No permission for fresh hydropower projects in Darjeeling hills: GTA
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 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 civic body has readied four pumps to drain out water in case of requirement. We have alerted the borough officers and asked them to keep monitoring the situation. The control room has been activated and we are monitoring the entire situation"
"A total of 328 homestay owners, out of the 337, in Kalimpong district have qualified for the second installment, with which they will improve their existing homestays," the Kalimpong DM said, adding, "A team has conducted a survey on homestays and screened them for the second installment."
According to Mr Poddar, despite the Covid pandemic, tourists from different parts of Bengal are visiting the Hills, and that all his rooms are booked for the Pujas. Mr Poddar also pointed out to the bad condition of roads, which he said had reduced the flow of tourists in the area.
Notably, both the Bimal Gurung and Binoy Tamang factions of the Gorkha Jan Mukti Morcha are politically in league with Mamata Banerjee's party, but they have not yet finalised the candidates.
The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) has planned to appeal to the state government to change the dates of the lockdown in the interest of education tourism centering Siliguri.
"I request all other political parties, including the Trinamul Congress, and their regional alliances to take up the matter with the state government and work towards ensuring that people from our region are not deprived of their legitimate rights to land," Mr Bista said in a release he issued on the eve of Independence Day
It may be mentioned here that the Kalimpong Subdivisional Officer had recently handed down notices to at least 200 families living in forest areas, quashing their claims that they were forest dwellers.
However, according to him, any development work in the area there necessitates 'No Objection Certificates' (NOC) from Gram Sabhas of the respective areas, which, they have not yet issued.
