Asok returns as Siliguri Mayor

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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 245S RNI No: SIKENG/2006/18384
GANGTOK, TUESDAY 19 MAY 2015
Asok returns as Siliguri Mayor
Siliguri, May 18: Siliguri Municipal Corporation’s newly
elected councillor for Ward-6
and the Darjeeling District CPM
committee convener Ashok
Bhattacharya was formally
elected as the SMC Mayor on
Monday, while the CPM Ward42 councillor Dilip Singh was
elected as the chairman of the
municipality board. The two
board leaders were elected
through a secret ballot in the
first SMC meeting called by the
state government today. The
secret ballot was held in the
presence of the SMC Commissioner Sonam Wangdi Bhutia
and Secretary Saptashree Nag
along with meeting chairman
and TMC Ward-23 councillor
Krishna Chandra Pal. The meeting today was also attended by
all the 26 winning councillors
from the victorious CPM party,
the lone independent councillor from Ward-15, 17 TMC and
GNLF to make last ditch
attempt before reverting to
homeland issue
HM Correspondent
Kurseong, May 18: Can it
even make an impact after so
long years demanding implementation of the sixth schedule status in the hills? Given
the current political equation, there lies a sense of
state government giving no
heed to the call from the once
powerful Gorkha National
Liberation Front (GNLF) but
that will not deter the Late
Subash Ghisingh party so
early.
In its repeated chorus demanding sixth schedule status for the hills, the green
party – that had once likes
from the hill people unconditionally – in a last ditch will
submit a memorandum to the
state government in the first
week of June urging implementation of sixth schedule
before they get back on agitation mode for Gorkha
homeland vis-à-vis a separate state of Gorkhaland. The
agreement for sixth schedule
was signed in December 2005
between Ghisingh, state and
the centre.
Daya Dewan, the GNLF
spokesman said on Monday
that his party’s central leadership met on May 16 in Darjeeling which decided on the
course before they go back
demanding Gorkhaland.
“The memorandum will serve
as an ultimatum for the state
on the matter because after
that we would switch back
to our very own demand for
Gorkhaland,” said Dewan.
Dewan while recalling the
yesteryears of the GNLF said
Ghisingh had founded the
party only to serve the purpose
of
achieving
Gorkhaland. “But since situation then turned different for
which he (Ghisingh) had to
agree for the autonomous
body on August 22, 1988,”
said Dewan.
Ghisingh had led a bloody
agitation in the late eighties
that killed over 1200 people
before he vouched before the
state and the centre agreeing to set up the Darjeeling
Gorkha Hill Council (DGHC).
“Later Ghisingh batted for
sixth schedule because he
felt that the only alternative
to DGHC was sixth schedule
then,” said Dewan.
“This, the memorandum is
therefore an ultimatum for the
state to honour the signature
and the agreement failing
which we will get back to
Gorkhaland demand,” he
added. The party will also
gherao the state government
if required. “No other body
can replace the DGHC unless
it is scrapped and the new
body is constitutionally
framed,” he said.
The GNLF ever since its
chief late Ghisingh was
hounded out from the hills
in 2008 following birth of
Gorkha Janmukti Morcha
(GJM) has been looking to
make a political comeback
and regain its hey days but
somehow has remained on
the backfoot all for reasons
that the GJM so far has been
solid with support. Ironically, political analysts in the
hills believe that the GNLF
move with last memorandum
on sixth schedule before
Gorkhaland cry looks to be a
ploy to get back their lost
throne.
2 BJP councillors.
A veteran Left Front veteran, Bhattacharya had started
his political career as the member of CPM-supported student
union SFI in the 70s and has
been in the forefront of Siliguri
politics ever since then. His first
big achievement in politics
came when he was elected as
the SMC chairman after winning the municipal election in
1987. Bhattacharya remained as
the Siliguri Municipality chairman till 1991 and in the same
year he ran as the CPM candidate for the West Bengal LegislativeAssembly seat from Siliguri Constituency. He won his
first assembly election and
continued to remain the SiliguriMLAin1996,2001and2006.
Bhattacharya was also appointed as the Minister for
Municipal Affairs and Urban
Development and Town Planning in the Left Front government in 1998.
The CPM veteran however
faced his toughest election battle in 2011, when the TMC candidate Rudranath Bhattacharya defeated him for the Siliguri assembly seat. After the
defeat in 2011 and the formation of the Mamata Banerjeeled TMC government, Ashok
Bhattacharya’s political career
took an all-time low. Slowly with
the rise of the TMC, the Left
Front domination in the state
started to fade. Despite the
downfall, the CPM kept itself
alive in Siliguri under the leadership and guidance of Bhattacharya and won the SMC 2015
election comfortably.
Contd. on Page 8
Justice Sengupta takes charge as
Sikkim Lokayukta, SKM boycotts
HM Report
Gangtok, May 18: Justice
Kalyan Jyoti Sengupta Monday took oath as the Chairperson of Sikkim Lokayukta amid
boycott of his swearing in by
opposition Sikkim Krantikari
Morcha (SKM) legislators.
Governor Shriniwas Patil administered oath of office and
secrecy to Justice Sengupta at
Raj Bhawan in the presence of
Chief Minister Pawan Chamling, High Court Chief Justice
SK Sinha, Judges and host of
other dignitaries.
Terming the Lokayukta’s
ICSE Results:
Girls top in hill towns
HM Correspondent
Kalimpong/Kurseong May
18: The results for the ICSE
boards was published today
which turned out to be good
news for St. Josephs Convent as it has two toppers
scoring 95.4% each.
Kalimpong has 10 ICSE
schools where St. Josephs
Convent (SJC), St. August-
ine School (SAS) and Dr. Grahams Homes (DGH) stand in
the winning pedestal with
first, second and third toppers. Priyanka Khati and
Sweekriti Mukhia from SJC
score 95.4% each making
them the first toppers in Kalimpong.
However Subhansu
Singh from SAS scored
94.4% which makes him the
second topper of the town
followed by the third topper,
Ninand Subba from DGH
with 93.06%
Out of 895 students who
appeared for ICSE this year,
830 students passed and 65
students have failed, informed a source. Interestingly, the toppers (two toppers
from SAS) of 2014 had scored
95.6 % which is very close to
this year.
In Sikkim, Udashya Giri of
Tashi Namgyal Academy
topped ICSE with 96 percent
whereas in Class XII, Lakpa
Thendup Bhutia of Science
stream topped the state with
92.5 percent followed with
Shreya Pradhan of Humanities who scored 92.25 percent
and Charry Saria of Commerce with 89.5 percent.
In Kurseong Faheema
Banu, a student of Daisies
School here obtained the
highest percentage in her
school in the ICSE examination. A total of 71,141 students appeared for ISC from
909 schools across the country this year. A total of
1,59,738 students registered
for ICSE from India and
abroad, out of which 29,903
were from Bengal.
Aruna Shanbaug, comat
ose ffor
or 42 yyear
ear
s, dies; outpouring of grief at funer
al
comatose
ears,
funeral
Mumbai, May 18 (IANS):
Nurse Aruna Ramchandra
Shanbaug, who lay in coma
for 42 years, the longest in
world history, died here on
Monday. Her death
triggered an outpouring of
grief through the day and
at her funeral in the
evening.
The last rites were
performed at Bhoiwada
Crematorium in south
Mumbai here this evening,
officials said.
Shanbaug had been in a
vegetative state since she
was brutally raped anally
by a contract sweep in the
KEM Hospital on the night
of Nov. 27, 1973.
Shanbaug, aged 67, was
deserted by most of her
relatives during her lifetime
but was looked after with
unwavering dedication by
the nurses of Asia's largest
public healthcare facility,
the BMC-run hospital's
Ward No. 4A.
Since nearly a week,
Shanbaug had suffered
from pneuomonia-related
ailments and had difficulty
in breathing following
which was put on a
ventilator and was responding to the treatment.
She breathed her last
around 8.30 a.m., plunging the
entire hospital into a pall of
gloom, especially the nursing
staff who idolized her,
hospital dean Avinash Supe.
Then aged 25, Shanbaug
was brutally raped by
contract sweeper boy
Sohanlal B. Walmiki in the
same hospital when she
was changing prior to
proceeding on long leave
for her impending marriage
with a young doctor in the
hospital, Sandeep Sardesai.
While indulging in the
gruesome act, the assailant
choked her with a dog
leash chain which cut off
oxygen supply to her brain.
This resulted in severe
injuries to the brain stem
and cervical chord injury
and she lapsed into a
permanent vegetative state
- till her death on Monday.
The next morning,
Shanbaug was found
bleeding and in a delicate
state, around 10 hours after
the attack, by a conservan-
cy staffer and rushed to the
hospital for treatment.
Later, the police
registered a case of robbery
and attempt to murder as
the hospital authorities
allegedly suppressed the
anal rape perpetrated on
her to avoid her social
ostracism and the fact that
she was planning to get
married soon.
Walmiki was arrested
and convicted to serve two
concurrent seven years
terms. He was later set free
and is believed to be
settled in Delhi since.
"She was a bright
student, always of a very
helpful nature… going out
of the way to help her costudents. The incident
happened just when she
was planning to settle
down in life, both personal
and professional. The
perpetrator got away with
minor punishment but
suffered all her life," her
former teacher at the KEM
Nursing College, Anant
Gaitonde, told IANS in a
choked voice.
In Jan. 2011, the
Supreme Court took up
hearing a euthanasia
petition filed on Shanbaug's behalf by celebrity
author and journalist Pinki
Virani in December 2010.
Though the apex court
turned down Virani's
petition in March 2011, in a
landmark order, it permitted
'passive euthanisia' in India.
On Monday evening,
Shanbaug's flowerbedecked body was taken
from the hospital - her
solitary home since the
past over four decades - in
an ambulance to the
crematorium.
Thousands of grieving
nurses, including many
who had personally cared
for her all these years,
raised cries of 'Aruna Amar
Rahe' and 'Aruna Ki Jai Ho',
as they walked to the
funeral venue.
appointment illegal for being
in contravention to the Sikkim Lokayukta Act 2014,
SKM president P.S.Golay
said the state government
didn’t consult the opposition
party in the process.
“The SDF government
overlooked the very procedures for selection and appointment of Lokayukta
Chairman as laid in the Sikkim
Lokayukta Act 2014. Not only
had it bypassed the view of
opposition party leader in the
State Legislative Assembly, it
has acted undemocratically
undermining democratic val-
ues and principles,” said Golay in a media statement.
As per the Act, it is mandatory to take leader of Opposition or largest opposition party in the Legislative
Assembly as one of the
members in the selection
committee.
The Sikkim Lokayuta Bill
2014 passed by Sikkim Legislative Assembly on 26 February, 2014 on the lines of
Lokpal Bill passed by parliament in December last year,
received the Governor’s assent on 28 March, 2014.
Contd. on Page 8
Tamsang tto
o be
conferred
Bangabibushan Award
HM Correspondent
Kalimpong, May 18: In what
could be yet another issue
in the hills, the State Government which has already
drawn flak from the hill party
vis-à-vis the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) for ‘Divide
and Rule’ politics and interference in GTA matters, has
decided to confer L.S. Tamsang, the president of the
Myang Lyang Lepcha Development Council (MLLDC)
with Bangabibushan Award.
A government letter
signed by Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee addressed to Tamsang said,
“You are engaged in much
social work. Your work for
developing Lepcha culture
astonished us and we are
proud that you lead to protect the old culture of Bengal. For your above contribution we would want to
confer you with Bangbhibhusan award on May 20 at 4
pm at Najrul Mancha in Kolkata”.
The award prolifically is
the first for Tamsang from the
government. However, that
the award to Tamsang may
lead to another issue of contention for the GJM cannot
be ruled out here given that
the state, specially Banerjee
being alleged for hatching a
‘divide and rule’ politics in
the hills in a bid to curb the
prime hill issue of
Gorkhaland. The chief minister had earlier formed the
Lepcha Council perhaps before the parliamentary elections on February 5, 2013.
The Morcha vehemently
opposed to the formation of
any hill body outside the
purview of the GTA Sabha
and Bimal Gurung, the party
chief and the chief executive
of the GTA Sabha, had made
it clear that any development
board of the Lepchas should
be under the GTA Sabha.
Tamsang however was
elated at the award. “I have
received the letter today
which is not only a matter of
pride for me but for all People
of Darjeeling,” said Tamsang.
People perform ‘Sani Puja’ to
overcome quake aftershocks
HM Correspondent
Kurseong, May 18: A series
of temblor and its aftershocks
in recent times in the hills and
elsewhere has forced people
here to hold ‘pujas’ in a gesture so that the quake fear
gets wiped out to the fullest.
People here are organizing
‘Sani Pujas’ unlike in other
parts of the hills which is usually performed so that obstacles get completely removed
from life. But this time it is not
the obstacles that are on their
minds. “The puja is to wipe
out fear of quakes although it
is usually performed to clear
obstacles in life,” said Badku
Prasad, a representative of a
puja committee at a Sani
Mandir.
The Mandir below construction Board office here is
being organized since the
past 10 years. “We are also
offering prayers for Nepal and
the quake victims there in a
bid to save them from further
disasters,” added Prasad.
It may be mentioned here
that the people of Darjeeling
hills shares a common culture,
tradition and Language since
ages and hence the emotional attachment has always been
there from both the sides.
However, the Puja was
observed with full rituals including hawan and yag which
was also staged during the
puja. A large number of devotees from different communities and different walks of life
participated in the puja and
took ‘prasad’.
April 25 quake effect Days
after April 25 7.9 quake temblor hit Nepal along with Darjeeling hills, Saint Philomena
Contd. on Page 8
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