Sikkim government insisting on an unconditional withdrawal of the hunger strike
Gangtok-With the government insisting on an unconditional withdrawal of the hunger strike, the protest demanding scrapping of over half-a-dozen hydel power projects of Dzongu in North Sikkim entered the 20th day. The Affected Citizens of Teesta (ACT), an organisation fighting for the cause of the people inhabiting the protected Lepcha reserve of Dzongu where seven hydel power projects are coming up over the River Teesta, have been on a relay hunger strike here since June 20 against their implementation. “We are determined to continue our strike until a concrete solution to the problem is offered by the State Government,” chief coordinator of the organisation Tseten Lepcha told PTI here today. The State Government’s efforts to persuade the ACT to withdraw the strike have so far been fruitless as two rounds of talks held earlier with the strikers remained inconclusive. “They (State Government) have been asking us to withdraw the strike unconditionally but this is impossible as we are committed to ensure that the people we are fighting for get justice,” Lepcha said. The strikers have been demanding scrapping of all the seven projects planned for the Dzongu region because of their adverse impact on the environment and the culture of the Lepchas, the most primitive tribe inhabiting the region. Countering the State Government’s argument that these projects will boost the economy of the region, Lepcha said they were very small-scale projects hardly capable of making much difference to the economy of the region. “But these projects will definitely harm the fragile ecology of the region and the culture of the Lepchas by causing a huge influx of labour force from outside the State,” the ACT chief coordinator said. Many of these projects fell inside the Kanchenjungha National Park and in the area identified as its biosphere reserve, he claimed, adding that these projects would gradually deplete the limited water resources of the area.
– PTI
