Raas Mela

Raas-mela comes again

The historic Raas-mela of Cooch Behar is going to start on Thursday.
Cooch Behar DM Mr Mohan Gandhi will inaugurate the fortnight long
fair. Cooch Behar Municipality is the organiser of this biggest and
longest carnival of Cooch Behar district.
The Raas-mela is organised to celebrate the Raas Yatra of Lord Madan
Mohan, the tutelary deity of the Cooch Behar royal family.
It was Maharaja Harendra Narayan (1783-1839), the then ruler of Cooch
Behar State, in whose regime the first Raas-mela was organised. It is
said that when Maharaja Harendra Narayan shifted his capital and
founded a new palace at Bhetaguri he was greatly disturbed by the
presence of ghosts in the old palace. So he felt the need to establish
a new palace. In 1812, Maharaja Harendra Narayan moved into the new
palace on Raas Purnima (the full moon night in the month of Kartik). A
Raas Mela was organised there on that occasion. That was the first
Raas-mela of Cooch Behar.

Rajdhani halted by agitators

Members of the SUCI-dominated Aloo-Paat-Dhanchashi Sangram Committee
halted the Guwahati bound Rajdhani Express at New Cooch Behar Railway
Station on Wednesday noon. Following the agitation plying of all
trains were disrupted in the route for a long time.
Secretary of the Aloo-Paat-Dhanchashi Sangram Committee, Mr Nripen
Karjee claimed they halted the Rajdhani Express from 1-20 pm to 2 pm.
They organised the agitation demanding supportive price of potato,
paddy and jute, lifting of agricultural loans and stern steps against
price hike of essential commodities, Mr Karjee said.

TINBIGHA

At Tinbigha corridor on Wednesday noon.

TINBIGHA

Bangla PM visits Tinbigha

Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina visited Tinbigha corridor in
Mekhliganj subdivision in Cooch Behar district on Wednesday noon. She
stayed there for a very short time. During her visit she planted a few
saplings there to mark friendship of India and Bangladesh. Former
Bangla President Mr HM Ershad accompanied her today.
The Bangladesh PM expressed her hope for an amicable solution of the
enclave problems as there exist a number of enclaves of the two
countries that are waiting for a long to be exchanged. She thanked the
India government for making the Tinbigha corridor accessible to the
Bangla nationals for 24 hours. This facility bailed out the Bangla
people from confinement, she commented. She also expressed her hope
for an amicable solution of water distribution of Tista river.
The Tinbigha corridor was handed over to Bangladesh to allow the
Bangla people to get connected by road between two Bangla enclaves
named Dahagram and Angarpota with Patgram in mainland of Bangladesh.
She said her government would erase out the problems related to
enclave exchange that were not done during the past 64 years.
Today, two Union ministers Mr Gulam Nabi Azad and Mr Jitendra Prasad
Singh welcomed the PM of the neighbouring country at Tinbigha. There
was a heavy security cover made by the BSF to make her visit
trouble-free.
Sheikh Hasina arrived at Dahagram today and inaugurated a few
facilities like a primary health centre, a Union Parishad building and
a power station. From there she reached Tinbigha by car and from there
she left for Patgram.

COOCH BEHAR AIRPORT

Regular Cooch Behar-Kolkata flights resumed

After long years regular flights between Cooch Behar and Kolkata have
been resumed on Monday. People from different sections of society
welcomed the resumption of the air service.
The thoroughly renovated and upgraded Cooch Behar Airport was waiting
to accept regular commercial flights after many years. At last, the
North East Shuttle Private Limited came up and offered their 18-seater
Dornier-228 aircraft to fly between Cooch Behar and Kolkata. At
present, the flight will be of five days a week except Wednesday and
Sunday. The fair of a single journey from Cooch Behar to Kolkata is Rs
5,000.
At 8-05am on Monday, the 18-seater aircraft came from Guwahati and
landed at Cooch Behar Airport. It left for Kolkata at 8-40 am.
The resumption of air service has been welcomed by all but delaying of
arrival of the first flight that was scheduled at 7-40am made many
anxious though the first day flight was full of passengers. The state
government is to shoulder responsibility of eight seats if the air
service fails to get adequate passengers.
AAI regional director Mr Gautam Mukherjee and chairman of North Bengal
State Transport Corporation were among the Kolkata bound passengers
today. Mr Mukherjee assured that they would consider pressing of
larger aircrafts in this route if demand rose. In that case the runway
of the Cooch Behar Airport would be made wider, he said.
It may be recalled here that on 19 July an aircraft of the North East
Shuttle took off from Cooch Behar Airport and left for Kolkata
initiating resumption of regular flights.
After failure of the Deccan Charters, another flight operator concern,
the North East Shuttle came up to operate air operations between Cooch
Behar and Kolkata. It may be mentioned here that 22 February of this
year was scheduled for resuming of air service from Cooch Behar
Airport. But at the last moment the Deccan Charters failed to turn up,
as they had to send their stipulated aircraft for servicing to South
Africa from where they brought it.
Welcoming the revival of the long awaited Cooch Behar-Kolkata air
service, the secretary of Cooch Behar District Merchants Chamber of
Commerce, Mr Rajendra Baid hoped that it would be helpful to improve
the tourism, commerce and industry sectors of the region. He also
hoped that the concerned authorities would be able to maintain regular
flight operations from now on. More flight operators may come up again
if the NES flights prove viable, he said. After a few months there
will be need to fly larger aircrafts in this route as the demand from
the passengers would rose, he hoped. He appealed to the authorities to
bring down the fare between Cooch Behar and Kolkata and widen the
runway. It may be mentioned here that in the same flight the fare of
Guwahati to Cooch Behar is Rs 1500 only.

MUSEUM DEMAND

Demand for a museum at Victor Palace

Sending a memorandum to the state chief minister the Cooch Behar
Heritage Society requested her to consider setting up of a district
museum in Cooch Behar. CBHS sources claimed that there are many
archival materials and artefacts of the period of erstwhile Cooch
Behar State lying here and there. Historic coins, letters of Cooch
Behar kings, rare photographs, paintings, manuscripts and other
mementos, printing press of the State period, musical instruments used
by legendary folk singers like Suren Ray Basunia, Kedar Chakraborty,
Pyari Mohan Das and Nayed Ali are there that may be preserved in the
proposed museum.
On behalf of the CBHS, Mr Arup Jyoti Majumdar said they conveyed their
proposal to the chief minister with a hope that she would consider the
matter. They also named Victor Palace situated on the west bank of
Sagardighi to room the proposed district museum.
The renovated Victor Palace is a heritage one and it was selected by
the previous Left Front government to establish a luxurious tourist
lodge with all ultra-modern amenities. Later, the government had to
postpone the plan due to large-scale protests from different quarters.
CBHS believes the building named after Prince Victor Nityendra Narayan
is an ideal place for the proposed district museum. An eminent artist
Mr Aniruddha Palit opined that addition of an art gallery may me an
added attraction at the beautiful Victor Palace as it may link
heritage and history with art and culture of the region.

COOCH BEHAR AIRPORT

Cooch Behar waits for regular flights

Regular air service between Cooch Behar and Kolkata is going to start
from 5 September. This news ushered a fresh shower of hopes for
development of this region. The people from different sections of
society welcomed the news.
The thoroughly renovated and upgraded Cooch Behar Airport is waiting
to accept regular commercial flights after many years. Airport
Authority of India (AAI) sources said the airport is now ready for
flight operations.
The North East Shuttle Private Limited is to press 18-seater
Dornier-228 aircraft to fly between Cooch Behar and Kolkata. The
flight will be of five days a week except Wednesday and Sunday. The
fair of a single journey is Rs 5,000.
It may be recalled here that on 19 July an aircraft of the North East
Shuttle took off from Cooch Behar Airport and left for Kolkata en
route Saidpur of Bangladesh initiating regular flights. The aircraft
came from Dimapur of Assam and landed at Cooch Behar Airport amid
cheers from curious visitors and guests.
After failure of the Deccan Charters, another flight operator concern,
the North East Shuttle came up to operate air operations between Cooch
Behar and Kolkata. They submitted their proposal to the AAI to operate
air service using the recently renovated Cooch Behar airport. AAI
sources said NES has small aircrafts and these planes ply in areas
like Guwahati, Mizoram, Tripura and Shillong. At Cooch Behar Airport
such type of planes may land safely, AAI officials said.
It may be mentioned here that 22 February of this year was scheduled
for resuming of air service from Cooch Behar Airport. But at the last
moment the Deccan Charters failed to turn up, as they had to send
their stipulated aircraft for servicing to South Africa from where
they brought it.
Secretary of Cooch Behar District Merchants Chamber of Commerce, Mr
Rajendra Baid welcomed the revival of the long awaited Cooch
Behar-Kolkata air service and hoped that it will be helpful to improve
the tourism, commerce and industry sectors of the region. He also
hoped that the concerned authorities would be able to maintain regular
flight operations from now on. Flight operators like the Deccan
Charters and others may come up again if the NES flights prove viable,
he said. After a few months there will be need to fly larger aircrafts
in this route as the demand from the passengers would rose, he hoped.
Mr Ranajit Deb of North East Development Academy, Mr Arup Jyoti
Majumdar of Cooch Behar Heritage Society and Mr Aniruddha Palit of
Concern for Cooch Behar also expressed their pleasure.

FOR A BETTER COOCH BEHAR

Cooch Behar DM Ms Smaraki Mahapatra, civic body chairman Mr Biren Kundu and other officials on a road in Cooch Behar town to study the ongoing condition of the traffic system. On Sunday.

FOR A BETTER COOCH BEHAR

Revamping of traffic system on the pipeline

In an aim to revamp the traffic system in Cooch Behar town  a team of senior officials visited different road crossings and congested streets on Sunday. In the visiting team there were Cooch Behar DM Ms Smaraki Maharaki Mahapatra, ADM Mr Sudip Mitra, SP Mr Kalyan Bandyopadhyay, Cooch Behar Municipality chairman Mr Biren Kundu and Cooch Behar RTO chief Mr Aftab Ahmed.

Cooch Behar is considered as a heritage town with beautifully planned roads and streets. The town was built with a scientific view in the regimes of the Maharajas. But, these days the town is suffering from traffic problems due to population hike. Streets are becoming narrow following illegal encroachments, building of unauthorised stalls and other constructions. A few years ago the civic body took a move to evict the encroachers. In that drive the streets turned a bit wider. But as days passed by the situation turned worse. The traffic system turned bad due to rise of vehicles and population in the town. The traffic signal lights have also gone out of order. Also, it is hard to find out traffic personnel at the road crossings during the busy hours. Following the breaking down of the system the number of road accidents is on the rise, senior citizens believe.

Probably realising the condition that the citizens are experiencing the district administration came out to streamline the system. A team of high-level officials visited different areas on Sunday to study the unhealthy situation. Cooch Behar DM Ms Smaraki Mahapatra told reporters that they would revamp the traffic system. All are expected to follow the new system strictly, she hoped. A new route chart would be imposed in the town and the traffic signals would be restored very soon, she added.

Cooch Behar Municipality chairman Mr Biren Kundu said that movement of more and more vehicles in the town made the traffic system more problematic. He assured that quick and effective steps would be taken to make the situation better by making the traffic movement smoother. 

GREATER COOCHBEHAR

Uncertainty over 'Greater' leader's release

The release of once supremo of the Greater Cooch Behar movement Mr Bangshi Badan Barman is still uncertain. He is now staying at Cooch Behar District Correctional Home as an undertrial prisoner. As the state government recently announced its intension to release political prisoners the leaders, activists and supporters of the Greater Cooch Behar movement have started expecting his release at any moment.

When contacted, Mr Barman and his associates' lawyer Mr Shibendra Nath Ray said Mr Barman might get released in the next week. But, he is also uncertain about the exact date of release of the Greater leader from the jail.

President of the Greater Cooch Behar Democratic Party (GCDP) Mr Ashutosh Barma said they were waiting for the release of their beloved leader. They would organise a reception programme for the leader to felicitate him on the occasion of his release at Cooch Behar town, he said. 

Martyrs’ Day

City Bus yet to gain popularity in Cooch Behar

The chairman of the North Bengal State Transport Corporation (NBSTC), Mr Rabindra Nath Ghosh instructed the staff of the organisation to make the newly introduced City Bus service a success.

On Thursday, during a surprise visit he noticed that the female conductors were not in their stipulated uniforms. Rabindra Sangeet was not playing in those vehicles though it was promised. He asked the staff to pick up and drop passengers at the stipulated stoppages in busy and populated areas. The staff should attract passengers from the stoppages in the town, he said.

The NBSTC chairman said the City Bus service that has been introduced on 1 August is still to gain expected popularity. For this proper publicity is needed, he feels. The NBSTC would beef up its campaign to attract passengers to avail the City Bus service that is very beneficial to the passengers of the town, he said. 

 

Martyrs' Day observed

Martyrs' Day was observed in Cooch Behar through various programmes on Thursday. This day has been observed here for the past years following death of three Youth Congress activists in police firing on 4 August 1988. The YC organised a movement in Cooch Behar on that day to stage protest against adulterated mustered oil scam. The trio – Rabin Chanda, Biman Das and Heyder Ali had to die as the police opened fire on the demonstrators at Sagardighi Square in the town. Today, the leaders of the Youth Congress, the Trinamul Congress and the Trinamul Youth Congress paid floral tributes at the martyrs' columns at different locations.