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.
“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.
“These thermal scanners would also be sent to all closed tea gardens under the GTA,” Mr Thapa said in a press release from Kalimpong where he is currently overseeing and coordinating preparations to fight the novel coronavirus.
The health department, however, did not attribute the cause of the death of the railway employee to COVID- 19, although the Railways has confirmed that the employee had tested positive for the novel coronavirus.
In his official website, the chairman of the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA), Anit Thapa, has mentioned a list of names where such centres will be set up.
