Govt reaches the people with start of CM’s Sikkim Tour

CHAMLING COMPLETES FRENETIC ROUND OF POKLOK-KAMRANG, INTERACTS, CONFERS AND SANCTIONS ON-THE-SPOT
NAMCHI, 17 May: Chief Minister Pawan Chamling launched his 36-day Sikkim tour with a complete circuit of his own constituency, Poklok-Kamrang in South Sikkim today. When he had first announced plans to undertake a complete road-trip of Sikkim to confer directly with the people, the Chief Minister had said that he would be bringing the “government to the doorsteps of the people”. The people received it today, with villages receiving a motorcade of nearly 300 vehicles with the CM arriving among them accompanied by his Cabinet colleagues and heads of departments and other concerned officials. There were no public meetings of one-way conversations, but one-on-ones with the people, they complaints and hopes taken down and directions passed where decisions could be taken on the spot. It was frenetic day of touring, walking, discussing and deliberations.
The Chief Minister started the tour from Assangthang below Namchi, by offering prayers at the Sirdi Sai Baba Mandir there and then proceeding to the village. This was at around 10 a.m. Here, he met the people at the model village premises, where, after hearing out the people, spoke to them on the various government schemes underway for rural development.

He made a frank admission here, sharing that the biggest challenge for him has been to get the government officials and politicians genuinely interested in the welfare of the people. This tour, which will bring everyone face-to-face with the people was as much about reaching out directly to the people as about refreshing the public servants and public representatives on the people they need to serve.
Of the people, he urged them to pursue self-reliance and develop a stronger sense of ownership to infrastructure and schemes planned for them. The cooperative societies, he added, could do with stronger people’s participation.
He stressed that his visit was not to ask for votes, the elections, he reminded, were still some years away, but to check on how the pro-poor schemes were delivering on ground.
The people placed a demand for an office for the Assangthang Village Tourism Development Society, new building for Assangthang JHS, a community centre and a water-harvesting tank, all of whichthe CM sanctioned on the spot.
His next destination was Raika Gaon. Pointing out the aptness of the location for horticulture, he directed the Secretaries of Horticulture, Agriculture and Forest Departments to develop the entire area for orchards and act immediately on it.
The CM then moved up to Possang Upper Dorop in Salghari. On the demand here for a playground and community centre, the CM enquired after availability of land, upon which one Tika Ram Rai offered to donate land for these projects. Personally acknowledging Mr. Rai’s gesture, the CM sanctioned the demands on the spot.
The CM then reached Salghari, where he addressed a gathering at the Himalayan Crusade Pentecostal Church premises. The church also felicitated him for his contributions in establishing inter-faith brotherhood and for ensuring equal rights for all religions and their followers.
In his address, the CM explained that his tour was to personally check on the kind of development which has taken place at the village-level during his 17 years as Chief Minister. He said he was here to listen and act upon the grievances and the demands of the rural folk. Commenting that responsible politics was in short supply in Sikkim, he explained that he was travelling to every constituency not to make false promises or “play politics”, but to bring positive and constructive change in Sikkim politics.
Among the many demands placed here, the demands for construction of a co-operative building, SAI Mandir and church for Himalayan Crusade Pentecostal Church were sanctioned on the spot.
From here, the CM walked up to the Upper Salghari Panchayat Bhawan and collected the demands and grievances of the people there. He then walked it to the Timburey landslide site and inspected the landslide which has blocked the PMGSY road to Jorethang from Assangthang via Salghari for the past four years. Here, he directed the RM&DD Secretary to immediately process construction of a bridge, using NC fund, to span the slide.
The CM them walked down to Lower Dorop, Salghari, and met the public there.
The demands here related to improvements in water and electricity supply and establishment of a Primary Health Centre for which the concerned Minister and Secretaries were directed to process.
His next stop for the day was at Chisopani, where, addressing the gathering, he sanctioned the demands for a BAC, Rural Marketing Centre and VLO centre. The CM pointed out that it is not possible for every villager to go to Gangtok and meet the Secretaries, hence, he had brought down the entire team to them.
Here he also spoke on the issue of regularisation of MR and Work-Charged employees and clarified that the task for the 100 days programme in this regard has been misinterpreted. Not all MR employees can be regularized within 100 days, he pointed out, adding that up to 50% of them could be regularized as per seniority and existing vacancies while the rest will be regularized in a phased manner.
At Nandugaon School, the CM sanctioned Rs. 20 lakh for development of a picnic spot at Samatar and a new school building for the School at Rs 22 lakh.
Here, one of the beneficiaries of Rural Housing scheme informed that the housing aid received from the government was not enough to construct a house, the costs driven high by the high royalty charged by the Forest department for timber purchases. The Chief Minister immediately directed the Forest Secretary to reduce this fee for bonafide use of timber.
In another development, the Chief Minister, on the complaint that land registration fee had become too high, directed that this be reduced for locals.
The demand for a Stage Decoration and Carpentry Training Centre at Nandugaon was sanctioned on the spot and the shortage of non-teaching staff at Nandugaon School was assured to be solved soon.
From here, the CM went down to Ambotey Dong School. While interacting with the people here, he highlighted that the SDF government has brought massive development in Sikkim even where no specific public demands were made, this could be taken to the next level now that he was among them with the government in tow.
The CM also directed the RM&DD Secretary to give priority to the demand for a bridge [pegged at R 17 lakh]. He also assured to solve the demand raised by the 34 women of Poklok-Kamrang constituency who had undergone training in floriculture and now want to start a business together.
His final visit of the day was to the Solophok Chaar Dhaam where the Chief Minister, along with Mrs. Tika Maya Chamling, offered prayers and inspected the construction work. With dinner served at Solophok, the visit finally ended at around 8:30 pm.
On Wednesday, the CM is scheduled to tour different places of Namchi-Singithang constituency.