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F i r s t W i t h T h e N e w s

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REMUNA RAI

GANGTOK, 17 Oct: In awelcome move, especially ata time when the young arereading less and less andrarely moving beyond the cur-riculum-prescribed books,Paljor Namgyal Girls SeniorSecondary School [PNGS]here is holding a week-longbook festival imaginativelydesigned to inculcate readinghabit among the students.

Initiated by VictoriaBodgers from London, who hasbeen with the school since Sep-tember as an educational vol-unteer, and strongly backed bythe Headmistress and facultymembers, the book festival be-gan at the school premises yes-terday and features innovativegames and quizzes to feed the

There’s an affair being promoted at PNGS,one that even parents should endorse

INNOVATIVE BOOK FAIR HOPES TO REVIVE INTEREST IN READINGbookworm in the girls.

‘Guess the Teacher’ featuressnapshots of various teachersreading a book and requires thestudents to guess the name of theteacher hidden behind the cov-ers of the book. This, explainsMs. Bodgers, will not only cre-ate an exciting game for the girlsbut also expose them to the vari-ous books displayed in the pic-tures, which will automaticallyevoke their curiosity when theysee a teacher reading it.

“Children have a tendencyto imitate every little thingthat they see the elders doing,especially people whom theyrespect, such as teachers andparents, so, once they see theirteachers reading a particularbook or even carrying it

around, then they will want todo the same,” she elaborates.

Then, one can witness theteachers sporting the names ofcertain books on little tagspinned to their shoulders,which requires the girls to firstcollect the names of as manybooks as they can whom theysee with the tags and then findout the names of the authors.

Sporting a tag herself, Ms.Bodgers explains that this gamewill definitely create awarenessamong the students on the bookthey are researching on, whichwill hopefully instigate themto read the book as well, or anyother book for that matter sincetheir visit to the library will bea basic requirement to unearththe answers.

Besides these activities, thewinners for which will be an-nounced on Thursday after-noon, there is also a literaryquiz scheduled for the sameday, which will cover the dif-ferent fiction genres such aschildren’s literature, detectivenovels, science fiction, clas-sics, contemporary writing etc.

The prizes, posters and cer-tificates for the festival are be-ing sponsored by RachnaBooks. Ms. Bodgers is quick toadd that though material prizesare highly successful in gettingthe kids to participate in the firstplace, the real achievementwould be if the students end uptaking to reading regularly.

Expressing her gratitude to-wards the school faculty, Ms.

Bodgers said that organizingthe whole event had been a sat-isfying one, with the Headmis-tress and her fellow teachersbeing highly supportive andsharing their own desire to seemore children pick up booksmore often. She remains opti-mistic that the experiment willsee the students making morefrequent visits to the library.

‘The fact that the teachersagreed to wear the book nametags even though it sometimesmakes them look silly, especiallywhen you end going to townwithout taking it off, is a true tes-timony of their enthusiasm to-wards the well-being of the stu-dents,” Ms. Bodgers adds.

She remains convinced thatfor children to really take to

reading, it is imperative for theparents and elders at home todo so first. Reading to their chil-dren when they are younger andhaving a decent library at homereally helps, not only with thereading part, but also genera-tional bonding, she adds.

Ms Bodgers is part of theEngland-based Himalayan Edu-cation Lifeline Project, whichrecruits volunteers to work asteachers on temporary basis indifferent parts of the Himalayanregion. Though in Sikkim onlyfor a short period, she admits tohaving grown attached to theplace and hopes that she cancome here more often.

The end of the book festi-val on Thursday will hope-fully mark the beginning of alife long affair with books forthe young girls at PNGS.

ABACUSpresents

WORK

WEARFOR THE NEWAGE LEADER

a NOW REPORT

GANGTOK, 17 Oct: Sixpersons arrested on allega-tions of being members of the‘masked gang’ that had en-tered the Lottery Office herein an attempt to rig the results,were released on bail by theSessions Court today. The ac-cused were picked up in a se-ries of arrests affected over 26and 27 August, 2006, in con-nection with the incident atLottery office on 11 August.

Lottery rigging co-accused get bail aftermain accused secures anticipatory bail

The six are Phu ChungChung, Chamba, Sangay,Thinley, Lobsang and KanchanRai, a lottery directorate em-ployee. Four others were alsoarrested in connection with thecase. Of these, while one hasalready been granted bail, bailapplications for the three re-maining accused have not beenmoved yet. Bails were allowedtoday for six on sureties of Rs.50,000 each.

Interestingly, bail for thesix co-accused in the case

comes two days after the mainaccused [as per the policecase diary], Ajay Lakhani,

was granted anticipatory bailby the High Court on Satur-

turn to pg2

a CCTV grab of the ‘masked gang’approaching the lottery office

Air India soars toGold Cup finalsSAGAR CHHETRIGANGTOK, 17 Oct: This iswhat great matches are made of.

Air India [Mumbai] has en-tered into the final of the ongo-ing 28th All India Governor’sGold Cup Football Tournamentplayed here at Palzor Stadium.

In a thriller of a semi-fi-nal played today with eventsthat belonged in a moviescript, Air India defeatedAssam Rifles 2 goals to 1.

The match was intenseand both the teams wereneck-to-neck in game-play.

Assam Rifles made regu-lar attempts on their oppo-nents’ goalpost but were con-sistently denied by AirIndia’s sound defence.

Both the teams also gotmany free kicks, corners andother golden opportunities,but failed to convert anychance into a goal and thefirst half ended with no goals.

In the second half too,both the teams continuedtheir good game play but nei-ther team got any success andat the end of regular time, thematch was still goalless.

The match was then ex-tended for 30 minutes extratime to decide the winner.

During this extra time,Basiru M Abbas gave the firstbreak to Air India by scoringa beautiful goal and aftersometime his teammate AlexAmbrose scored the secondgoal for his team.

In return, Abel Sema, whosehat-trick in yesterday’s matchreached his team to the semis,also scored a goal for his teambut the solitary effort could notsave them from getting knockedout of the tournament.

Finally, the match wasended with the score of 2-1 infavour of Air India [Mumbai].

The second semi-final of thetournament will be played onWednesday between GMHK,Lions XI and Army XI.

Biodiversity workshop ends withappeal to protect Teesta valley

a NOW REPORT

GANGTOK, 17 Oct: Thevaledictory function of the two-day long ‘Workshop on Conser-vation and Management ofBiodiversity in Teesta Valley’,which started yesterday here atthe Forest Conference Hall,was held today with the schol-ars endorsing the need to pro-tect the Teesta valley for thebiodiversity hub their researchhas established it to be.

Organized by the Salim Ali

Centre for Ornithology & Natu-ral History [SACON],Coimbatore and the Centre forInterdisciplinary Studies onMountains and Hills[CISMHE], University of Delhi,today also witnessed the releaseof the ecological study report onthe biodiversity in the Teesta Ba-sin conducted by student re-searchers and SACON scientistsbetween 2002 to 2006.

Minister for Forest Wildlife& Environment, SB Subedi,was present as the chief guest,

accompanied by Secretary-cum-PCCF TR Poudyal andState Planning Commissionmember S Lama.

The session started withthe presentation of a docu-mentation of birds and butter-flies species in Sikkim, fol-lowed by a panel discussionof the talks presented by thescientist, researchers and of-ficials in yesterday’s session.

Chaired by SandeepThambe of The Mountain In-stitute, the session discussed

at length, various issues suchas biodiversity conservation,wasteland utilization etc. andagreed that the area beyondChungthang in North Sikkim,identified in the study reportas a potential area forbiodiversity conservation, andSankalang in Dzongu, identi-fied as an area rich inbiodiversity, particularly but-terflies and Herpetofauna,needed to be included underthe protected areas.

turn to pg3

In Namchi, ArmyXI reaches finalsPURAN TAMANG

NAMCHI, 17 Oct: Army XIhas become the first team toenter the final of the ongo-ing All India Chief MinisterGold Cup Football Tourna-ment 2006 here.

The first semi-final of thetournament was played here atthe Bhaichung Stadium today,between Army XI and PeerlessKolkata, which witnessed asmooth win by the former withthree goals to nil. During thematch, the Army XI playersmaintained pressure upon theiropponents from Kolkata,.

The 29th minute sawMohammed Ibrahim [8] ofArmy breaking the Kolkatadefence and netting the ballinside the post, giving histeam a 1-0 lead. Hardly fourminutes had passed, whenVijay Thapa [11] scored an-other goal in the 33rd minute.The first half ended with a 2-0 lead in favour of Army XI.

The second half started offwith the Army team continuingto create number of opportuni-ties for another goal and finally,

ANAND OBEROI

GANGTOK, 17 Oct: Pro-fessor SK Nath of the Depart-ment of Geophysics, IndianInstitute of Technology,Kharagpur, today formallyannounced the completion ofthe Seismic Hazard andMicrozonation Atlas ofSikkim that has been inpreparation by the professorin collaboration and coordi-nation with the officers andscientists of Sikkim.

At a workshop on‘Microzonation of SikkimRegion,’ organised by theSikkim State Council of Sci-ence and Technology and theUnion Science and Technol-ogy Ministry, at JuntaBhawan today, the Professorinformed that the Atlas wasbased on study conductedover the past decade.

He highlighted thatChungthang in North Sikkimwas in the high risk categoryfor mass damage to a futureearthquake and highlightedthat Gangtok, because of itscongestion, could suffer

Baichung is in Sikkim on a short break and will be a regular at the

Paljor Stadium for some time; in the mornings for his practice ses-

sions and later in the day to watch the Gold Cup matches. Looking

fit and motivated, Baichung also spoke to media persons who called

on him Tuesday morning [turn to pg2 for detailed report]

STRIKING HOME

Sikkim’s Seismic Hazard Atlasready; Some good news and

some that is scarydamage more severe than theintensity of the earthquake.

He had words of consola-tion also.

Sikkim, he said, was notin the danger of suffering aBig One [8.7 to 9 on theRichter Scale], and had therecent 4.5 to 5.7 RS magni-tude earthquakes to thank forit. These earthquakes, he saidhad released much of thesubterranean pressure inSikkim, making the possibil-ity of an 8-plus earthquakeremote in the near future.

Since earthquakes did notkill people, but man-madestructures did, the Professorhoped that the MicrozonationAtlas prepared by him wasused as it was intended – toguide implementation ofstrict policy decisions on howmuch to construct where andwhich areas to be barred fromconstruction so that casual-ties in the event of an earth-quake were minimised.

turn to pg3 turn to pg3

2; NOW!; 18 October, 2006

The aim of Sudoku is to en-

ter a number from 1 through

9 in each cell of a 9×9 grid

made up of 3×3 sub-grids,

starting with various digits

already given in some cells;

each row, column, and sub-

grid can contain only one

instance of each number.

Today’s solution is on pg6

NOW! SUDOKU

YESTERDAY’S SOLUTION

OPINION�

NOW!F i r s t W i t h T h e N e w s

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Contd from pg1

Lottery rigging co-accused get bail aftermain accused secures anticipatory bail

Conflicting Signals on Virtuesof Self Employment

The State Government is going out in all earnestness to

convince the youth that there is employment beyond gov-

ernment departments. Good intentions, in fact, one that

should require no reinforcement, but here, despite the

many awareness generation camps the lure of the gov-

ernment job grows stronger by the day. As a result, when

the pined-for appointment letter does not materialise,

frustration manifests. Elsewhere in India, government

jobs no longer rank very high in a job-seeker’s wish-list,

primarily because they no longer compare very well with

the private job market salaries and also because with the

death of the licence raj, even the power of the babudom

is much reduced. None of these apply in Sikkim. Gov-

ernment jobs still offer the best salaries here and the bu-

reaucracy is still very powerful. But this has always been

the case in Sikkim, so why is it that the sheen of govern-

ment service continues to glow brighter?

A possible explanation lies in the fact that even though

attempts are made time and again to inspire the youth

towards self-employment and equip them for private job

markets, they don’t see enough examples of either their

peers or the society in general doing anything to rein-

force its appeal. On the part of the government, the pri-

vate or self-employed sector is still not included in the

decision-making process, which is still controlled tightly

by the bureaucracy. Every new initiative, from cultural

organisations to sports bodies, needs to secure political

or bureaucratic patronage before it is taken seriously and

every suggestion needs to be worded carefully with

enough elements of grovelling respect if it has any hopes

of endorsement. The sectors outside the government

make things even worse. Personal loans, housing loans,

vehicle loans and consumer loans are available almost

exclusively for government servants. Weighed next to

these, the lone attribute of being their own masters com-

pares rather poorly.

If the government is serious about its commitment

to inspire more youngsters to aspire for futures outside

government service, then it should consciously try and

discourage public expressions [like loans exclusively for

government servants] which continue to send out con-

flicting signals. How does one explain to a youth that

being self-employed is a better option for him when-

ever everything, every scheme and every development

around him seems to scream out that government ser-

vice is more secure?

day. This was the third attemptby the co-accused group tosecure bail after they had al-ready been turned downtwice, once by the JudicialMagistrate, in whose court thecase is being heard, and onceby the Sessions Court.

The latest bail petitionwas moved highlighting theanticipatory bail granted tothe main accused and argu-ing that it should only followthat the co-accused are alsoreleased on bail.

Rajesh Lakhani, arrestedin September beginning a fewdays after the ‘gang’ wasbusted, is reported to be thebrother of the main accusedand was booked under section120B of the Indian PenalCode covering criminal con-

spiracy. His bail, granted on15 September, was allowedon a bond of Rs. 5 lakhs.

The case relates to thedaring attempt made by agang of eight on 11 Augustto brow-beat Lottery Direc-torate officials into manipu-lating online lottery drawsworth around Rs. 2 crores.

The incident occurred latein the evening of 11 August atthe Lottery Draw Hall of theDirectorate of Lotteries housedin the rented premises offormer Sangha MLA NamkhaGyaltsen at Baluwakhani.

The gang forced its wayinto the draw hall and tried tocoerce the judges to forge theresult sheet of the online lot-tery draws of 9:20 pm and9:30 pm. All 8 were wearingblack caps and masks but theiractivities inside the draw hall

was captured on the CloseCircuit TVs installed there.

At the time of the incidentthere were only three LotteryDirectorate personnel at thedraw hall among whom therewere two judges. The judgesrefused to rig the results, af-ter which the gang departedwith a warning not to reportthe incident to the police.

The six persons grantedbail today are accused to bemembers of the ‘maskedgang’ and were among thefirst to be arrested after thearrest of one Satish Shetty, arepresentative of a lotterymarketing agency, unspooledthe details of the incident. Asinvestigations proceeded, thecops became convinced thatsomeone was playing the‘gang’ from behind, leadingto the further arrests.

Baichung was at PaljorStadium on a practicesession Tuesdaymorning when he spoketo media persons in thestands later. NIKHIL

PRADHAN reports onBaichung’s commentsranging on topics fromhis recent outburstduring a match, thedecision to retire andthen to continue,soccer planning tips forthe State…

Sikkim’s favourite son,soccer superstar [andperhaps the only one in

the Indian scene] is home fora few days; and while speak-ing to journalists on a sunnyTuesday morning at the PaljorStadium, he had a couple ofthings to say about the stateof the “beautiful game” [read:football] in Sikkim.

He had, what looked likean easy and laid back kickaround with his nationalsquad team-mate and JCTclub player Renedy Singhand then met with the jour-nalists in the stadium stands.

First up, he tackled thematter of his refusal to leavethe football pitch duringMohun Bagan’s recent matchagainst arch rivals East Ben-gal in a Kolkata league match;which got him suspended forthe last three matches of theleague and attracted a fine ofRs. 50,000 with an added op-tion of either paying up ormissing the first two matchesof the league’s next season.

“You’ll never see me los-ing my cool like that again,”assures Baichung, perhapssensitive to the fact thatsportspersons in the makinglook up to him and wouldemulate all his actions. “Butsometimes you just get frus-trated by certain decisions andit was one of those momentsfor me,” he explains.

Today, Baichung also ex-plained his sudden decision toretire a few months back [thank-fully, since then revoked].

“You know I’ve been play-ing at the national level for 12years now and at the timewhen I announced the deci-sion to retire, my motivationallevels were certainly low. Ihad to ask myself if I wantedto continue playing for thecountry and for some time Ifelt that I didn’t. However,later on I realized that I hadmore fuel in me to carry on. Iam happy I changed my deci-sion. I feel fit and my motiva-tion is back to a high level.”

On starting his footballclub - United Sikkim Sport-ing Club - in the state, he says,

WITH BAICHUNG, ATPALJOR STADIUM

“SIKKIM PEOPLE NEED TO GIVE BACK

MORE TO THE COMMUNITY”

“Although the club is new, ithas been tough running it.Obviously I can’t be hands onsince I hardly get the time tocome back very often. Theclub is being currently run byArjun Rai [Manager] andSherap Lepcha [Coach] andat times it is quite difficult.For example, at times we arehard pressed to get a regularXI because in some district aplayer has been offered Rs.500 to play in a local game.”

At this point it is evidentthat this is a subject that heis very keen on, “Anotherthing that is needed is thesupport from the localpeople. It is very unfortunatethat not many people showconcern for USSC or for thatmatter any other local club.To develop the sport here, itis necessary for the people torealize that they have to giveback to the community andhelp in every way they can.”

He is also appreciative ofthe new format of theGovernor’s Gold Cup, “TheQuarter Final League systemsets the stage for proper ex-posure of local players. Ear-lier, when the matches wereplayed on knock-out system,a good player in a bad teamcould not show his talentenough as he got to play onlyone game. Now, a team hasto play a minimum of threegames which means that a

player gets a better chance todisplay his talent. Althoughthe team might not qualify,but chances are that a goodplayer will get noticed.”

Baichung seems pleasedby the fact that Sanju Pradhanhas been picked up by Air In-dia Mumbai [Also, accordingto unconfirmed reports, SSACaptain, Nirmal Chettri, hasalso been contracted by AirIndia], but he warns againstpressure. “The media shouldnot apply pressure on Sanju.Let him play with an uncom-plicated, free mind. We areused to criticizing our playersor giving ‘negative encour-agement’, and that is whatcreates unnecessary pressure.The media should just forgetabout him for sometime andlet him get used to the fact thathe will be playing on a biggerstage,” he advises.

He also had an advicefor the two sports hostels ofthe state.

“They are doing a goodjob by giving kids an oppor-tunity to play and learn aboutthe game, but what theyshould have is a clear aim. Itis good to prepare for theGold Cup and other regionaltournaments, but these hos-tels should not hesitate to re-lease players if they havebeen sought out by the big-ger clubs. The hostels are forgrooming talent, not only

about winning tournaments.They are more about ensur-ing that the kids develop afuture in the game.”

All this while, the GMHKLions XI and the AssamRifles players were practicingfor their upcoming semi-finalmatches on a pitch that lookedgood as new and a stadiumthat seemed better than ever.

It was hard not to catchBaichung reminisce, “I re-member I grew up playing inthis stadium when it was sandyand a free-for-all ground. Itwas hard to get a place to prac-tice because the place was sopacked it looked like a mela-ground. It’s ironic at that time,kids couldn’t play here be-cause it was in such poor re-pair and crowded, and kidscan’t play here now becausethe ground is too good andneeds to be well maintained.It will be good to play on thisground now. I have been try-ing to get an exhibition matcharranged here in which hope-fully I will be playing withsome of the bigger names fromthe national team.”

When, and whether thismatch happens, is still tentative,but what is certain is that it willbe a positive step for footballin the state. It may be addedhere that even if Baichung wasto play alone, a massive crowdwould be ensured [it could even

“MY MOTIVATIONAL LEVEL IS HIGH AGAIN”

turn to pg4

BAICHUNG

SHARES PLANS

FOR AN

EXHIBITION

MATCH WITH

NATIONAL STARS

AT PALJOR

STADIUM

BAICHUNG

SHARES PLANS

FOR AN

EXHIBITION

MATCH WITH

NATIONAL STARS

AT PALJOR

STADIUM

Pic: Joseph LepchaPic: Joseph Lepcha

DEEPAK SHARMA catches up with two of theoldest staff members of the Mangan Hospital andhas them reminiscing of the old days on the eveof the inauguration of a new hospital building atthe North District headquarters scheduled forWednesday…

GLIMPSES OF

MANGAN’S OLD

HOSPITAL

It was 1959, when the olddistrict hospital ofMangan was constructed

at lower Mangan Bazaar bya Sardar Tshering Sherpa ofGangtok.

Among the oldest hospitalstaff of that time are Ex-StoreIn-charge ST Bhutia [retired in2005] who was affectionatelyknown as ‘Store Babula’ andCook Habel Lepcha [retired in1996], both from LowerSinghik, Mangan.

On being asked about thetime of the hospital’s opening,they informed that at that timeand till 1975, the hospital staffcomprised of very few people.According to them, the staffcomprised of MO [incharge]Dr. Chakraborty, NursesYankeet Lepcha and MingmaSherpa of Mangan, Com-pounder Jona TsheringLepcha, Ward boy RajaLepcha of Darjeeling, PeonJoseph Lepcha, SweeperVasudev, Dhobi LobsangKhampa and some others. Andit turns out that there were noMO or CMO posts at that time.

Mr. Bhutia and Mr.Lepcha also informed that atthat time they were receivinga salary of Rs. 63 while the

doctor was getting Rs. 450 permonth and that they alwayscashed their salary chequesfrom Jethmul Bhojraj [‘BankDokan’] of Mangan Bazaar.

After Dr. Chakraborty, thesubsequent In-charges till ‘75were Dr. Barua, Dr. Dorjee,Dr. Tenzing, Dr. Pazo, Dr.Gyatsho, Dr. Kharel, Dr. Raiand Dr. Giri. Later on, Dr.Patinza and then Dr. Pradhanwere appointed as DMOs.Further on down the line,when the post of the CMOwas finally introduced, Dr.Burma and Dr. Agnihotriwere the designated officers.

In 1967, an additional roomwas constructed in the hospi-tal for an X-Ray machine andfinally in 1975 the room wasput to good use when the ma-chine was setup. KB Gurungwas hired as the first techni-cian for the machine. Also in1967, the Hospital got its firstvehicle, an ambulance.

They also informed that atthat time the hospital was vis-ited by the Chogyal PaldenThondup Namgyal and theCrown Prince TenzingNamgyal. Sometimes, thehospital was also visited by

turn to pg4

Staff of District Hospital Mangan between 1970-71

The old District Hospital Mangan, which is being shiftedat Pentok New Hospital building

18 October, 2006; NOW! 3

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SDF claimsCongress converts,Cong deniesa NOW REPORT

GANGTOK, 17 Oct: Theruling Sikkim DemocraticFront party has claimed that20 Sikkim Pradesh CongressCommittee youth fromGangtok constituency joinedthe party.

A press release issued byPrem Karki, the SDF public-ity secretary claims that thejoining group, led by UrmilaSherpa of Gangtok, has al-leged SPCC of not havingany concrete ideology toserve the general public.

Those who joined SDFwere Chandra Darji, BishalRamu Damu, Ashok Thapa,Punam Chettri, PhulmayaRasaily, Urmila Sherpa,Sashikala Darji, MenukaMohora, Sarda Pariyar, ManiKumar Rai, Sangeeta RamuDamu, Sunita Rai, DewkhaBhutia, Sabita Chettri, BhaktaBdr. Rasaily, ChandraGurung, Pushpa Mohora,Manmaya Giri, MohanGurung and Sushil Pariyar.

On the other hand, the StateCongress has condemned theSDF claim and accused it ofplaying cheap politics.

SK Bardewa, the chair-person, SPCC Public Griev-ance Cell, has countered thatUrmila Sherpa, who led thejoining group was never anSPPC member. The releasefurther claims that if theleader itself was not an SPPCmember, then there could beno way that the rest of thejoining group could have hadparty membership either.

Mr. Bardewa has furtherwarned that the party couldalso file a defamation suitagainst Ms. Sherpa for tar-nishing the party’s image. Theparty has further urged themedia to verify the facts be-fore publishing such claims.

Students Union congratulates cops

a NOW REPORT

GANGTOK, 17 Oct: TheAll Fourth Grade Govt. Em-ployees Association[AFGGEA] has clarified thatthe ‘third front’ constitutedrecently under the chairman-ship of Norsing Rai was nota political organization butwas instead an apoliticalgroup which wanted to par-

ticipate in the upcomingelections of the executivemembers of AFGGEA.

A release, issued byAFGGEA general secretary,explains that they have namedthe group ‘third front’ since twogroups of contestants for theelections had already joined thefray. The general secretary fur-ther clarified that because all itsmembers are Government em-

ployees the question of politi-cal organization does not arise.

The release urged Asso-ciation members to vote forits candidates because allof them were capable ofhandling all the issues re-lated to 3rd and 4th gradeemployees.

‘Third Front’ in SGEA pollsnot a political party

a NOW REPORT

GANGTOK, 17 Oct: AllSikkim Students Union hascongratulated the Sikkim Po-lice for successfully re-arrest-ing Rakesh ‘Spiderman’ Raiwithin 38 hours of his escapefrom Namchi hazat.

A press release issued bythe ASSU general secretaryand assistant general secre-tary today conveyed its mes-sage of appreciation to theSikkim Police wishing themsimilar success in future.

A meeting of the Associa-

tion held under the chairman-ship of its president TashiTshering Bhutia also ap-pealed to the student commu-nity not to opt for fatalisticescape routes like suicides,especially when they fail inexamins, the release added.

The SACON researchstudy on the biodiversityalong the Teesta River Val-ley is part of a larger project,‘Carrying Capacity Studiesof Teesta River Basin inSikkim’, funded by NHPCand sponsored through theMinistry of Environment andForests, Government of Indiaand CISMHE, University ofDelhi as the coordination forthe multidisciplinary study.

The project involved localresearch students and assis-tants, including three PhDscholars, namely BasundharaChettri, who is working in thefield of Herpetofauna, BhojKumar Acharya, working onbirds and butterflies and JayaThapa, working on mammals.

The research work estab-lished field stations nearSingtam and at Chungthang.

The study established thataround 45% of all speciesfound in Sikkim were presentalong the Teesta valley. Thesampling area was restrictedwithin two kilometres on ei-

ther side of Teesta, coveringabout 600 sq km, whichmakes for 8.5 % of the totalarea of Sikkim.

The post lunch session wit-nessed the valedictory function.

In his felicitation address,JP Tamang, a lecturer withSikkim Government College,stressed that a full-fledgedresearch institute for forestand allied studies was an ur-gent need for Sikkim.

Mr. Lama, in turn, urgedthe Department and the StateGovernment to expedite theformation of the StateBiodiversity Board.

The Secretary-cum-PCCFalso complemented SACONfor their contribution, butadded that such studies re-quired the presence of a rep-resentative of the Forest De-partment, given the fact thatthe Department was respon-sible for 85% of the total landarea in Sikkim and its role inproviding the correct infor-mation and policies could notbe overlooked.

Addressing the current issueof hydel projects coming up in

the protected areas, heemphasised that such projectswere an important source of rev-enue for the State and could notbe simply wished away. Theonly way to work out was to finda way to incorporate conserva-tion with development, withimplementation of strict mea-sures to ensure against depletionof the forest resources.

The last address for the daywas the presidential address ofMr. Subedi who also empha-sized on the need for bio-con-servation in Sikkim and voicedthat hydel projects were im-perative for the State’s devel-opmental march but could beguided in a way that they as-sisted further development ofthe project areas.

The workshop was par-ticipated by local NGO mem-bers of Yambong EcotourismCommittee, KCC [West],KEEP, VHAS and ECOSS,along with Director of Tour-ism, PK Dong, UshaLachungpa from Forest De-partment and Director Incharge GB Pant Institute, Mr.S. Badola.

Biodiversity workshop ends...Contd from pg1

a NOW REPORT

GANGTOK, 17 October:The 13th Battalion of ITBP’sB company organized a BadaKhana at Raj Bhawan,Gangtok to mark the inter-company changeover of forceon 15 October, informs a pressrelease issued by CO, Tac HQ.

‘B’ company has been de-ployed for the security of theRaj Bhawan here. The din-ner was presided over byGovernor V Rama Rao, ac-companied by officers of RajBhawan, ADIG SHQ NE-11,RC Baijwan and other offic-ers of 13th ITBP.

The Governor was offi-

cially welcomed by Mr. RCBaijwan and the jawans pre-sented a colourful programmeon the occasion, which wasfollowed by the Bada Khana.

The programme endedwith a vote of thanks deliv-ered by Deputy Comman-dant, 13th BN. ITBP PoliceForce, JS Tariyal.

ITBP Bada Khana at Raj Bhawan

The chief guest for theday, the Science & Technol-ogy Minister SB Subedi,commended the Professor’sexhaustive work and thankedthe central government forsupporting the study. Com-menting that many develop-mental works, some by pri-vate parties, were underwayin the State at present, heurged that civil engineers in-volved in these projects studythe report well before

finalising plans. He alsourged the Land Revenue &Disaster Management de-partment to study the Reportin detail and prepare its di-saster mitigation plans withthe projections made it in.

The workshop was alsoattended by Chief SecretaryND Chingapa, Secretary, Sci-ence & Technology OPSinghi, Director DST, BKBansal, professors, scientistsand concerned officials andrepresentatives from variousorganisations.

at the 89th minute, the final goalof the match was scored by TLKuki [17], which secured theirentry into the finals.

The final match will beplayed here on 20 October.

Though Army XI has suc-cessfully made their way into thefinals here, where they are ex-pected to lift the CM’s Gold Cup,the team faces a huge challengeof winning over the Nigerian Li-ons at the semi-final match of theGovernor’s Gold Cup.

Tomorrow Punjab Policewill takes on Air Force.

Contd from pg1

Army XI reaches...

Contd from pg1

Sikkim’s Seismic HazardAtlas ready...

4; NOW!; 18 October, 2006

Published by Pema Wangchuk Dorjee and printed at Baba Offset Press Works Pvt. Ltd., Tadong. Editor: Pema Wangchuk Dorjee. Now! Near Ayurvedic Clinic, Gairi Gaon, Tadong. East Sikkim. ph: 03592 271167 email: sikkimnow@rediffmail.com

� FINALONE

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be promoted as a tourism event]simply because of iconic stat-ure he enjoys. Along with thisfame, of course, comes thedreaded word - pressure. “Iwould be lying if I said that Ido not feel pressure while play-ing. But the pressure is mainlyfrom within. I want to performwell so that pressure is gener-ated by my expectations ofmyself. I cannot afford to thinkabout my parents, my near onesor my state, so the pressure re-volves around my game play.Of course, I do feel proud andrecognize the expectations asrepresenting my state and infact the North East at the na-tional and international level.”

Baichung also stressed onwhat changes were needed inthe game at the state level andalso gave some helpful advicefor the players that were play-ing or hoping to play for clubsoutside Sikkim.

“The need of the hour is a

new league system which, asI mentioned earlier, will givethe players more opportuni-ties and introduce new strat-egies of play beyond theslam-bang approach relatedto knock-out tournaments.The players should also pre-pare physically and mentallyto play in bigger tournamentslike the Santosh Trophy. Theguys who are going out needto work hard and not get de-moralized or carried away bywhat people say. They alsoneed to carry loads of pa-tience along with them asthey may not get as manychances as they might want.”

WITH BAICHUNG...Contd from pg2

the Principal AdministrativeOfficer, they add. Mr. Bhutiaand Mr. Lepcha mention thatduring those days, strict ac-tion was taken against absen-tees and negligent staff mem-bers, which, unfortunately isnot the case anymore.

The old staff members werequite appreciative of the fact

that after 47 years, the peopleof Mangan were getting a newdistrict hospital with modernfacilities. However they werequite certain that their memo-ries associated with the old hos-pital would never fade away.

Here’s to hoping that thenew building succeeds in whatthe old hospital obviously stoodfor - helping people and mak-ing their lives better bit by bit.

a NOW REPORT

GANGTOK, 17 Oct: TheChief Minister will be presentas the chief guest for the‘Grand Finale’ of the ongoingNamchi Mahotsav on 20 Oc-tober, the highlight of whichwill be the special presentationorganized by the Cultural Af-fairs & Heritage Department.

A press release issued by

Contd from pg2

Glimpses of Mangan’s...

Namchi Mahotsav to close withgrand cultural celebration

the Joint Secretary of the de-partment, SD Dhakal, in-forms that a ‘grand’ culturalshow will be organized on 19and 20 October at theMahotsav. The show is beinghosted in association withNorth East Zone CulturalCentre [NEZCC] under theUnion Ministry of Culture.

This program, which shallhave all eight North Eastern

States presenting their respectivefolk dances, will begin from 5PM onwards and will includeNEZCC selected troupes of na-tional and international repute.

On behalf of the Union Min-istry, NEZCC Deputy Directors,Mr. Talianokcha and Mr. Vasumand Section Officer Z Lhousahave already arrived at Namchito supervise the arrangements.The Cultural Affairs Depart-

ment has also nominated judgesfor the dance and music com-petition being organized by theMahotsav Committee.

The release informs fur-ther that such an event in-volving the North EasternStates is being organized forthe first time in Sikkim andhave extended an invitationto the general public to wit-ness the program.

a NOW REPORT

GANGTOK, 17 Oct: For themuch talked about upcomingSGEA elections, an ElectionCommission comprising of rep-resentatives of an individualbody and an adhoc member ofthe SGEA was formalised today.

A representative of theState Bank of Sikkim Em-ployees Association, NorbuTamang has been made elec-tion commissioner and

On a high, SATAgets Gold again

a NOW REPORT

GANGTOK, 17 Oct: The Sikkim Amateur Taekwondo As-sociation [SATA] has again brought glory to the state bylifting the Overall Championship in the 1st Jankidas SubbaMemorial Taekwondo Championship held at Kalimpong on14 and 15 October.

The state team has also bagged 10 gold, 10 silver and 8bronze medals in the championship, which was organisedby the JDS Taekwondo Dojang, Sindeypong of Kalimpong.

A 50-member team of SATA had left to represent Sikkimstate on 14 October under their coaches Jyoti Pradhan andKiran Gurung. The team members were comprised of WhiteHall, Palzor Stadium, Namchi, Tashiding and PakyongDojangs.

The championship, which was held in sub-junior, juniorand senior weight categories, was participated by around 90athletes from Kalimpong, Darjeeling and Sikkim.

While commenting on the team performance, SATAcoach, Jyoti Pradhan informed that all the members hadshown good skills and performed well against opponents.

He informed that Jonan Lepcha and Kunzang OngmuBhutia had shown an outstanding performance in thechampionship.

“The tournament was also very good practice for us aswe are taking part in the Sub Junior National Champion-ships which is to be held next month”, he adds.

Tshering Bhutia of SGEA, theadoc committee chairman.

Today was also the lastdate for the filing of nomina-tions for the 7 posts for which21 candidates stepped up.While one candidature for thepost of Joint Secretary (II) wasdisqualified today on groundsof arriving late, another can-didate for the post of JointSecretary (I) withdrew hiscandidature. Both candidatesbelonged to different camps.

The Commission members,at a press conference held hereat the government employeesguest house today, informedthat meetings were held withrepresentatives of all threecamps contesting the electionsto ensure free and fair elections.

Today the various proce-dures for the conduction of theelections were discussed and

deliberated and it was decidedto have eight election booths,one each Krishi Bhawan, For-est Secretariat, SNT, SPWDoffice, employee guest house,and Power Department andtwo at Tashiling Secretariat.

There are 32 members inthe commission, out of which4 each shall take responsibil-ity for each of the booths.

ELECTION COMMISSION FOR SGEA POLLS TAKES CHARGE