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Saturday, July 23, 2011

“Touring Sikkim to support people’s need to speak up”

FUNDS FOR DEMANDS APPROVED DURING TOUR WILL BE PASSED IN MONSOON SESSION OF LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY, CM ASSURES
SAGAR CHHETRI
RHENOCK, 18 July: Carrying his village-to-village tour of the State into its 26th day with an extensive round of Rhenock and Chujachen constituencies in East Sikkim today, the Chief Minister mingled freely with the people, sitting among them and collecting their grievances and demands directly. Throughout his interactions, he stressed that his tour was as much to take a ground-check on the various schemes and projects implemented and underway across the State, as it was to encourage the people to speak up and find their voice.
He explained that the tour was to open a more direct channel of communication with the people and to involve them with more immediacy in the schemes and projects commissioned in their interest. He called on the people to monitor and evaluate works more closely and ensure that there were no compromises on quality and also reassured them that the demands endorsed during the tour were not empty promises and will be followed up immediately, with a supplementary budget passed in the Legislative Assembly’s sitting next month to bankroll the projects sanctioned during the tour.
Today was Chief Minister Pawan Chamling’s third day of touring East Sikkim and he interacted with the people at 4th Mile Bhasmey Junior High School, Rorathang Secondary School, Tarpin Secondary School and Rhenock Senior Secondary School.
While responding to people’s complaints at 4th Mile Bhasmey [Rhenock constituency] against delays and denials in supply of essential commodities, the CM lashed out strongly against middlemen indulging in black marketing of LPG connections meant for the public.
The subsidized LPG connection meant for the people of the State should not be siphoned away, he stressed, while warning of strong action against those involved in such malpractices. He directed the Food & Civil Supplies Department to maintain strict vigil and initiate strong action against such diversions. He also specifically directed the department to streamline the LPG distribution system.
The nexus profiting from diversion of benefits aimed for the people will be broken, he assured.
Welcoming the complaint highlighted by the people, he stressed that only through their improved monitoring and stronger protests can such malpractices be ended.
On the people’s complaints against industrial units and hydel projects, both of which have a substantial presence in the area, the explained that these investments were brought to Sikkim to bring new opportunities and benefits to the people. Agreements were drawn up with these units to ensure that these benefits and opportunities reached the people, he said, while adding that these agreements have been ignored in many instances.
The two-day bandh called by his party was to remind these units of their commitments towards the people, he explained and pulled up the Commerce & Industries Department for having followed-up his directions to ensure implementation of the agreements so ineffectually.
He also added that the people also have to stop expecting to be spoon-fed all the time and should seize the opportunities and build a competitive edge more proactively.
On his second halt at Rorathang Secondary School [Rhenock constituency], the CM spoke extensively with the students and informed them about the various programmes and schemes launched in the education sector.
He also sanctioned all the demands placed by the people for site allotments.
At Tarpin Secondary School [Rhenock constituency], the CM informed that all the demands sanctioned during the tour will be passed by the Assembly during its next sitting on 10 and 11 August, when it will also pass the supplementary demand for grants so that all these works could be started immediately.
Assuring the people that he will find and earmark funds for all genuine demands, he urged them to reciprocate this investment by monitoring the projects with sincerity and care. The people need to evaluate works properly so that future undertakings are better informed and even more effective, he pointed out.
This involvement was also necessary because it was a more positive alternative to sitting back and complaining and also because with such engagement, the people assured that their representatives were less domineering and more service-oriented.
Presenting another aim of his current tour, the CM said that having already won majority vote of the people for four consecutive terms, his politics was not the desperate politics for votes of his opponents, but now driven by the commitment to ensure that people also “won”. The feedback collected during the tour will inform the next generation of development in Sikkim, he explained.
Also, for the people to win, they will need to approach issues and situations with a more positive and creative mindset, he stressed, pointing out that Sikkim was still hamstrung by a general lack of dignity of labour and a poor work culture. These will have to be overcome by the people themselves with the government playing the role of a facilitator, he added.
At Rhenock, the CM endorsed the people’s complaints that the college construction was not receiving quality work. He directed the HRDD to look into the complaint immediately and initiate suitable action.
His final halt for the day was at the Rhenock Senior Secondary School where he interacted with the people of Aritar GPU under Chujachen constituency.

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