer-by was also injured from the blast.
A team of CID Bomb Squad personnel from Siliguri too visited the affected place today. Bomb Squad personnel of Army too examined the spot last night. The IG-IB Mr Rakhaldas Mukherjee, Cooch Behar SP Mr Anil Kumar, ASP Mr James Kujur, CRPF Assistant Commandant (E-69 Bn) Mr Indra KK and other senior Army, CRPF and police officials visited the place of occurrence last night. It was learnt that CRPF also probing the incident separately. A meeting was conducted today between senior officials of Army, police and CRPF today to discuss the matter.
Though no one of any investigating agency confirmed of anything about the nature of the explosion, they admitted that it was a powerful one. A senior police official said that local criminals might also be behind the blast. But, the possibility of any militant outfit’s involvement was not ruled out by anyone till now. []
PHOTO : Special IG Mr R Thyagaraju visits the spot where a blast occurred on Thursday night accompanied by Cooch Behar SP Mr Anil Kumar. In Cooch Behar on Friday.
Eviction drive plan declared
COOCH BEHAR, June 15: The Congress run Cooch Behar Municipality is going to launch an eviction drive in the town to make the streets and footpaths encroachment-free. The aim behind this plan is to restore the cleanliness and beauty of this heritage-town.
Chairman of Cooch Behar Municipality, Mr Biren Kundu said an all-party meeting was held recently. The district magistrate had convened the meeting. The plan to make the town encroachment-free was discussed in that meeting. Following the decision taken at that meeting the civic body is to start the eviction drive within a day or two, Mr Kundu said. The plan was approved at the meeting of Board of Councillors too yesterday, he said. The civic body will conduct the drive in association with district administration.
The chairman made it clear that there was no rehabilitation plan for the evicted hawkers. Making the town clean was the main issue of discussion at the all-party meeting. He said that the civic body had a sour experience over rehabilitation of evicted hawkers. A hawkers’ market was constructed for them in 1996 but later many of them handed over their stalls to others against huge sum of money and went back to the roadside as hawkers again. The civic body is not ready to extend rehabilitation facility for them again and again, Mr Kundu said.
During the eviction drive the civic body will clean up the encroached roadside drains, footpaths, unauthorised constructions and other places. The total number of hawkers to be evicted is yet to be ascertained, the chairman said. It will be better if the encroachers go away voluntarily before launching of the drive, he opined. He claimed that the CPI-M councillors supported their plan. “We are not interested about the role of Trinamul Congress and Forward Bloc over the issue”, he said.
When asked about the cycle-stands set up by the civic body on different footpaths, the chairman replied that these were not established to earn revenue. The civic body made these to help the citizens where they have to go in large numbers like market places, he explained.
On the otherhand, three women councillors demanded alternative arrangements for the hawkers of the town before evicting them. []
COOCH BEHAR, June 15: Dooars Cha-Bagan Workers’ Union (DCBWU) will organise a ten-day padayatra (walk) from Sankosh to Tista (Jalpaiguri) to highlight the situation of the closed and abandoned tea gardens of Dooars. A DCBWU spokesman said that the participants of the proposed 300-kilometre padajatra will demand opening of closed and abandoned tea gardens, setting up of an office of Tea Board at Alipurduar, state government to took up the responsibility of the students of closed tea gardens and withdrawing of lease agreement of the closed and abandoned tea estates. The padayatra will end at Jalpaiguri where the participants will submit a memorandum to the divisional commissioner, Jalpaiguri, Mr BL Meena. The proposed padayatra will start on 31 July.
The decision for the proposed padajatra was taken at a meeting of the DCBWU in Alipurduar today. Senior leaders like Mr Rana Sen, Mr Manohar Tirkey (minister), Mr Jochim Buxla (MP), Mr Nirmal Das (MLA), Ms Kumari Kujur (MLA), Mr John Phillip Xhalko (saha-sabhadhipati of Jalpaiguri Zilla Parishad) and others attended the meeting. In the meeting the leaders agreed that the Centre should not extend its packages for the benefit of tea garden owners only. The interest of the workers should also be kept in mind, they maintained. []
Lightning deaths
COOCH BEHAR, June 15: Two members of a family were killed of lightning at Kisamat Dasgram village in Dinhata this morning. Ratneswari Barman (85) was entertaining her newly-wed grandson-in-law, Sanjay Barman (27) with mangoes when thunderbolt struck them. The incident occurred around 9 a.m. Four others of neighbouring villages were also injured of lightning. They were sent to Dinhata sub-divisional hospital. []
Blast mystery still in dark
COOCH BEHAR, June 15: Special IG and DIG (North Bengal), Mr R Thyagaraju visited Cooch Behar today. He visited the place near Cooch Behar Railway Station with senior police officials where a blast was occurred last night. The cause behind his visit was to make an on-the-spot study of the situation. Mr Thyagaraju said after primary investigation it was found that there were some similarities between last night’s explosion and the explosives that were seized from Barobisa recently. He believes that the blast was done only to make people panicky because it was not targeted to anything important. The splinters like parts of ball bearings collected from the place of occurrence, pebbles and sample of earth are being sent for forensic examination. After that test it will be clear what kind of explosives were used for the blast, he said.
It may be mentioned here that a powerful explosion was occurred near Cooch Behar Railway Station and close to Station Choupathi at around 10 p.m. last night. The Circuit House is also at a stone’s throw distance from the spot. The blast was done on the roadside adjacent to the boundary wall of Chilarai Barrack of the Army. A passer-by was also injured from the blast.
A team of CID Bomb Squad personnel from Siliguri too visited the affected place today. Bomb Squad personnel of Army too examined the spot last night. The IG-IB Mr Rakhaldas Mukherjee, Cooch Behar SP Mr Anil Kumar, ASP Mr James Kujur, CRPF Assistant Commandant (E-69 Bn) Mr Indra KK and other senior Army, CRPF and police officials visited the place of occurrence last night. It was learnt that CRPF also probing the incident separately. A meeting was conducted today between senior officials of Army, police and CRPF today to discuss the matter.
Though no one of any investigating agency confirmed of anything about the nature of the explosion, they admitted that it was a powerful one. A senior police official said that local criminals might also be behind the blast. But, the possibility of any militant outfit’s involvement was not ruled out by anyone till now. []
PHOTO : Special IG Mr R Thyagaraju visits the spot where a blast occurred on Thursday night accompanied by Cooch Behar SP Mr Anil Kumar. In Cooch Behar on Friday.
Eviction drive plan declared
COOCH BEHAR, June 15: The Congress run Cooch Behar Municipality is going to launch an eviction drive in the town to make the streets and footpaths encroachment-free. The aim behind this plan is to restore the cleanliness and beauty of this heritage-town.
Chairman of Cooch Behar Municipality, Mr Biren Kundu said an all-party meeting was held recently. The district magistrate had convened the meeting. The plan to make the town encroachment-free was discussed in that meeting. Following the decision taken at that meeting the civic body is to start the eviction drive within a day or two, Mr Kundu said. The plan was approved at the meeting of Board of Councillors too yesterday, he said. The civic body will conduct the drive in association with district administration.
The chairman made it clear that there was no rehabilitation plan for the evicted hawkers. Making the town clean was the main issue of discussion at the all-party meeting. He said that the civic body had a sour experience over rehabilitation of evicted hawkers. A hawkers’ market was constructed for them in 1996 but later many of them handed over their stalls to others against huge sum of money and went back to the roadside as hawkers again. The civic body is not ready to extend rehabilitation facility for them again and again, Mr Kundu said.
During the eviction drive the civic body will clean up the encroached roadside drains, footpaths, unauthorised constructions and other places. The total number of hawkers to be evicted is yet to be ascertained, the chairman said. It will be better if the encroachers go away voluntarily before launching of the drive, he opined. He claimed that the CPI-M councillors supported their plan. “We are not interested about the role of Trinamul Congress and Forward Bloc over the issue”, he said.
When asked about the cycle-stands set up by the civic body on different footpaths, the chairman replied that these were not established to earn revenue. The civic body made these to help the citizens where they have to go in large numbers like market places, he explained.
On the otherhand, three women councillors demanded alternative arrangements for the hawkers of the town before evicting them. []
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