In a significant development, people’s representatives from both Sikkim and northern West Bengal have come together to demand tribal status for at least 12 left-out communities in the region.
Activists from the Gorkha National Liberation Front (GNLF) have been hoisting black flags across Darjeeling, Kalimpong, and surrounding areas since 5 August to protest the delay in implementing a Permanent Political Solution for the region.
Charkhole is a village that has been abundantly blessed by nature. On one side, you get to enjoy the majestic view of the Kanchenjunga, and on the other, you get to witness the magical, extensive stretch of the valleys.
The Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA) has taken an in-principle decision not to allow setting up of fresh hydropower projects in the hills of Darjeeling and Kalimpong.
The plan for dwellings alongside the hillslopes must of necessity be vetted more carefully than has been manifest.
The 44-year old woman died at the North Bengal Medical College and Hospital on 30 March. Some of her relatives, including those in Siliguri, had also come in contact with her before her death. Some of them tested positive for Covid- 19 and have now gone home after being cured in a Covid hospital in Siliguri.
Stricter containment measures to be first taken on an experimental basis in Darjeeling town area which will be applied in other places later.
Meanwhile, the health department has started preparations to admit suspected Covid-19 patients in a private health facility following its takeover. The other patents of the nursing home have been shifted elsewhere, it is learnt. The nurse had come in contact with the first Covid-19 patient of Kalimpong during her treatment at the NBMCH.
“A complete lockdown is being imposed in the hotspots and clusters or the areas adjoining the hotspots. We don’t want the infection to spread like wildfire. But the daily necessities of the people of these areas are being taken care of,” said chief secretary Rajiva Sinha in Nabanna today.
To start with, the board will comprise Nobel laureate Dr Abhijit Vinayak Banerjee and former regional director of WHO Dr Swaroop Sarkar while senior doctors namely Abhiit Choudhury and Dr Sukyumar Mukherjee, will coordinate with the board.
