Mamata solace for Assam refugees

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A C C U R A T E
B A L A N C E D
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C R E D I B L E
VOL 9 No 106 RNI No: SIKENG/2006/18384
GANGTOK, SATURDAY 27 DECEMBER 2014
Mamata solace for Assam refugees
HM Correspondent
Siliguri, Dec 26: West Bengal chief minister Mamata
Banerjee on Friday said that
the militants have no caste,
creed and religion and urged
all to join hands to fight them.
Banerjee’s statement came
three days after the massacre of Adivasis in Kokrajhar
and Sanitpur districts of Assam resulting in the influx of
hundreds of refugees in Alipurduar district of West Bengal. She would visit refugee
camps under Kumargram
block in Alipurduar district
on Saturday.
Talking to reporters at
Bagdogra airport on Friday,
the chief minister said, “The
Assam massacre is barbaric
and those involved in
should be taught stern lesson. “Militants are militants
and they have no caste,
creed and religion and everyone should join hands to
fight them,” she said likening it to the Peshawar school
massacre. "I am here to
stand beside them in their
hour of need. It's not the time
to indulge in politics, but to
condemn the incident in
which so many innocent
lives were lost," Banerjee told
media.
She also said that the refugees would be fully protected and they can stay as long
as they want.
She also informed that she
has purchased one thousand
sweaters for the refugees
and has asked Goutam Deb
the North Bengal development minister to do the same.
The sweaters would be distributed tomorrow among the
Assam refugees staying in
four camps in Kumargram
block.
"The brutal mass killing of
adivasis in Assam by armed
extremists has deeply sad-
Tribal bodies call Bengal shutdown,
BJP demands NIA probe
Siliguri, Dec 26: Tribal organizations in six north Bengal districts have given a call
for a 12-hour bandh on Saturday to protest the attack
and killing of adivasis by
NDFB(S) in Assam.
The bandh will begin at
6am and essential services
would be exempted from its
purview, Adivasi Vikas Morcha state president Birsa Tirkey said.
The bandh has been
called by the Morcha and at
least 15 other adivasi organisations of north Bengal.
At least 500 affected people from Assam - both Adivasis and Bodos have taken
refuge in Kumargram, Barovisa, Changmari, Bitibari,
Balapara and Jashodanga
areas in neighbouring Alipurduar district of West Bengal.
West Bengal Adivasi Vi-
kas Parishad president John
Barla said school and college
examinations and emergency services have been kept
outside the purview of the
shutdown.
"More people are streaming in from Assam," district
additional superintendent of
police Akash Megharia said.
While, many of them are
living at their relatives'
homes, the Bengal government has also offered them
temporary shelter in various
schools in the area and at a
community hall at Changmari,
he said.
Food, water and blankets
are being provided to them,
he added.
The Jharkhand Mukti
Morcha and some other outfits have extended support to
the shutdown call.
Meanwhile, Darjeeling
Lok Sabha member S.S. Ahl-
uwalia of the Bharatiya Janata Party alleged that the
West Bengal and Assam Police were working in tandem
to bring to the dock his party's alliance partner Gorkha
Janmukti Morcha (GJM) in
connection with the Assam
violence.
"This is the reason the
GJM is being harassed in the
name of police operation in
the north Bengal hills. If police have definite information
they should go for arrests.
But if only one or two GJM
members are found to have
links with the incident that
doesn't prove the involvement of the entire party," said
Ahluwalia.
"To establish the truth,
there is need for a National
Investigation Agency (NIA)
probe. I have spoken to
(union home minister) Rajnath Singh in this regard. He
has asked me to send him an
inner party report on the situation."
The toll in the violence
unleashed by Bodo militants
rose to 73 Thursday. Rajnath
Singh and two other union
ministers are in Assam to review the law and order situation.
The Tuesday violence
has been blamed on a hardline faction of the National
Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB).
Sikkim Aam Bihari body
mark first anniversary
Rangpo, Dec 26: Sikkim
Aam Bihari Kalyan Manch
(SABKM) celebrated its
first foundation day at Ranipool here Friday. Sikkim
Marathoner, Amar Subba
was present as the chief
guest.
The program began with
two minutes silence for the
victims of the terrorist at-
tack in Pakistan recently.
Manch working president, Chhoteylal Prasad
highlighted the history and
present status of the
Manch. He informed that
inspite of a modest beginning from Singtam community hall last year the
Manch now boosts members from all over the state.
Tanvir Ahmad, General
Secretary of the Manch
highlighted the goals and
cause for establishing the
SABKM during the meeting.
Manch felicitated five
different persons namely;
Bishal Rai, SHO Ranipool
Police Station; Bijay Prasad, Rangpo; Allauddin Ansari, Mangan; Haidar Ali,
Rangpo and Sanjay Agarwal, Zonal Chairman, Lions
Club International 322F for
their contribution and
works in various field.
On the occasion, members of the association visited the Old Age Home in
Rangpo and distributed
winter clothes; blankets,
clothes, foods and other
needy materials. The
manch also donated a printer to the old age home.
dened me. I strongly condemn the heinous it," Banerjee had said in a post on Facebook. "Many adivasi families have started coming to
our state for shelter. We have
made necessary arrangements to help them and we
will continue to do so," she
added.
Today Banerjee said that
most of the refugees arriving
in Alipurduar district are Adivasis. “Bodos are also coming for shelter,” she said.
Fearing for life after
Tuesday’s massacre, hundreds of Adivasis from
Kokrajhar and Sonitpur dis-
tricts of Assam are entering
Alipurduar district. More
people are likely to come to
West Bengal for shelter.
Many of them are also stay
with the relatives.
The Akhil Bharatiya
Adivasi Vikash Parishad
(ABAVP) on Friday sent
memorandums to the Prime
Minister and chief ministers
of Assam and West Bengal
in which it has demanded
to disarm the militants, Rs 5
lakh ex-gratia payment to
the families of each of the
Adivasis killed and Rs 1
lakh to each of the injured.
The ABAVP has also demanded Rs 10 lakh as compensation for those whose
houses were set on fire.
The ABAVP, Jharkhand
Mukti Morcha, BJP and
Gorkha Janmukti Morcha
have called 12-hour-long
strike on Saturday in Terai
and Dooars to protest the
massacre of Adivasis in
Kokrajhar and Sanitpur districts of Assam.
RAF has been deployed
in the refugee camps and
one company of CRPF has
been posted along AssamBengal border.” Police and
paramilitary forces are also
keeping vigil along Sankosh River.
Ban on plastic carry
bags still ineffective
New Delhi, Dec 26: The
union government's ban on
plastic carry bags has had little effect in Delhi, Chandigarh, and Sikkim, revealed a
study released recently.
A Toxic Link report - 'Plastics and the Environment:
Assessing the Impact of the
Complete Ban on Plastic Carry Bags' - shed light on the
unbridled use of plastic by
shopkeepers, street vendors,
and even homeowners, resulting in rampant littering
and subsequent environmental problems.
"Plastic bag littering is a
big urban phenomenon,
which leads to big environmental problem. It not just
clogs drains and urban sewage system, but also fills up
the landfill spaces, leading to
toxic elements such as lead
and cadmium pigments
leaching into the underground water," said Priti Mahesh, chief programme coordinator at Toxic Link, an environmental research and advocacy organization.
The study
that drew samples from the
three
cities
sought to check
compliance of
plastic bag ban,
reasons for success and failures
and provided
recommendations for improving the compliance.
"In India 4 million tonnes
of plastic is used annually;
with plastic or polythene
bags being a major part. The
toxic constituents and nonbiodegradable nature of plastic bags make these visibly
one of the most serious concerns for the environment,"
said a release by Toxic Link.
The study also found that
the non-woven bags which
are being used as alternative
are also actually plastic bags
and come under the preview
of the ban. However, the
study observed that about
80 percent of the vendors that
were surveyed along with 70
percent of the consumers
were aware of the ill effects
of plastics. The union government banned the usage of
plastic bags with thickness
less than 40 microns.
Similarly, the Delhi Government issued a notification
for a blanket ban on the use
of all kinds of plastic bags in
2012, the release said.
Lossong Namsoong
festivities concludes
with fervour
Gangtok, Dec 26: Sikkim Tribal Youth Association organizes Denzong Lossong Namsoong Festival every year on
the occasion of Sikkimese
Lossong Namsoong with the
sole objective of promoting
Love, Peace & Harmony
amongst all the communities
of Sikkim. Such message is
spread through cultural programmes of all the four communities of Lepcha, Bhutia,
Nepali and the Old Business
community on the first day of
the programme and the next
day is reserved for other variety entertainment programme.
Denzong Lossong Namssong festival for the year
2014-15 was organised on
December 24 & 25 at Tenzing Namgyal Memorial
Ground or the erstwhile Sik-
kim Guards Ground. On the
inaugural day of the festival
on December 24, Pintso
Chopel Lepcha, MLA, Gangtok Constituency was the
Chief Guest while the Area
MLA, Kunga Nima Lepcha
was the Guest of Honour.
Spectacular and thrilling cultural programmes of all the
four communities attracted
huge spectators of all age.
The second day’s programme saw young budding
talents exhibiting their skills
in Hip Hop dancing while
some other performers
danced on Nepali and Hindi
tunes. Yama Band rendered
its music to all such performances. Members of Yama
Band also presented some
Hindi and Nepal songs.
Contd. on Page 8
Army to intensify
operations in Assam
New Delhi, Dec 26 (IANS):
Army chief Gen. Dalbir Singh
Friday said operations will be
intensified in violence-hit
Assam where Bodo militants
massacred dozens of tribals
two days before Christmas.
Talking to media after
meeting Home Minister Rajnath Singh, he said 66 army
columns have been deployed
in Assam for counter-insurgency operations.
"We are going to intensify our operations in Assam. I
can't give out any more information," the army chief told
reporters after the meeting.
"The meeting was to review the security situation in
Assam," he said.
According to sources, the
home minister asked the
army chief to ensure that
peace returns to the violence-hit areas. Security forces Friday stepped up operations against Bodo militants
in Assam after Rajnath Singh
ruled out talks with them after the massacre.
The home minister had
visited Kokrajhar and Sonitpur districts and reviewed the
law and order situation
Thursday. The 50 companies
of the paramilitary forces
rushed to the state by the
central government have
been deployed in the violence
hit areas and along the Assam-Arunachal Pradesh border in Sonitpur district as well
as the India-Bhutan border,
official sources said Friday.
Army
spokesman
Lt.Col.S. Newton said in Assam that the counter-insurgency operations had been
intensified in and around the
districts hit by violence.
The Assam government
says some 2,500 people have
taken shelter in relief camps.
The figures are likely to
increase as more people,
both Adivasis and Bodos,
have been deserting their
houses in remote areas of
the three districts fearing
more violence.
On Friday, Assam Rifle
team rescued a Boro woman
who was burnt severely and
hiding in a dense forest. The
team recovered and provided
the treatment from their doctor and sent to safe places.
Sonitpur Police Superintendent Sanjukta Parasar
told they have received 11
companies of Central Para
Military Forces and 12 Columns of Army and 11 Companies of Assam police. Defence ministry sources told
that all forces have been
rushed to the bordering area
from every possible zone
from the district and started
joint operation started from
Raikashmari.
Governor visits Rabongla, Namchi
Namchi, Dec 26: Sikkim
Governor Sriniwas Patil and
first lady Rajani Devi Patil
along with his family members visited different tourism
places of South district in two
days tour. Governor and oth-
er members visited Tathaghata Tsal, Buddha Park Rabongla Thursday.
On Friday they visited Indian Himalayan Centre for
Adventure and Eco-Tourism
(IHCAE), Chemchey, then to
Samdrupste where Governor
and his family offered prayers
inside the monastery and later
the tour ended at Siddeshvaram (Chardham) Namchi
where they attended ‘Rudra
Abhishek’ a prayer ceremony.
Hughes' bat to be placed atop Everest
Melbourne, Dec 26 (IANS):
In an initiative proposed by
the Cricket Association of
Nepal, a bat belonging to the
late Australian batsman Phillip Hughes will be placed
atop the Mount Everest.
Cricket Australia (CA)
chairman Wally Edwards
said the board was working
with their Nepalese counterparts to make the tribute possible during the next climbing season in March and
April. A 63-over game will
also be played in Nepal with
an Australian cricketer set to
travel and skipper one of the
two sides against a team led
by the Nepal national captain.
"So, although we enter
the festive season with
heavy hearts, the community's response has been comforting and in many ways
uplifting," Edwards was
quoted as saying by The
West Australian.
A number of initiatives
have also been planned to
honour Hughes at the fourth
Test at the Sydney Cricket
Ground (SCG), the place
where he was fatally hit.
Hughes was 63 not out
when he was hit in the head
by a bouncer during a Sheffield Shield match between
South Australia and New
South Wales, and subsequently died of his injuries.
Darjeeling celebrates sunny Christmas
Darjeeling, Dec 26: Santa
Claus did not want to lose
his way this Christmas Eve
and certainly went out of his
way to ensure that the
Queen of Hills did not have
a snow clad "white'' Christmas. With the fog staying
away and the sun making it's
appearance, he probably decided to grant a few wishes
and gifted a perfect day to
Darjeeling. Dressed up with
silver tinsel, colored lights
and sparkling stars, churches across the district welcomed their flock for the traditional morning mass. Peo-
ple came out in throngs to
light candles and relive the
magic of the Christmas story. Celebrating the festival
with enthusiasm, the hilly
people seems to have adopted Christmas and established its own traditions.
Practically every shop, markets, malls, pubs, hotels and
even petrol stations were
done up in red and green
having its own Santa and
carol singers singing old
favourites. Commercial establishments keen to cash in
on the spirit of buying apart,
Santa caps seem to have be-
come a must-have accessory for kids. "There are so
many people wearing these
hats. I saw kids and even old
people wearing these hats. I
don't remember seeing so
many of these last year; it
must be a trend I don't know
about,'' said an enthusiastic
shopper. Taking advantage
of the warmth and the weekend, many people decided to
move away from their their
heaters to soak in the sun.
Chowrasta, Chowk Bazar,
and Gandhi Road seemed to
rule supreme.
Contd. on Page 8
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