11 March, 2004; NOW! 1 introducing Thursday, 11 March, 2004 Vol. 2 No. 36 Gangtok Rs. 3 Air-Conditioned State Grocery Shop Bank for Provisional Goods, Dry Fruits & All Hotel Requirements (for kitchen) VishwaVishwa WHOLE-SALES RETAIL-SALES ForeignYatraYatra Travel Card at the most reasonable prices No more foreign cash or Travellers Cheques. Just carry this magic card to Rajdeep access ATMs and shop Rajdeep anywhere in the world Spectrum Color Lab Building, Near Amar/ Chaman Garage, Sevoke Road, Siliguri Contact SBI, Gangtok. ph: 202224 ph: 2640799, 2640599 DESIST OR LEAVE: SDF HIGH-COMMAND GIVES GM RAI 1 WEEK’S NOTICE TO END ANTI-PARTY ACTIVITIES HIGH TENSION OVER BAMBOO POLES! KPG CONSUMERS TAKE WBSEB TO TASK The delegation made special KARAN SHAH mention of gross negligence dis- played by the Board at nearby KALIMPONG, 10 MARCH: The Sourini where high tension wires All Bengal Electricity Consumer humming with some 11,000 watts overtly confrontationist stand by Association [ABECA], Kalimpong of electricity are propped up with branch, bolstering its ranks with lo- bamboo poles! Also brought to the a NOW REPORT SDF POLITICAL some. It remains to be seen how Mr. Rai responds to this notice and cal residents took out a rally here fore was the continuing low volt- GANGTOK, 10 March: The what impact it has on the party. today which culminated with the age problem at the Himalayan Chil- five hours that the ruling Sikkim AFFAIRS Another “important” decision submission of a memorandum ad- dren Institute, an orphanage for Democratic Front’s Political Af- taken at today’s meeting was to dressed to the West Bengal State tribal kids, at Tirpai. fairs Committee spent in a closed- COMMITTEE turn down Bharatiya Janata Par- Electricity Board [WBSEB]. Their Individual cases of indiscrimi- door meeting today at the Chief ty’s offer for alliance in Sikkim. agenda - to highlight customer dis- nate and inconsistent billing were Minister and party president, Only a day ahead, central BJP satisfaction with the power situa- also highlighted at the meeting and Pawan Chamling’s official resi- SAYS NO TO leaders Sunil Shastri and Pyarelal tion in this subdivisional town. the case of Deo Datta Chettri and dence, Mintokgang, today re- Khandelwal had called on Mr. Local complaints ranging from Shyamlal Sunwar presented as case solved some pressing issues and ALLIANCE Chamling and suggested an alli- low voltage to high billing and neg- studies. Both are reported to have took some hard decisions. ance at the state level and possi- ligent staff were voiced by ABECA been served inflated bills despite The committee, chaired by ble seat-sharing. Mr. Chamling and supported by the Kalimpong low meter readings and had their Mr. Chamling, is reported to have WITH BJP AT had told them that the matter Consumer Association. power supply snapped before the decided to give one week’s no- could be decided only by his par- Representing local users, matter could be addressed. tice to Gorkha Apex Committee STATE LEVEL ty’s Political Affairs Committee. Kalimpong’s ABECA members led The public representatives at chairperson, GM Rai, and his sup- The Committee has now by their president, Prof. Amrit the meet also pointed out the irony porters within the party to desist support for the 12 seats reserved for “unanimously” decided against an Khaling, alongwith Mr. Roy of the of BPL families receiving high from indulging in “anti-party” ac- the BLs in Sikkim “could be seen alliance at the state-level, but as- Kalimpong Consumer Association electricity bills. tivities or face expulsion. as an example of anti-party activ- sured to continue with its support met the Assistant Engineer High emotions marked the When asked what exactly ity.” Mr. Rai’s statements that he to the BJP at the national level. [WBSEB), SK Gupta, regarding the meeting which ended with an as- constituted these “anti-party” ac- would contest the forthcoming Lok Senior party sources reveal that grievances of local people. surance from the AE that he would tivities, a senior SDF leader in- Sabha elections as an independent the PAC meeting also “took stock” Although dissatisfaction with the take up the matter and the high- formed that Mr. Rai’s continued candidate if he was denied a party of the Tharpu incident which saw Electricity Board’s services are fairly lighted complaints with the zonal and open opposition to SDF’s ticket is also being viewed as an turn to pg 4 common, the Wednesday meeting manager and come up with imme- focused more on some “social cases.” diate solutions. a NOW REPORT Forest quarter JORETHANG, 10 March: Cops here, led by P.I. Chundi Chopel of Jorethang thana, conducted a surprise raid on lost to freak fire premises suspected of supplying drugs for abuse and FROM OUR CORRESPONDENT came up a cache of contraband that must have left them shocked. A whopping 110 bottles of Phensedyl and 1,400 DARJEELING, March 10, tablets of Spasmoproxyvon were uncovered in posses- 2004: A single-storeyed wooden sion of one Uttam Gupta in a raid conducted on his shop structure was razed to the and residence. ground in a fire at Ghoom, at The raid was conducted at round 3:30 pm today in- 9:30 pm last night. The wooden form sources and the drugs discovered under Uttam structure, which was a Forest Gupta’s bed in his residence on the second floor of the Department Quarter, was situ- building where he also runs a juice shop. Senior police ated on the approach road to 1400 & officials of the district maintain that the shop is just a front Tiger Hill. It was vacant at the THE NUMBER OF to peddle the drugs. time of the fire. The fire also SP TABLETS AND Speaking to NOW! from Namchi, SP, South, MS Tuli, jumped to the neighbouring confirmed news of the raid and the cache seized and de- trees and the undergrowth. By PHENSEDYL scribed the modus operandi followed by PI Chopel to nab the time the Fire Brigade was the “pusher.” A decoy was reportedly sent ahead of the BOTTLES A raiding team to confirm that Uttam dealt in drugs and had informed and reached the spot “SUPPLIER” WAS a stock with him. the wooden structure was com- “When the decoy returned with a bottle of Phensedyl, pletely gutted. However, no loss CAUGHT HOARDING the team from Jorethang thana launched the raid and un- of life has been reported and covered the stockpiles of drugs that the accused had in his cause of the fire has not yet been IN JORETHANG turn to pg 5 ascertained. CMYK110 2; NOW! ; 11 March, 2004 ED-SPACE NOW! Warming Up To Books, Their FIRST WITH THE NEWS Publication And Sale Corrupting The Future the years, the region had seen a tre- pricing of books by some publish- a NOW FEATURE mendous increase in readership. ers and booksellers. Agreed, no one really cares for corruption. It’s there, it makes peo- He, however, asked the organisers “A very popular book, the ple pliable and helps speed things up. But for whom? The creamy he 2nd Spring Book Fair, to invite all the educational institu- Sikkim Saga is priced at Rs. 175, layer keeps skimming more and more on the lame excuse that which concluded here today, tions, business establishments and but the publishers have deliberately corruption has now become “institutionalised” and is thus una- not only delighted book lov- organisations in the State to partici- not printed the price on the book voidable. The poorer and the weaker among us are still stone- T ers but also brought to light some pate in the Fair. cover. The book is sold at places walled by the monolithic babudom that ties every file up in red very pertinent issues concerning the “A greater participation would for as much as Rs. 450. We have to tape till it eventually gets lost and has to be “greased” out. written word and their publication certainly add more value to fairs wake up to such malpractices in the OK, let’s even set that debate aside for later. Let’s accept ground in particular. like this,” he said. publishing business and the con- realities and see whether something acceptable to all sides can Speaking on behalf of the cerned authorities should take some be worked out. Let’s begin with what Corruption means. Corrup- While it was hosted with the ex- booksellers, Raman Shresta, pro- concrete steps to stop this in the tion, as we know it, is the use of public office for private gain. The press idea of inculcating the read- prietor, Rachna Books and Publi- State,” he said. prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 defines bribery as: a public cations, decided to raise a number The issue of income tax and servant taking gratification other than legal remuneration in re- ing habit, especially in students, the spect of an official act; a public servant obtaining a valuable thing, Book Fair, organized by Sikkim of issues, such as book piracy and sales tax deduction from booksell- without consideration from the person concerned in proceeding Akademi, also provided a platform over pricing of books, which de- ers in the State was also taken up or the business transacted by such a public servant; and crimi- of sorts to booksellers and publish- manded the immediate attention of by Mr. Shresta. Book fairs are ex- nal misconduct. Now that we know the legal pegging of corrup- ers in the State to voice their griev- the organisers as well as the State empted from Income tax in the rest tion, let’s understand what powers a bureaucrat holds.