Fed up cabbies repair Sichey road on their own

GANGTOK, 07 Oct: More than 200 drivers of the Ranka Stand Taxi Driver Association along with the drivers of District Court stand and Burtuk Helipad stand came together to mend the road from Ranka Stand to District Court and Burtuk Helipad today.
Most of the taxi driver’s earnings were going into the maintenance of the vehicles because of the bad road conditions, informed the drivers. The drivers also said that the bad road conditions also lead to accidents at times for which they are blamed.
The passengers are also not happy with the condition of this road as it connects the most important office in this part of town and also the Helipad, said the drivers. The cost of maintaining their vehicles has to be borne by them while the expenses for government vehicles is borne by the concerned department, rued the taxi drivers.
The drivers blamed the Road and Bridges Department for the condition of the road and added that several letters have been submitted to the government for the renovation of the road but action is still awaited.
The initiative is a completely non-political one mentioned the drivers and also thanked Superintendent of Police [SP] East and Deputy Superintendent of Police [DSP] East for providing material to cover the rough patches. They further expressed hope that the state government would look into the matter soon.

East District gears up for oncoming monsoon

DC ISSUES DIRECTIONS TO LINE DEPARTMENTS AND OTHER ORGANISATIONS TO INITIATE PREVENTIVE MEASURES
GANGTOK, 30 April: District Collector [East], D Anandan convened a district-level preparedness meeting for East Sikkim in view of the upcoming monsoon season with the line departments and concerned organizations here on 27 April. In the meeting, the various line departments and organizations have been instructed to take preventive measures immediately to mitigate the effects of natural calamities and also to be prepared with their manpower and machinery in case of any such occurrence during the monsoon.
The District Collector has also directed the district officials to submit the action plan or preparedness plan of their respective departments on the jobs assigned to them with the list of phone numbers of their officials by 05 May. He also directed the district officials to work in coordination and not to wait for instructions in case of any disaster. He also mentioned that in view of the 18 September earthquake, this year preparedness measures are being stepped up compared to last year.
Addressing a press conference today, the District Collector mentioned that the overflowing of roadside drains can cause landslides so this year the administration aims to clean up roadside drains and jhoras. He informed that GREF has been given directions that drains along the entire stretch of the 31A National Highway maintained by it should be cleaned up at frequent intervals. The GREF has also been directed to be ready with required manpower and machinery round-the-clock to tackle road blockages and that dumping of spoils along the road should be strictly avoided.
The DC informed that in urban areas, GMC has taken the responsibility of maintaining roadside drains and jhoras, while in rural areas the same task will be done by the Roads and Bridges Department. Likewise, apart from GMC areas, UD&HD will also clean the road side drains under its jurisdiction to ensure free flow of storm water in all the jhoras in the urban areas. These departments were also directed to be ready with the necessary man power and equipments for clearing landslides and removal of road blocks round-the-clock and to take immediate restoration works in the affected areas.
As part of the preventive measures, the Forest Department has also been directed to identify trees that are located precariously and are likely to fall during the monsoon and have them removed at the earliest. The DC informed that the DFO [Territorial] has been asked to identify such trees and to cut them down by 15 May.
However, the DC added, the DFO has been asked to be very judicious regarding this and to use other methods that would not require cutting down a tree if possible. In case of road blocks or damage to public property due to falling of trees, immediate deployment of men and machinery to cut and remove the tree should be the Forest Department’s primary concern and necessary manpower and equipment for cutting and disposal of trees should be kept on the alert.
While speaking on the response during calamities, the DC mentioned that the Police Department will be the first to respond in case of any calamity and the Control Room will be responsible for timely communication and information relating to occurrence of natural calamities and regular updates to the district officials. He further added that the Traffic Police will regulate the traffic at times of natural calamities and ensure unhindered movement of relief vehicles or Rescue Team, Quick Response Team, Ambulance, Fire Engines and others. The officer-in-charge of the concerned police station would be responsible for crowd control at the place of occurrence of natural calamities.
The Rescue Team and equipment of the Fire Department will be kept on alert at all times and Fire control room should immediately communicate the occurrence of any calamity to the district authorities and effective coordination with the traffic police is very essential, the DC mentioned.
The Power department has been directed to immediately restore power supply disrupted due to natural calamities along with provision of lighting and generator facilities for rescue and relief measures, regulation of power supply at the place of occurrence of natural calamities etc. The department has also been directed to be ready with the necessary manpower and equipment for restoration of power supply at all times.
Likewise, the Irrigation & Flood Control Department has been given the responsibility of cleaning up jhoras, irrigation channels, jhora training and restoration of blocked and damaged jhoras on priority basis.
The DC expressed that fresh excavation and hill cutting for PMGSY roads are the major reasons for landslides in rural areas and non-provision of protective walls along the roads leads to landslides and slush entering houses. The RMDD has been asked to look into preventive methods regarding this on priority basis.
PHE & Sewerage Department will be responsible for immediate restoration of water lines affected due to calamities. He stated that in many places, broken pipes worsen the situation so the department should undertake an exercise to fix broken pipelines at the earliest. He added that regulating the pipelines being laid along the roadside drains and jhoras is essential to ensure free flow of flood water along those water channels.
The DC stressed that a good communication network is very essential to ensure timely rescue and relief measures, so BSNL has been suggested to ensure that communication lines are always intact and for immediate restoration of telephone lines disrupted due to natural calamities should be BSNL’s priority.
He mentioned that the Food & Civil Supplies should ensure timely distribution of essential commodities especially in the rural areas during the natural calamities and in case of major road blocks, the essential commodities should be reached by transshipment or by an alternative route. The department has also been directed to undertake frequent checks to prevent over pricing of commodities.  The DC informed that the DCSO [East] has been asked to submit weekly reports on the status of availability of essential commodities.
Health & Family Welfare has been asked to provide a team of doctors and other staff for any health related emergency during natural calamities. The department should take preventive measures against any outbreak of communicable diseases, it was added.
Agriculture & Horticulture Department has been asked to undertake immediate assessment of loss of crops and its value. Apart from relief for NC fund, the Department has been asked to help farmers through the schemes implemented by the department.
Likewise, in case of any loss of livestock due to natural calamities, it should be reported to the Collectorate by the Animal Husbandry & Veterinary Services department. The department has also been asked to submit a complete report containing particulars of age, breed, cause of death of livestock and other required information for release of ex-gratia. The department will be responsible for expediting the submission of such report and schemes like distribution of livestock should be concentrated in areas where people have lost their livestock due to natural calamities.
IPR has received the responsibility to disseminate accurate and required information to the media during the occurrence of major natural calamities.
All concerned SDMs and BDOs are required to make round-the-clock arrangement to respond immediately in case of a natural calamity with close coordination with the line departments.

Alternative Dispute Redressal Centre to make dispute resolution more people friendly

GANGTOK, 06 Mar: The foundation stone of Alternative Dispute Redressal Centre for East Sikkim was laid by the Judge of Supreme Court of India, Justice DK Jain here at District Court premises this morning. Justice Jain was also accompanied by the Chief Justice of Sikkim High Court, Justice Permod Kohli and the Judge of Sikkim High Court, Justice SP Wangdi.
Alternative Dispute Redressal System is a system which aims at making the process of dispute resolution more people friendly, fair and equitable for all the parties involved.
Later, booklet on ‘Lessons in Law’ was launched and an awareness programme on ‘Alternative Dispute Resolution and its Role in Dispensation of Justice’ was held in a function organized by the Sikkim State Legal Services Authority [SSLSA] at Chintan Bhawan.
On the occasion, the Supreme Court Judge, Justice Jain launched the booklet ‘Lessons in Law’ for Class XI, while the booklet ‘Lessons in Law’ for Class IX was launched by the Chief Justice, Justice Kohli.
The book aims at generating awareness amongst senior students as they are the future of the community and the country as legal literacy and legal awareness is vital in educating people about their privileges as well as responsibilities under the law. The book seeks to enable students to understand the constitutional objectives and the principles of the rule of law of the country.
In his address, Justice Jain mentioned that people always think and talk about their rights but forget obligations and duties towards others, institutions and the society. Speaking to the students, Justice Jain stressed that they must exercise their legal rights and should try to give back to the society what it demands of them. Encouraging the students, he said that if they have the basic knowledge of legal rights then it would make a lot of difference in their life style and perspective towards any field.
Justice Jain also appreciated the simple language used in the book. He expressed that the book will enlighten students on their rights and positively affect their views on legal rights. He expressed his hope that the book would also encourage some students to study law later on.
On the Alternative Dispute Redressal mechanism, Justice Jain stated that the underlying idea was to create peaceful society and harmony in the state. He also urged the judicial fraternity to come forward with their valuable service to the people in this mechanism.
Addressing the function, Justice Kohli, who is also the Patron-in-Chief of Sikkim State Legal Services Authority [SSLSA], expressed that children are the future so it was necessary for them to know about law. He added that this book on law would help educate students on law and legal rights.
He added that with the change in the socio-economic status and with the passage of time many new challenges have emerged and to deal with these new laws were enacted for the development of the society and even the burden on the court has been increasing day-by-day. Keeping all these aspects in mind the thinkers, law makers and the apex court have consistently made efforts to face these new challenges.
Justice Kohli added that the idea of the ADR mechanism is one such effort to ease the burden of the court and its purpose was not to make the court irrelevant.  This mechanism is also equally effective and in some cases more effective, it is cheap, less time consuming and with no possibility of appeals it seeks to create a lawful society, he further added.
The function started with the welcome address by Justice Wangdi, who is also the SSLSA Executive Chairman, and ended with the vote of thanks by District and Sessions Judge, KC Barfungpa, who is also the SSLSA Member Secretary.
The function was also attended by HRDD Minister, NK Pradhan, Power Minister, SG Lepcha, members of legal fraternity and students.

DC attaches CC Sangderpa’s Sichey house against Rs. 1.20 crore loan default

GANGTOK, 19 Feb: Former Chairperson, CC Sangderpa has been served with the Certificate of Attachment by the District Collector [East] under the Sikkim Public Demand Recovery Act 2002 on failing to repay a loan taken from the State Bank of Sikkim. The District Collector is the Certificate Officer under the Sikkim Public Demand Recovery Act 2002.
According to sources at the DAC, Ms Sangderpa had taken a loan of Rs 1.20 crore against a five and a half storied building and land at Sichey in East Sikkim and till the time of filing of recovery case by the SBS, the loan amount had come to Rs 1.45 crore.
Sources inform that initially, Ms Sangderpa had taken a loan of Rs 20 lakh from SBS repayable in installments of Rs 36,880 per month. She then asked for additional loan and the final sanctioned loan amount was Rs 1.20 crore repayable in installments of Rs 2 lakh per month.
As on 15 April 2010 Ms Sangderpa had repaid Rs 69,228 of the total amount due to the bank after which no payments were made, it is informed.
SBS filed a petition with the DC for the recovery of Rs 1.45 crore [including interest] from Ms Sangderpa on 19 July 2011 and a notice was issued to her the same day. She was asked to repay the amount by 27 August 2011, which she failed to do.
SBS again filed an Execution Petition on 26 November last year and for the same a hearing was held in the DC office on 17 December later that year following which the date of repayment was extended. However, Ms Sangderpa again failed to repay the loan by the fixed date.
Sources inform that the DC then issued the Order of Attachment against Ms Sangerpa for the seizure of her property located at Sichey. With this order, she is now not allowed to sell this property or undertake any financial dealing attached with this property. A total of 2818 sq ft land was allotted by the UD&HD to Ms Sangderpa at Sichey, where she has constructed a building.
The next course of action will be auction of the property in due course as per the law. However, it is learnt, that the DC’s office has still given her time till the time of auction to repay the loan amount.
For the auction, the attached property will be assessed and from the amount raised from the auction, the loan amount due will go to the bank while the rest will be provided to the defaulter.
It is learnt that this is the routine procedure undertaken by the District Collector against defaulters of loans of SBS, SIDICO, SABCO and Sikkim Housing Development Board. There are around 60 such cases before the District Collector at present.

DC convenes coordination meeting, takes stock of restoration and rehabilitation works

GANGTOK, 20 Oct: A coordination meeting of all the district officials of the Line Departments was chaired today by the DC, East. The meeting was convened to review the restoration works of public infrastructure in the district and also to assess the status and progress of the restoration works of public utilities like power, drinking water, road connectivity, telecommunication, minor irrigation channels, health etc. in the district.

New fee structure introduced for certs issued from DC offices

GANGTOK, 18 May: The Land Revenue and Disaster Management Department, through a Notification [No. 9/234/P-I/LR&DMD[S] dated: 03/05/2011], has introduced a new fee structure for issue of various certificates issued by the District Collectorates.
Among the 15 types of certificates issued through DC offices, new fees have been introduced for nine items.
Anew charge of Rs. 50 has been levied for Scheduled Tribe/ Caste Certificate, OBC/MBC Certificate, Birth/Death Certificate, Unmarried Certificate and filing of General Affidavit.
Similarly, Rs. 100 has to be paid for Residential Certificate, Certificate of Identification, Registration under Court Marriage Act and Passport Verification [Tatkal].
Six items whose fees have also been hiked are Employment Card- Rs. 100 [earlier- Rs. 10], Employment Card [late fee]- Rs. 50 [Rs. 20], Search Certificate- Rs. 200 [Rs. 100], Registration fee for Mortgage- Rs. 100 [Rs. 40], Registration fee for Agreement- Rs. 100 [Rs. 40] and Registration under Hindu Marriage Act- Rs. 100 [Rs. 20].