Siliguri bikers on expedition to Cho Lhamu

GANGTOK, 25 April: Gangtok Deputy Mayor Shakti Singh flagged off a motorcycle expedition to Cho Lhamu (the highest lake in India located at 18,000 ft) from Gangtok this morning.
A 12-member team of Sky Watchers Association of North Bengal (SWAN) had reached Gangtok on Tuesday as part of their expedition which started from Siliguri.
“Our plan is to stop at every location throughout the route and interact with the locals and personnel of armed forces on how they contribute to keep the sky, and thus the environment, clean and green,” Santanu Chowdhary, the team leader told the reporters.
SWAN has been engaged in popularizing astronomy and allied sciences since 1987.
“We also carry out special projects and simultaneously conduct sky orientations, sky observations. SWAN is officially affiliated to the confederation of Indian Amateur Astronomers,” Debashish Sarkar, a team member said.
He said the team will also update the people about Venus Transit, a rare celestial event that would be sighted on June 6, 2012 and again on 2117. The motorcycle expedition will pass through Mangan, Chungthang, Lachen, Thangu and Gurudongmar lake en route to Cho Lhamu.