News of Jalpaiguri 04/05/2010

Clash shuts Jalpaiguri

Full story: The Telegraph

Police deployed on Merchant Road in Jalpaiguri on Monday. Siliguri, April 19: An altercation snowballing into a clash between shop-owners and lawyers shut down Jalpaiguri town for most part of the day today.

OUR CORRESPONDENT

Police deployed on Merchant Road in Jalpaiguri on Monday. (Biplab Basak) Siliguri, April 19: An altercation snowballing into a clash between shop-owners and lawyers shut down Jalpaiguri town for most part of the day today. After the clash this morning, the lawyers boycotted the court, while the shop-owners downed shutters. Five traders were arrested for allegedly assaulting the lawyers. Members of the business community had set up a blockade in front of Mukta Bhawan adjacent to the Jalpaiguri district court entrance on Merchant Road from 9am, demanding the arrest of lawyer Bappa Ghosh, who, they alleged, assaulted Bachchu Roy, a shopkeeper, last evening. When other traders came to Bachchu’s rescue, Bappa allegedly beat up some of them. The traders filed a complaint against the lawyer with Kotwali police. Around 10am today, Tapan Bhattacharya, the secretary of the Jalpaiguri Bar Association, persuaded the protesters to lift the blockade and entered the court. “Suddenly, stones began raining down on us from behind. Immediately a mob armed with lathis and sharp weapons attacked us and five of our members were injured,” Bhattacharya said. The Kotwali police picked up five shopkeepers from the spot. “Yesterday a lawyer badly assaulted shop-owner Bachchu Roy on Merchant Road. Despite a complaint, he was not arrested and instead five of our members were caught,” said Prantosh Deb, a member of the Merchant Road Byabsayee Samiti. The situation was brought under control after RAF was deployed in the area. Inspector-general of police (north Bengal) K.L. Tamta invited representatives from two sides for talks but could not break the deadlock. “We are trying to find a solution,” Tamta said. President of the Jalpaiguri Byabsayee Samiti Sadhan Bose said he had written to the bar association requesting the lawyers to settle the matter that had been kindled by a “trivial” altercation. Anand Kumar, the Jalpaiguri district police chief, said the situation was still tense but under control. “We have arrested five persons for blocking the road and talks are on with both sides to restore normality.” Get More Customers, Get More Income!!! With no day-to-day current of shoppers you cannot have reliable everyday income. It's not possible to get income if no one visits your website. You need customers to see your products, every day, 24 hours! Our company helps more than 30,000 customers get more visitors online. You will increase your sales by receiving thousands of real interested visitors to see your web-site. More Visitors... Advertise to over 10 million users across the globe. 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Get Better Rank...   Jalpaiguri HC bench ready OUR SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT Full story: The Telegraph  Calcutta, March 29: The state government has completed the infrastructure to open a Calcutta High Court circuit bench in Jalpaiguri and it can start functioning once the high court gives its final clearance, law minister Rabilal Moitra told the Assembly today. The minister was replying to a question by CPM MLA from Dhupguri, Lakshmikanta Roy, who wanted to know the latest position of the bench and the probable date of its inauguration. “The administration of the high court had detected 15 minor deficiencies in the infrastructure that had been put in place by the government for the proposed circuit bench. Most of the inadequacies pointed out by the court have been removed. We are now waiting for a final round of inspection by the court,” said Moitra. However, Bimal Chattarjee, chairman of the West Bengal Bar Council, said: “Advocates in general, except the lawyers of Siliguri, have no objection to the functioning of a circuit bench in Jalpaiguri. But at least three cases challenging the validity of setting up the bench in Jalpaiguri are pending before Calcutta High Court. These cases have to be disposed off first.” When a discussion on the matter was in progress, Speaker Hashim Abdul Halim intervened and wanted to know the latest situation. “There is a great demand for the circuit bench among the people of north Bengal. The bench should start operating if the infrastructure is ready,” said the Speaker. The state government had taken a portion of the Jalpaiguri zilla parishad office premises on rent for running the bench on a temporary basis. The government pays Rs 1 lakh as rent every month to the zilla parishad. Moitra, however, said the government had purchased 40 acres in Jalpaiguri for Rs 93 lakh to construct a new building for the bench. Lawyers of Siliguri and Jalpaiguri had fought for over a decade on where it should be located. The Supreme Court and the Centre had approved the bench to cater for the litigants in six districts of north Bengal — Malda, Cooch Behar, Jalpaiguri, Darjeeling and South and North Dinajpur. Moitra told the House that he had held a meeting with the high court administration last week. “The court has given an assurance that another round of inspection will be conducted very soon.” The minister said the government had spent Rs 37 lakh to set up the office and nearly Rs 48 lakh to arrange accommodation for the court officials and judges.

Tea auction back in Jalpaiguri Full story: The Telegraph
OUR CORRESPONDENT
Tea auction in progress at the Jalpaiguri centre on Tuesday. (Biplab Basak) Siliguri, July 14: After a year and three months, the sound of the gavel reverberated through the North Bengal Tea Auction Centre in Jalpaiguri today, courtesy the consistent efforts of the stakeholders of tea industry in the region. “In May last year, we had to close down the auctions after the 13th sale for virtually no inflow of tea from the estates and bought-leaf factories,” said Kamal Bhattacharjee, the chief executive officer of the NBTAC. “Since then, we have been trying heart and soul to resume auction at the centre.” Since its inception in February 2005, the NBTAC has been reeling from the “starvation” of tea. Added to it was the stiff competition from the Siliguri Tea Auction Centre, which continues to be the preference for planters since 1976. While last year the NBTAC could not hold auctions for 39 weeks — there are 52 sales in in a year — today’s sale (28th sale) was the first this year. During the 27 previous dates, there was no auction because of inadequate or no tea. “We auctioned 4,369kg of tea today. The sale was 100 per cent with an average price of Rs 101 per kg,” Bhattacharjee said. “Although the quantity put in auction was insignificant compared to other centres, it was good that we could at least resume the process. The price was also competitive in comparison to Siliguri.” While NBTAC sources revealed that the highest price today rose to Rs 108 and the lowest was Rs 95, officials at the Siliguri Tea Auction Centre spoke of similar figures. “At the 27th sale held (in Siliguri) on July 2, the average price was Rs 110.79. The figures of the 28th sale on July 10 are yet to be compiled. But given the trend, it can be said prices of high quality tea have dipped by Re 1 to Rs 3 while other teas fetched Rs 3 to Rs 5 less per kg,” a source said. Stakeholders associated with the NBTAC are, however, hopeful. At present, 148 buyers, 58 sellers and six brokers are registered with it. “We hope to see the sales rise in the future and the centre continues to remain functional, catering for the tea industry in the region,” said N.K. Basu, the principal adviser to Indian Tea Planters’ Association. Jalpaiguri duo on Gangstang Full story: The Telegraph   OUR CORRESPONDENT Jalpaiguri, Aug. 1: Bhaskar Das and Sujoy Bhowmik, members of Jalpaiguri Nature and Trekkers? Club (JNTC) team, made it to the summit of Gangstang (6,162 metres) on July 29. According to them the team members successfully reached the summit at 11.20 am. ?Everything was fine until we reached the base camp, where we encountered heavy rainfall. However, bad weather could hardly deter the enthusiasm of Bhaskar and Sujoy, who headed for the summit and set up two further camps at higher altitudes. Finally, in the afternoon of July 29, we received the news that they had made it to the summit,? said Badal Debnath, one of the four members of the team, from Keylong, a hill hamlet in Himachal Pradesh. The four-member team had started from Jalpaiguri on July 15. Led by Das, the fourth member of the team was Pinaki Sengupta. Their destination, Gangstang, is a Himalayan peak located in the Kullu district of Himachal Pradesh. ?We hired guides and two of them, Harish Thakur and Tikam Bahadur, reached the summit with the team members. The victorious members of the team then came down to the base camp at Bilingnala, located close to Gangstang glacier at a height of 14,500 feet. We are waiting for them at Keylong,? Debnath said. ?This time, we had less than a month?s time to prepare for the expedition as the permission of Indian Mountaineering Foundation reached us late. But Bhaskar and Sujoy have made us proud,? said Pinaki, the other member of the team that has tasted success in expeditions to Fluted, Rudgaira and Kedardome.