KOLKATA: After Tuesday's revolt by the Gorkhas at the chief minister Mamata Banerjee's function in Darjeeling, the Gorkha Janamukti Morcha (GJM) leadership has threatened to go for a militant movement in the Hills to realise their demand for a separate state. "This time our movement might not be democratic one. We may be forced to go for a violent agitation in Darjeeling and both the Centre and the state government will have to bear responsibilities for any untoward incidents. We will hold a rally at Sukna on March 10 from where our leader Bimal Gurung will announce next course of action," GJM leader Benoy Tamang told ET on Wednesday. 

The GJM leadership has taken a strong exception to the chief minister Mamata Banerjee's act of meeting some Lepcha representatives at Algora in Darjeeling on Wednesday. Mamata has assured the Lepchas that her government will set up an autonomous council for the developments of this Hill people. "The chief minister is trying to draw a line of division among the Hill people and we will not allow her to do this," Tamang said. In fact, the GJM has started boycotting the chief minister's function in Darjeeling. On Wednesday, GJM president Bimal Gurung has inaugurated a bridge on the river Rangeela at Bijanbari in the Darjeeling Hills in absence of the chief minister. Earlier it was announced that the chief minister will inaugurate the new bridge.

But Mamata Banerjee has skipped the inaugural function and in her place, GJM chief Gurung has inaugurated the new bridge. Wednesday's development at Bijanbari clearly indicates the fact that both the GJM and Mamata Banerjee's government are going to confront each other in the days ahead. Trinamool Congress sources said on Wednesday that the chief minister was very much displeased with the GJM leadership not because of displaying of placards by some of their supporters during her meeting at Darjeeling on Tuesday, but because of GJM chief Bimal Gurung's statements after her meeting was over. Gurung had opposed Mamata's observations that Darjeeling was an integral part of West Bengal and "by describing Darjeeling as a part of Bengal, the chief minister had in fact, hurt the sentiment of the Hill people." 

Gurung had also criticised the chief minister for many other reasons and Trinamool Congress sources on Wednesday made it clear that Mamata had not taken easily Gurung's comments and will never accept GJM's demand for a separate state. "Didi has practically refused to attend the inaugural function at Bijanbari on Wednesday which was attended by Bimal Gurung, after yesterday's developments in Darjeeling," said a senior minister and Trinamool Congress leader, on condition of anonymity. It is learnt that the chief minister will review the situations in Darjeeling Hills after her return to Kolkata and is likely to ask the state administration to handle law and order situation in the Hills firmly. 

Darjeeling : Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee walked out of the podium of a public meeting in Darjeeling on Tuesday after Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) supporters began to shout slogans demanding for a separate state of Gorkhaland state, moments after the CM said that "Darjeeling is a part of Bengal. The two are inseparable". As the GJM supporters began flashing placards and shouting slogans for a separate state of Gorkhaland, Mamata Banerjee tried to shout them down saying it was a "government programme and no political slogan should be raised to spoil the event". "Political slogans should be raised in political platforms. This will hamper the development of Darjeeling," and angry Mamata warned the audience. 

Amidst the growing din, the GJM leaders, who were on the podium, also began to walk out. Later, speaking to mediapersons, GJM chief Bimal Gurung said: "There were political overtones when the Chief Minister said Darjeeling is part and parcel of Bengal and cannot be divided. Every time the CM visited Darjeeling, she inflicted pain on us in small measures by reminding us that Darjeeling is a part of Bengal. The Bengal CM may try to make her own political mileage out of such announcements, but she should have realised that such words hurt the sentiments of the Gorkhas." Asked if he was contemplating to resign from Gorkha Territorial Administration(GTA), Gurung, who is the Chief Executive Officer of the body, said: "I can step down any moment. 

No one should cling to the post permanently. However, the GTA will take its decision after holding meetings." Gurung also accused the state government of "interfering into the affairs of the Hills even after the creation of the GTA". "It (GTA) has not been given the political space it should have," he said and cited the example of Mamata Banerjee distributing land pattas to several hundred people in the the hills district without consulting the GTA. For every small events like sports awards, the CM was visiting Darjeeling but the GTA was kept totally in the dark, said Gurung. "Peace is still prevailing in the hills. But some vested circles are trying to disrupt it," Gurung said and added that he want the talks to continue, "but no one should undermine us." Gautam Deb, North Bengal Development Minister who holds charge for Darjeeling affairs, admitted that land pattas were given to over 480 people by the Chief Minister in three sub-divisions of the hills. 

 Ramesh Alley, the deputy Chief Executive of the GTA, said: "Land department has been handed over to the GTA but how come the CM was distributing land pattas without the knowledge of the GTA." Asked if the GJM activists had come prepared to flash the Gorkhaland posters before the CM, Alley said: "The GJM supporters always carry the posters and placards with them. The demand is close to their hearts. Meanwhile, a team of GJM supporters is in Delhi participating in a dharna at Jantar Mantar. They met senior BJP leader L K Advani to discuss the creation of a separate state of Gorkhaland.

Tucked away in the Himalayas, India’s Sikkim state has averaged an annual growth of 12.6 percent over the last eight years. The state of 600,000 people is of strategic importance to India, surrounded by China, Nepal and Bhutan on three sides. The former monarchy of Sikkim joined the Indian federation of states in 1975 and has been the most peaceful among India’s strife-torn northeastern states. The chief minister, Pawan Kumar Chamling, has been in power since December 1994, making him the second longest-serving state chief in India’s history. In an interview with India Ink, Mr. Chamling explained how his government has managed to build a development consensus that has eluded Sikkim’s neighboring states.

As for immigrants, if there is manpower demand there will be supply from outside sometimes. Sikkimese people do not like to do manual labor, so outsiders will come. But old laws still protect the right of Sikkimese people over land and other resources. So I do not see immigration as a problem.

DARJEELING: A suspected leopard attack on the outskirts of Darjeeling has spread jitters in the hill town, with the discovery of the partly chewed body of a man at Toongsoong village, on the upper fringes of the Darjeeling town. The body of 37-year-old Changba Sherpa was found by a man going to his morning walk to the Chowrasta. Different organs of his body had been chewed. Sherpa's wife Pete Bhutia managed to confirm that the dead body was that of her husband. She guessed her husband was attacked by a leopard. "The way the body has been damaged suggests a big wild animal, most probably a leopard, had attacked him. Our village is adjacent to the forest areas of Pandam and Tiger Hill," she said. Forest officials, however, are yet to confirm if the attack was indeed that of a leopard. "We have found some pug marks some 10 feet away from the spot where the body was found. 

But, we can only be sure if a leopard was involved after the postmortem report and further investigation," said ranger U S Tamang of the Wildlife Sinchel West Range. On the other hand, locals were sure that a leopard was involved in the attack. "I saw the body first when I was going to Chowrastha for my routine morning walk. It was entirely mauled. It can only be the doing of a leopard that does enter human habitat," argued Deepak Thapa, resident of the Jawahar Busty area. 

On December 27, another body was found near the spot in Jawahar Busty where Sherpa was found on Thursday. The body had bite marks of some animal. The same day a leopard was found inside a garage in the residential colony of Kakjhora. In-spite, of efforts by forest officials it had managed to escape into the forest below the Victoria Falls area, down town. Forest officials had then opinioned that the animal could have made its way to the town area through the 'jhora' (narrow stream) that connects the jungles of Pandam and Tiger Hill. Though,

 Toongsoong is more close to the town but it lies in between the two forest areas. Police officials too have said that the killing could be the work of an animal but refused to say if a leopard could have been involved. "We reached the spot after being informed by the residents. The body was badly eaten up which suggests that an animal could have done it. However, only after complete investigation can we say if it was a leopard or other animal," said L. T. Bhutia, inspector in-charge of Darjeeling sadar police station. Interestingly, some locals of the Jawahar Busty area claimed that they had seen blood on the mouths of some of the dogs of the area. "Pack of dogs can attack a person. 

Some of the dogs of our area had blood on their mouth," claimed Pasang Tshering. Forest officials though said that dogs A team of the Wildlife Squad from the Sukna Wildlife Division - I (experts in tracking wild animals) has been deployed in the Jawahar Busty area. As precautionary measure, a night long surveillance camp has set up near the incident spot. Traps and cages have also been laid.

Shillong : An earthquake of moderate intensity jolted India's Northeast this morning. Officials said there were no immediate reports of casualties or damage to property. The quake measured 5.9 on the Richter Scale and was felt at 7.11 am. According to the Regional Seismological Centre here, the epicentre lay in the India-Myanmar border. Besides Meghalaya and Nagaland, the other States which felt the tremors included Manipur, Assam and Arunachal Pradesh, an official said. India's Northeast is considered to be the sixth most earthquake-prone belt in the world.

DEHRADUN : Four more persons died in different parts of the Uttarakhand as the state capital Dehradun experienced the coldest day in the past 68 years with the mercury dropping half degree below freezing point in the city. Doonites woke up to a sunny but windy morning with a temperature of -0.5 degrees Celsius, coldest of the season in many years, the MeT office said. "Today was the coldest winter day in Dehradun in 68 years. The city recorded a minimum of -1.1 degrees Celsius on January 11, 1945," MeT office Director Anand Sharma said here. 

Even as the fog enveloping the plains showed signs ofthinning, there was no respite from the cold and icy northwesterly winds sweeping the entire state. Four persons died of cold in Kumaon and Garhwal divisions of the state last night. While three cold related casualties were reported from Kumaon division, one death was reported from Kotdwar in Garhwal division, official sources said. Four women had died of cold in the rural areas surrounding Roorkee in Haridwar district on Sunday night. 

Though fog seemed to have loosened its grip over Haridwar and Udhamsigh Nagar districts, where a feeble sun appeared on the horizon, there was no respite from cold with the minimum recorded at 2. 1 deg C in both these areas. Mussoorie touched the freezing point whereas Tehri and Mukteshwar in the higher reaches recorded a minimum of -1.0 and -1.6 degrees Celsius respectively. Similar weather conditions are predicted for the next few days with a thin layer of frost likely to descend on the mountains, the MeT office said. 

  

PATNA/ARA: A woman was injured after she jumped off a running train to escape an alleged rape attempt by an Army jawan in Bihar on Thursday afternoon. Police said the assault happened in the Delhi-bound Brahmaputra Mail near Ara, 50km from Patna. The Darjeeling-based woman, in her thirties, had boarded the train at New Jalpaiguri and she was going to Delhi. 

The Armyman, identified by cops as Rakesh Kumar, was captured by co-passenger A D Upadhyaya, an Assam Rifles jawan, and handed over to police at Buxar, 60km from Ara. Bhojpur DM Pratima S Verma said the woman suffered injuries in her head and legs. She was admitted to a hospital in Ara, the district headquarters of Bhojpur. Her condition is stable, the DM said. Bhojpur SP M R Naik told TOI in Ara that the woman, a mother of 13-year-old twins, was travelling alone in the AC-III coach of the train. 

She told police that her attacker tried to outrage her modesty when she had gone to the toilet after the train left Ara station. She struggled hard to come out of his clutches and in the process jumped off the train when it slowed down near Jagjiwan Halt, near Ara. Danapur divisional railway manager L M Jha said the woman would be shifted to Patna soon.

GANGTOK: Sikkim, with a 12.62 percent growth rate, is trying to make floriculture a primary economic activity of this picturesque northeastern border state and link it to tourism with floral showcases and green initiatives, Chief Minister Pawan Kumar Chamling says."Floriculture can become a big industry in Sikkim. India is being used as a dumping ground for flowers by countries like China, Australia, the Netherlands and Taiwan. We can meet the demands of our market with flowers from Sikkim in a few years' time," Chamling told in an interview here during a visit to attend the National Development Council meeting. A global initiative, "The International Flower Show - Sikkim 2013", the second edition of the state's official flower showcase, will push Chamling's floral envelope to new frontiers Feb 23-27 at Saramsa Garden in East Sikkim district, 15 km from capital Gangtok. 

The event is expected to draw 200,000 visitors and boost flori-tourism - an emerging genre of nature tourism - in a state that is known for its rich bio-diversity. Instituted in 2008, the flower show will host bulk of the state's nearly 5,000 floral species, including its 500 colourful orchids. Four years ago, the International Flori Show had seen 22 international companies, 65 national companies and 15 state governments. The objective then was to exhibit the state's floral potential. Chamling said Sikkim is promoting floriculture as an alternative livelihood in the state among educated youth with "free infrastructure, planting material and technology to cultivators to develop cut flower varieties". Two first joint venture companies set up in 2004-05 produce and market Cymbidium and Anthurium cut flowers, collected from the plants with stems and leaves.

 "Floriculture is becoming a profession because Sikkim is going to become an organic state by 2015. It will be the only state to grow flowers organically," Chamling said. Officials of the floriculture department say the state plans to bring 50,000 hectares of land under organic cultivation by 2015. Nearly 18,000 hectares of land under organic cultivation has been certified by the government and another 18,000 hectares are on the way to being declared so. Nearly 5,000 farmers cultivate flowers for a living, official estimates say. "Our growth rate is 12.62 percent and floriculture contributes to it," said the chief minister. The government has put together a mechanism to train youth in flower cultivation, Champing said. "For the last 10 years, livelihood schools at the district have been educating young people in various vocational skills so that they become a highly-skilled human resource," Chamling added.

 "Sikkim is investor-friendly and is looking for investments in horticulture and floriculture. We want to take their expertise, technology and devise ways to develop the market," he said. At the moment, there is no government-to-government initiative between Sikkim and any foreign country, but on a private level, Sikkim is working on marketing and know how with Australia, New Zealand and Taiwan, floriculture department officials said. A new airport at Pakyong in East Sikkim district, 30 km from Gangtok, likely to be ready by 2015 will push the domestic supply chain with direct access to New Delhi. The geography of Sikkim is congenial to green industries, Chamling said. 

The state government has banned use of plastic and chemical fertiliser. "A '10-Minute To Earth' programme launched in 2009 ensures that every Sikkimese plants one sapling to turn it into a green state," he added. Spread across 7,096 sq km and sharing its borders with Bhutan, China (Tibet Autonomous Region) and Nepal, Sikkim with a population of 607,000 is India's second least populated state after Goa in the west. It has diverse agro-ecological zones ranging from the sub-tropical in the lower valleys to alpine conditions in the higher reaches, making it one of the most potential floriculture zones in the country along with the other seven states of northeastern India. It has been honoured with national awards for its green initiatives.

KATHMANDU: Though late, the central bank has decided to take over the management of Gurkha Development Bank to save the ailing class ‘B’ financial institution from liquidation. “Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) will send a three-member team with a mandate of six months to handle the management of the development bank as a last resort to save it,”  a highly placed source at the NRB said, adding that the board meeting late last evening decided to send a team to take over Gurkha Development Bank. “The central bank team will take over the development bank within this week,” he said. “It will try to find a strategic partner by issuing ‘Terms of Reference’.” However, NRB is yet to decide the members of the team that will replace the current shareholders that ran the bank into the current mess.

The national level development bank ran into trouble after the misappropriation of funds by its directors and executives — an example of bad corporate governance.  Large scale insider lending coupled with dispute among the directors led the development bank to be declared crisis-ridden by the central bank in March, 2011. Three key promoters — D B Bamjam, Nirmal Gurung and Rakesh Adukiya — are blamed for the mess in the bank that was running well. Bamjam — who is serving a jail term for banking fraud — was the chairman when he was found to be involved in fake lending. The central bank designated team will work in finding strategic partners, who will buy shares of the promoters involved in the misappropriation of the bank’s fund. But the current and earlier management team of the bank had also tried to bring in a strategic partner but had failed.

“Merger with other financial institutions is also possible,” the source added. Since March 2011, various attempts to revive its financial health were aborted midway, either due to a dispute between the directors or due to regulatory norms. Two months back, the central bank had sought Gurkha Development Bank’s clarification on its inability to improve its financial health. But neither did it satisfy the central bank nor improve its financial health. The central bank is empowered to take over the management of any financial institution under NRB Act 2063 (Section 54), if it is dissatisfied with the explanation provided. If the takeover of the management also does not work then the development bank will be liquidated.The development bank still has a total of Rs 1.5 billion bad loans and is not allowed to collect deposits.

Earlier, in May 2009, the central bank had taken over the management of Bank of Kathmandu following prolonged dispute between the bank’s directors and management. Likewise in 2006, it had taken over the management of Nepal Bangladesh Bank due to its deteriorating financial health. Both the banks are financially sound at present.