130 FT TALL CHENREZIG STATUE @ SANGA CHOELING MONASTERY,SIKKIM

GYALSHING, November 26: Chief Minister Pawan Chamling today called upon all the people to uphold peace and religious harmony in the State.
Mr. Chamling said this while laying the foundation stone of 130 ft tall statue of Chenrezig, the Lord Buddhist Lord of Compassion to be built near Sanghachoeling monastery in Pelling, West Sikkim.
The Chief Minister, who was accompanied by the MLAs of West District during the ceremony said, this statue to be built with a fund of Rs. 113 crores would be one of the tallest structures in the world.
“We want Sikkim to grow as one of the pilgrimage tourist destinations and I am hopeful that the statue would attract more numbers of international devotees,” the CM said in his brief address.
He said, the vision of the SDF government is to promote and preserve religious and communal harmony in Sikkim and that he added would be possible once the people realize their roles and responsibilities towards the State.
Mr. Chamling also announced that the world’s tallest statue of Buddha Shakyamuni would be built in the years to come after the establishing of ITI and several training centres in the District. More religious institutions such as Church, monasteries, temples, Mangkhims, etc will also be built, he said while announcing that a meditation centre would be constructed in West Sikkim to promote Buddhist literature and culture.
At the same time, the CM on seeing the road conditions of West Sikkim assured for its immediate renovation.
Later in the evening, the Chief Minister also inaugurated the newly built tunnel of NHPC at Reshi, West Sikkim

Geyzing Road accident claims five lives

GYALSHING, November 25: Five persons from two families and a driver died on the spot while two others were injured when a Mahindra Savari they were travelling in skidded off the road at 8 Mile, near Gyalshing Bazaar in West Sikkim.
The incident took place at around 10:30 pm yesterday, when the vehicle bearing registration number SK: 04/1124 carrying eight persons including the driver was travelling from Singtam to Uttarey.
Harka Bahadur Shanker, Lok Nath Lamichaney, Tara Devi Lamichaney, Puspa Maya Gadaily and driver Bir Bahadur Shanker died on the spot.
The injured persons - Arjun Kumar Gadaily and Jiwan Kumari Biswakarma were rushed to STNM Hospital, Gangtok.
Surprisingly, only a 3-year-old Bibek Gadaily, son of the deceased Puspa Maya Gadaily survived without any injuries.
It is informed that a family from Singtam and their cousins were shifting their belongings to a new house in Uttarey, 20 km away from Gyalshing.

Five shops gutted down in Geyzing

GEYZING, October 21: The efficiency of Sikkim Fire Services was horribly exposed for the second time in one week as five shops cum residential building was razed to the ground by a fire in Nayabazaar area of Geyzing town in West Sikkim today morning.
The fire is said to have been triggered by a short-circuit at the house of Chewang Dorjee Bhutia at around 4:40 am in the morning and soon the fire spread rapidly devouring five shops rented out in the house destroying properties worth lakhs of rupees.
The house owner has claimed damages worth Rs. 2 lakhs while shopkeeper Chota Lal Prasad had to bear damages over Rs. 15 lakhs as his entire grocery items like potatoes and stationeries items were burnt down by the fire. Three other shopkeepers Chime Bhutia, Gaganath, Uma Sankar Prasad and Md Alam saw their shops razed to the ground by the fire.
The news of the fire had been immediately notified to the local cops who then alerted the fire station which is bit far from the town area. By the time the fire personnel arrived at the spot, much damage had been already done and nothing much could be saved due to lack of sufficient water available with the firemen.
The general public has demanded that the fire station should be relocated within the town area so as to have quicker response in future.
This is the second time that such an incident has been reported in Sikkim. Recently, a midnight inferno on October 13 had gutted down five shops in Rangpo and the State Fire Services department had received much flak from the people

Municipality Corporation for Gangtok

Fresh list for three tier Municipal body for Sikkim
Gangtok as Municipality Corporation, Namchi as Municipal Council, five Nagar Panchayats
GANGTOK, August 25: The State Government has notified the municipal areas in Sikkim as per the Sikkim Municipalities Act of 2007 even as the proposed August Municipal elections have been deferred by three months.
The State Government has also determined the number of wards and their specific boundaries under municipalities in the State.
There are seven municipal areas in the State as the new determination of the three tier municipal body setup outlined by the State Government.
The State’s Capital and the most populated urban area, Gangtok has been declared as Municipal Corporation and South District headquarters Namchi has been declared as Municipal Council.
The commercial towns of Rangpo, Singtam and Jorethang have been declared as Nagar Panchayats. North Sikkim administrative centre Mangan and West Sikkim administrative centre Gyalshing are also included in the Nagar Panchayat bracket.
The proposed Gangtok Municipal Corporation has 15 wards. These wards are Burtuk, Lower Sichey, Upper Sichey, Chandmari, Development Area, Diesel Power House, Arthang, Lower MG Marg, Upper MG Marg, Tibet Road, Deorali, Dara Goan, Tadong, Ranipool and Syari / Tathangchen.
The outer boundary of Gangtok Municipal Corporation has also been demarcated in all the four directions.
The Namchi Municipal Council has seven wards – Gangyap, Dambudara, Upper Ghurpisey, Lower Ghurpisey, Upper Boomter, Upper Singithang and Purano Namchi.
The Rangpo Nagar Panchayat has five wards – Majhitar, Mining, Mandi Bazaar, Rangpo Upper Bazaar and Chanatar.
Similarly, the Singtam Nagar Panchayat has five wards - Pipal Dara, Daragaon, Mandir Line, Lall Bazaar and Golitar. Shantinagar, Trikaleshwar, Daragaon, Majigaon (East) and Majhigoan (West) are the wards determined for Jorethang municipality ward.
The North district headquarters Mangan which has been enlisted as Mangan Nagar Panchayat has five wards – Upper Mangan Bazaar, Pentok, Power Colony, Rinzing Namgyal Marg and Lower Mangan Bazaar.
Similarly Gyalshing Nagar Panchayat has five wards – Tikjuk, Kyongsa, Naya Bazaar, Central Gyalshing and New Gyalshing.

MINOR GIRL FOUND MURDERED IN WEST SIKKIM

GYALSHING, November 13: A body of a 12-year old girl was found in Singyang below Pelling in West Sikkim, today morning
Hailing from Darap village, West Sikkim, the girl was staying with a family in Singyang as a domestic help and was also studying in Class IV at the Singyang School. She had gone missing from November 11, Police say.
Her body was recovered near to her employer’s house. The body was sent to Gyalshing District Hospital for post-mortem.
According to the people who first saw the body, the girl’s clothes had been torn, indicating that she may have been raped before being murdered. Residents also say that a 25 year old man from Daramdin, West Sikkim who had been working in the same house had gone missing from the same day. Suspecting him to be involved in the crime, the Police have launched a manhunt against him.
The case has been registered under section 302 (murder) of the IPC and is under investigation

2 Senior Congress Members Joins Sikkim Democratic Front

Geyzing,October7: The Sikkim Democratic Front party received a shot in the arm with 2 senior congressmen, who broke ranks with the SPCC yesterday, joining the party.Their joining was announced by the youth leader of the West Sikkim SDF party, Mr B.B.Rai, amid allegations made by the SPCC that the two congressmen had been lured away by the SDF party.

The senior Congress members from namely Shri Dinesh Khaling and Ganga Prasad Dhalla in the presence of Geyzing MLA & SDF Minister Sher Bahadur Subedi in Ward 3 informed today to journalists that they have decided to leave Sikkim Pradesh Congress party headed by Shri NarBahadur Bhandari as it has no people programmes and policies with political ethics to bring any benefits to Sikkimese people and therefore have decided to join Sikkim Democratic Front party under leader Dr.Pawan Chamling who has played a visionary role in bringing development and people centric policies and programmes to bring a change at grass root level itself.

we both have decided to join the SDF party and They said, "they were waiting for an opportune moment to quit Sikkim Congress and in view of ensuing Panchayat elections decided to do so."

Messages of Chief Minister of Sikkim on the occasion of 53rd Wildlife Week 2007

Sikkim is a tiny part of the Indian sub-continent and still forms part of the famous Eastern Himalayas Biodiversity Hotspot; i.e. it is an ecologically fragile spot on the face of our blue planet, which is the only known planet in the universe that supports life. We humans are just one of the magnificent varieties of life or bio-diversity on this Planet Earth.Sikkim occupies a pride of place in Northeast India. As far as our tourism destinations are concerned there are perhaps none finer. We pride ourselves on our green image and steps taken by all the Sikkimese in preserving this. We are slowly making our mark as an eco-friendly tourist destination by seeking to empower our youth and local communities in new sources of gainful employment. As more wildlife watchers for birding, butterflies and other natural enthusiasts visit our beautiful small state, more of our youth will come in contact with the reality of having a passion and hobby that can not only the uplifting for the soul but also economically beneficial in the short and long term.Conserving this living wild wealth is now our priority and we need to strike the right balance between sustainable development of our fragile State and conserving our natural welfare long term benefits for our future generation. All communities in Sikkim are known for their compassion for wild life. On this auspicious occasion of the 53rd Wildlife Week 2007, let us spread this awareness by keeping mind, “AHIMSA PARAMO DHARMA”.

(Dr. PAWAN CHAMLING)

Chief Minister of Sikkim

USA team to scale 6010 m peak in West Sikkim

Gangtok, Oct 5,2007 :A three-member team from the USA will be attempting to scale a 6,010 m alpine peak of Sikkim on a sixteen-day expedition, starting from October 5.
USA mountaineer Bruce Kocka will be leading the team which includes two more US nationals-Thomas B.Ritche and Rickey Edward- to Mt Thingchinkhang (6010 meters) located in West Sikkim of the Himalayan range, said Mr Satish Bardewa, CEO of Yak and Yeti Travels and Expeditions to UNI. All three of them had done several climbing stints in parts of Nepal and South America.
Yak and Yeti, an adventure tour operator in Sikkim is conducting the expedition. It had also successfully planned the maiden expedition to Mt Thingchinkhang last year made by a German team. This was after the state government had declared five peaks of Sikkim open for expeditions in 2006.
Mr Bardewa said that the expedition will begin officially from October 6 and will reach the base camp at Lhamuney located in Yuksom-Goechala trek route by the second week of October.
The ascent to the mountain is scheduled to begin at the end of the second week of October. '' Weather permitting, we will try to reach the summit of Mt Thingchingkhang by October 16,'' said Mr.Bardewa. A trekking route is also planned in the famous Goechala trek after the expedition, he added.
The climbing route has been planned with two high altitude camps at 16,000 feet, 2000 feet above ABC (advance base camp) in dome tents with high altitude food, stove burners and all technical equipment. The support crew consists of climbing Shepras, state government liaison officer, trekking guide, cook, porters and yaks to ferry loads

West district of Sikkim still delinked

GANGTOK, Sept. 21: The West district is still cut off from the rest of the state owing to a series of landslides over the past few days. Landslides triggered by heavy rainfall have blocked Geyzing-Jorethang road and Naya Bazar-Legship road, making things difficult for the residents of the area."We tried several times to remove heavy boulders but failed to do so as the villages are situated just below the landslide area," said Mr Nitesh Kumar Jha, DC, West. "The process would take time owing to the risk factor," he added.Mr Jha said essential commodities are being supplied to the landslide-hit villages."We have supplied fuel and LPG for the use of the residents of the area. There is a scarcity of essential commodities in the area but the situation is not beyond control," Mr Jha, said.It may be recalled that one Dilip Rai (37) was killed and two others ~ Mangal Singh Mangar and Pema Dorjee Bhutia ~ were injured in recent landslides in the West district. Road communication is yet to be restored in the area.

WEST SIKKIM REMAINS CUT OFF DUE TO LANDSLIDES

District administration working round the clock to maintain supplies

GANGTOK, September 19: The incessant rains continue to cause havoc across the State, with the West District still reeling under the impact of several landslides and breaches in the road network. Gyalshing, the West District headquarters remained cut off from the rest of the country for the 7th day today with continuous rain causing widespread damages and impeding restoration of roads across the District.
The main arterial link to Gyalshing, the Jorethang-Nayabazar-Legship-Gyalshing road is still blocked with a sizable stretch of the road damaged by a number of landslides.

District Collector, West, Nitish Jha informed that despite massive efforts, the road has not been cleared due to continuous rainfall. “The incessant rain is impeding the repairing of main connecting road, which has breached at several places. It may take another seven days for the road to be cleared for normal traffic,” he said.

The West District road network has major breaches at Reshi and Sishney along the Jorethang-Gyalshing road and at Kewzing and Hingdam along the Rabong-Legship-Gyalshing stretch.

The DC, however, maintained that there is no scarcity of essential commodities in the District as of now. “There was a shortage of petrol and LPG earlier, but we have been able to tide over the situation for the time being. We have managed to bring in fresh supplies of LPG, which were distributed to the public yesterday,” he said.
Supply of essential commodities, albeit on a small scale, is being done through tranship. “We are working overtime and the situation is under controlled now,” the DC said.
Gyalshing is still connected through Kaluk but large vehicles cannot ply on this road.

“We are doing our best to maintain the supply of essential commodities so that the public do not suffer. We will be distributing some LPG cylinders tomorrow,” the DC said.

The West District administration has decided to set up vegetable stalls in coordination with the Horticulture Department to sell vegetables directly to the public. This is to ensure that vendors do not sell vegetables at exorbitant prices to the public taking advantage of the non-supply from Siliguri market. The DC maintained that there was no need for panic, as there is sufficient stock of essential commodities.
The DC, along with officials from the District administration will be going for a spot inspection of the road conditions in the District tomorrow. “We will inspect the entire roads network in the District,” the DC revealed.

JUVENILE CONVICTS ESCAPE @ GYALSHING

2 juvenile convicts escapes .One is re-arrested. Still on look-out for another

GYALSHING, August, 10: Three juvenile convicts, Roshan Rai, Sabin Subba and Sabil Allam gave the slip to the civil security escorting them while they were being taken from the Juvenile Court, Sichey to Namchi and Gyalshing courts for their hearing.
In the process of Sabil Allam’s hearing at Gyalshing, Roshan Rai and Sabin Subba who were waiting in the vehicle with the driver managed to flee into the nearby Rabdentse forests in the pretext of relieving themselves.
Roshan Rai was later arrested from his home at Gyalshing Kyongsa with the help of Gyalshing police and local people. Police is still in the look out for Sabin Subba.
Both Roshan Rai and Sabin Subba were convicted in a theft case while Sabil Allam was convicted of murdering his father at Naya Bazaar, Jorethang.

Lady Commits suicide

Gyalshing:A case was registered following information from one Arjun Subedi of Gyalshing at Gyalshing police station on August1 against unnatural death of a lady.
According to the complainant on August1,Tara Chettri (24) resident of Middle Gyalshing committed suicide by hanging herself inside the kitchen from the ceiling beam.
During the course of the investigation,Gyalshing Police sent the dead body of the deceased to the Gyalshing hospital for the autopsy and later handed over to her legal parents.
However ,no foul play has been suspected by police.the case was registered under Section 174 of CrPc.