CMYK
02
KOLKATA, SATURDAY 01 AUGUST 2020
THUMBNAILS
A jar containing suspected
snake venom was seized
by the police and CID in
Malda on Friday. ��SNS
Two held with ‘venom’: The
CID and the police seized
around 600 grams of sus-
pected snake venom that
was being carried in a glass
jar at the Pakuahat area
under the Bamongola
police station in Malda. The
same was being smuggled
to Bangladesh, sources
said. The police also arrest-
ed two youths from Gan-
garampur in South Dina-
jpur who had been carry-
ing the jar in a car. The
arrested have been identi-
fied as Mohammed Kalam,
alias Alam Mian, and Mus-
fique Alam of Chanddara
village in Gangarampur.
Police said the venom may
be worth Rs 1 crore, and
that the jar had 'Made in
France' and a code number
inscribed on it. SNS
Graft slur on pradhan: The
pradhan of the Chaknagar
gram panchayat under the
Gazole police station in
Malda, Sadhucharan Sarkar,
of the BJP has been
accused of embezzling
almost Rs 1 crore govern-
ment funds. Some benefi-
ciaries had filed a written
complaint against him with
the BDO, Ushnata Moktan.
It is alleged that funds
meant for schemes like
the MGNREGS and tissue
culture were pocketed by
the accused. Mr Sarkar,
however, said the opposi-
tion had been leveling
false charges after they
failed to get 'cut money.'
BDO Moktan said she would
look into the matter. SNS
Tamang not to attend
‘GTA talks’ at Centre
STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE
DARJEELING, 31 JULY
Gorkha Jan Mukti Morcha
leader Binoy Tamang today said
that he, along with the Gorkha-
land Territorial Administration
chairman Anit Thapa, would
not be attending a review
meeting on the GTA called
by the Centre for 7 August.
He also said that time had come
for them to begin a united
"intellectual fight" for Gorkha-
land.
A letter from the Ministry
of Home Affairs calling for the
GTA review meeting went
viral yesterday, drawing crit-
icism from different quarters,
with most maintaining that a
tripartite meeting to discuss
the promised 'permanent
political solution' should have
been called instead.
Addressing a virtual press
conference, Mr Tamang today
said, "Our party has decided
that we will not attend the
meeting called by the Centre.
Had the meeting been called
Once a ‘threat,’ this tusker
becomes Jaldapara ‘pet’
RAJKUMAR KARMAKAR
ALIPURDUAR, 31 JULY
A wild tusker, which was
caught in the forests of Jhar-
gram district and taken to the
Jaldapara National Park in
Alipurduar is in the process
of becoming a 'kunki' (pet)
elephant, which experts claim,
has exceptional qualities.
It is learnt that the jumbo,
aged about 20, was ill and had
been posing a threat to for-
est villagers near the Jhargram
forest division seven months
ago. Forest officials decided
to catch the elephant and send
it to Jaldapara, it is learnt. For-
est sources say that training
an adult jumbo is a tough job,
while 'kunki' elephants are
trained from a very tender age.
"As per the decision, a
team of experts from the Jal-
dapara National Park reached
Covid: Five die
in Siliguri; dip
in Malda cases
Member of SMC Board of administrators infected
STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE
SILIGURI, 31 JULY
F
ive persons, two from
the Siliguri Municipal
Corporation (SMC)
area and two from rural
areas of the Siliguri Sub-Divi-
sion, died today. They had
been tested positive for Covid-
19, sources said.
A 78-year-old resident of
East Vivekananda Pally died
in the North Bengal Medical
College and Hospital
(NBMCH), while an 80-year-
old resident of Shantinagar also
died there, it is learnt.
Two persons from Matigara
and Phansidewa blocks also
died at the Desun (Covid)
Hospital at Kawakhali. A 79-
year-old person of Halka in
Matigara was admitted in
the hospital yesterday,
while another 55-year-old
resident of Khaliljote was
admitted there on 25 July.
Also today, a 33-year-old man
from Salugara died at the
NBMCH, sources said.
Meanwhile, a member of
the Board of Administrators
(BoA), health, Siliguri Munic-
ipal Corporation (SMC), Sankar
Ghosh, also tested positive for
Covid-19 today. Mr Ghosh
had been in isolation for the
past few days after he devel-
oped symptoms. Earlier, the
chairperson of the BoA, Asok
Bhattacharya, and other mem-
bers, Mukul Sengupta and
Rambhajan Mahato, were
infected too. Mr Ghosh is
undergoing treatment in home
isolation.
On the other hand, 27 per-
sons under the SMC area have
tested positive for the novel
coronavirus in the past 24
hours. Among the new cases,
Ward 9 has registered eight,
sources said.
for the demand for Gorkha-
land, we would have been
part of it. If the BJP is sincere
then they should cancel this
letter and issue another for a
tripartite meeting on the state-
hood demand."
The Morcha leader, who is
in home quarantine after his
security guard was tested pos-
itive for Covid-19, also claimed
that he had received the invi-
tation letter via email and
Jhargram where the elephant
was caught on 5 January this
year," a forest official said.
"Later, the elephant was
taken to Jaldapara and the
process to make it a kunki ele-
phant started in the pilkhana
(a shed where elephants are
Mental health cell
As the Covid-19 pandem-
ic leads to anxiety and panic
among the people, the Silig-
uri chapter of the Covid Care
Network, a group of individ-
uals and Covid survivors,
mainly dedicated healthcare
workers and doctors, is plan-
ning to set up a cell for men-
tal health counseling. Mem-
bers of the network believe that
the situation has brought into
focus the importance of such
counseling.
"Covid-19 has serious con-
sequences on the mental
health of people. Therefore, we
are planning to open a cell to
help people under depres-
sion, anxiety, panic, or fear of
ostracism due to the prevail-
ing situation. News of deaths,
social alienation, fear, and
the resultant psychological
trauma are indicative of men-
tal health problems. We will
rope in mental health experts
in our network," said the
nodal person of the network
and the dean of student affairs
at the North Bengal Medical
College and Hospital, Dr
Sandip Sengupta. He said the
network receives around 30-
40 calls daily, basically on
treatment of patients.
Containment zones
The Darjeeling district
administration has enforced
a broad-based containment
that it had not been sent to the
Morcha's Bimal Gurung camp.
"We will write to the Cen-
tre, stating that we will not be
attending the meeting and
also state our reasons for it,"
he said.
On the other hand, in a sep-
arate message, Mr Thapa said,
"The GTA is under the state
government and it was accept-
ed by our earlier leaders and
we are just running it. If a GTA
review meeting is to be held
then it should be with the
state government. People had
hoped that a meeting would
be called by the Centre for
Gorkhaland, but by calling
such a meeting before the
elections, it is only creating
misunderstandings and dis-
turbances here."
Mr Thapa also said that the
GTA was receiving funds from
the state government and
that they had not seen any cen-
tral assistance after they took
charge.
Both the leaders also
claimed that this was a divide
kept) in the Park," the official
added.
The jumbo was christened
'Kunjaresh' in Jaldapara before
it started the training.
"The elephant has already
learned to respond to com-
mands made by the mahuts
The party in the state is run either by the Centre or
Gujarat
ON THE BJP AFTER HE DITCHED THE PARTY AND REJOINED THE TRINAMUL CONGRESS
zone in six areas--three under
six wards of the SMC and
three more areas in the Mati-
gara block--for seven days
from 2 August.
Mahananda Para under
Wards 4 and 5, the area cov-
ering Burdwan Road--Agrasen
Road to SP Mukherjee Road-
Burdwan Road crossing
through Nehru Road crossing,
Vidyasagar Road, Vivekanan-
da Road under Wards 7, 8 and
9, areas at Bharat Nagar, and
Guru Saday Dutta Road in
Ward 24 will now fall under the
zones. Areas including Med-
ical More Market, Kawakhali,
portion of Asian Highway-II,
New Township Market, road
opposite to Desun Hospital also
have been marked such zones.
20 cases in Malda
Meanwhile, registering a dip
in Covid cases, Malda report-
ed 20 fresh cases in the total
435 samples tested at the
VRDL in the Malda Medical
College and Hospital last night.
Fourteen cases among these
are from Gazole, and three each
from Harishchandrapur and
Old Malda. Much to the relief
of everqeyone, including offi-
cials, there were no fresh cases
in English Bazaar and Old
Malda municipalities. So far,
47623 samples have been test-
ed positive in the MMCH,
among which 44240 have test-
ed negative, officials said.
and rule policy of the BJP and
that all should be aware of it,
stay united and not fight
against each other.
"On 28 July, BJP leader
Dilip Ghosh called a meeting
in Delhi regarding the 2021
elections where different MPs,
MLAs had been invited, along
with district presidents. Their
leaders from places like Dooars
and Alipurduar were also
invited but Darjeeling MP
Raju Bista and BJP Hill leader
Manoj Dewan were not called.
While GNLF president Mann
Ghisingh was invited,
no leader from the Morcha
Bimal camp was called. This
shows a divide and rule pol-
icy of the BJP. They are not con-
cerned about the three seats
here, but the larger seats in
other parts of Bengal," Mr
Tamang said.
"We should do away with
words like permanent polit-
ical solution and take up this
fight (for Gorkhaland) intel-
lectually and not like previous
agitations," said Mr Tamang.
(elephant handlers) in the Jal-
dapara National Park," a for-
est source said. "Sometimes,
the elephant is pressed into
service in patrolling the for-
est with other kunki ele-
phants," the source added.
"Earlier, we had doubts on
whether the wild tusker, espe-
cially at the age of 20, could
be turned into a trained
jumbo, but we are now con-
fident that it could be done,"
said the DFO of the Jaldapara
Wild Life division, Kumar
Vimal.
"No such elephant of that
age has been trained in the
Jaldapara National Park in the
past around 25 to 30 years,"
he added.
The elephant will be
inducted in the fleet of oth-
ers in serving the forest after
the training is complete, for-
est sources said.
CMYK
BIPLAB MITRA, SOUTH DINAJPUR LEADER
DESERTED
As movement on international borders, except for emergency purposes, remains suspended due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the
Indo-Nepal border wears a deserted look at Pashupati Fatak near Mirik in Darjeeling on Friday. � DEEP MILAN PRADHAN
‘Homecoming’ for Mitra as he
rejoins TMC; joy in S Dinajpur
STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE
KOLKATA/BALURGHAT, 31 JULY
After a little more than a year
of switching over to the BJP,
Biplab Mitra, a prominent
leader of South Dinajpur dis-
trict in north Bengal, returned
to the Trinamul Congress
today.
Mr Mitra, a former TMC
MLA from Harirampur in
South Dinajpur, who had
switched over to the saffron
camp in June last year, said
the return to the TMC is like
"a homecoming" for him.
He said he wanted to put
up a united fight against
the "conspiracy that is
being plotted against West
Bengal."
"We are happy to wel-
come Biplab Mitra. Mama-
ta Banerjee, during the Mar-
tyr's day rally on July 21 had
asked the old-timers to return
to the party fold. He has
responded to it," TMC sec-
retary-general Partha Chat-
terjee said.
Mr Mitra, along with his
supporters and younger
brother Prasanta, the for-
mer chairman of the Gan-
garampur Municipality in
South Dinajpur, rejoined the
party in Kolkata today.
Mr Mitra, who had been
part of the TMC since its
inception in 1998, is the for-
mer party president of South
Dinajpur.
Following the BJP's impres-
sive performance in Lok
Sabha elections, Mr Mitra,
known to be a close aide of
BJP leader Mukul Roy during
his days in TMC, had joined
College holds web meet on book-reading
STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE
SILIGURI, 31 JULY
'Between the Lines,' the Book-
Club of the English Depart-
ment at the Surya Sen
Mahavidyalaya in Siliguri
organised a student-centric
online workshop titled 'Read
As You Like' on 28 July.
The workshop began with
the details of how the concept
of the Book-Club was initi-
ated in the English Depart-
ment by Puja Mahajan, the
Online event talks ‘science,
society’ during pandemic
STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE
SILIGURI, 31 JULY
In the wake of challenges
posed by the Covid-19 pan-
demic to the education sec-
tor all over the world, Dinhata
College, in collaboration with
the Department of Botany,
Cooch Behar Panchanan
Barma University, brought
together academicians,
researchers, faculties and stu-
dents from across the globe
in a two-day online Interna-
tional Colloquium titled "Sci-
ence and Society: Institu-
tional approaches during pan-
demic" that ended today. The
colloquium was held under the
patronage of Dr Debkumar
Mukhopadhyay, the Vice-
Chancellor, Cooch Behar Pan-
chanan Barma University,
and Dr Abdul Kader Safily, the
Registrar of the university.
A large number of partic-
ipants from across the globe
the saffron camp in New
Delhi on June 25 last year.
In a big organisational
reshuffle in TMC last week,
South Dinajpur district pres-
ident Arpita Ghosh, with
whom Mitra had differences,
was replaced with Goutam
Das. Mr Das is considered to
be a close aide of Mr Mitra.
Celebrations, meanwhile,
broke out in South Dinajpur
today. From Harirampur to
Hili and Kushmandi to
Balurghat, thousands of party
workers and followers of Mr
Mitra hit the roads with fire-
crackers and banners, while
they distributed sweets.
While Mr Mitra blamed the
BJP's state and central lead-
ers for his inactiveness in
the party, BJP leaders in the
district, on the other hand, said
there is "no profit or no loss"
for the saffron brigade in
South Dinajpur.
In Balurghat, hundreds
of supporters celebrated the
occasion at Thana More with
fire crackers, while they dis-
tributed sweets among the
people. More than 50 motor-
cycle riders took out a
rally too.
It was under Mr Mitra
that the party won five of the
in-charge of the department.
Principal of the Surya Sen
College, Dr Pranab Kumar
Mishra, inaugurated the work-
shop with a welcome address,
followed by a speech by Dr
Arnab Baul, the coordinator
of the Internal Quality Assur-
ance Cell (IQAC), who talked
about the necessity of organ-
isibg such online workshops
in these difficult times. The
Head of the English Depart-
ment, Prof Sutapa Saha talked
about the importance of
registered for the colloqui-
um. "The interdependence
and mutually influential rela-
tionship between science and
society have faced a new def-
inition in the present times and
the present endeavour of Din-
hata College is expected to
open new avenues in this
regard," a participant said.
The colloquium also aimed at
catalysing academic expo-
sure for students, teachers
and researchers.
Dr Mukhopadhyay talked
of the role of institutions dur-
ing the pandemic, while his
own University has come for-
ward in helping the society, and
it signifies intimate associa-
tion of science, society and
institutions, a Dinhata College
official said. Dr Safily high-
lighted the need of the vast
ethno-medical knowledge
among local communities of
the region, which he said
needs to be preserved and
six seats in the 2011 state
assembly elections in South
Dinajpur. Also, the TMC under
him won all the panchayat,
panchayat samiti and Zilla
Parishad seats in rural elec-
tions in 2013. Arpita Ghosh
too won the parliamentary
elections in 2014 for the TMC
under Mr Mitra's leadership.
However, an open inter-
nal conflict among TMC lead-
ers, party chief Mamata Baner-
jee replaced Mr Mitra with
Sankar Chakrabarty as the dis-
trict president a few months
before the assembly elec-
tions in 2016. The party put
up a poor show in the polls
then. Two leaders, Sankar
Chakrabarty from Balurghat,
and Mr Mitra from Hari-
rampur, lost the elections,
while only two seats went in
the TMC kitty that year in the
district. In 2017, Miss Baner-
jee reinstated Mr Mitra as the
district president and start-
ed preparations for the par-
liamentary elections, while
Mrs Ghosh was again chosen
as the candidate. Mr Mitra
openly disapproved of the
decision, but following inter-
vention of state leaders, Mr
Mitra started campaigning for
Mrs Ghosh, but could not save
book-reading.
Two eminent speakers,
Asima Sarkar, Assistant pro-
fessor of the English Depart-
ment from Ananda Chan-
dra College, Jalpaiguri, and
Suvosree Karanjai, Assistant
professor of the English
Department from the Kali-
pada Ghosh Terai
Mahavidyalaya, Bagdogra,
were also invited in the work-
shop.
While the former spoke on
'Authentic Reading', the lat-
explored.
Professor PK Haldar, Dean,
faculty of science of the uni-
versity, addressed the vale-
dictory session. "The inspi-
ration of Dr Amitava Datta,
teacher-in-Charge, Dinhata
College, and the untiring
efforts of the teachers of Din-
hata College has made this col-
loquium a great achievement
for the College," he said.
The technical session had
three speakers--Dr Ranajay
Saha from the University of Cal-
ifornia, USA, who explained
the emergence of the RNA
world under potential prebi-
otic conditions, followed by Dr
Michael Stanley-Baker from
Nanyang Technological Uni-
versity, Singapore, who very
lucidly introduced the Chinese
medicine vis-a-vis its rela-
tion with the other Asian med-
icine like Ayurveda.
The last speaker, Dr MK
Meegakhumbura from the
the seat. Just after the results
of the parliamentary elections,
Mr Mitra was replaced by
Mrs Ghosh. Mr Mitra joined
the BJP in New Delhi, along
with 10 Zilla Parishad mem-
bers, a few months after that.
"We were waiting for our
Mejdada (Mr Mitra). It has
been proven that only Biplab
Mitra can save the party in the
district as he has mass sup-
port. Leaders from outside the
district cannot understand the
public pulse here. Now we will
work together and strength-
en our party organization,"
said one TMC leader in
Balurghat, Samir Chakrabar-
ty. "I switched sides to the BJP
due to some inner problems
and conflict with party lead-
ers. In my last 13 months with
the BJP, it became clear to me
that the party is run by the
Centre or by Gujarat. A state
should run the party in its own
way," Mr Mitra said.
District president of the
BJP, Binay Barman, on the
other hand, said, "He was with
us for 13 months and he was
totally inactive. He wanted
to go back and needed an
excuse, so he is blaming the
BJP. He is a no-loss-no-prof-
it issue for us."
ter talked about the concept
of 'Thinking Literature'. Both
the speakers talked in detail
the methodology of book
reading and the basic ideas
of how to approach a book.
"Overall, the workshop
brought about renewed
enthusiasm among the par-
ticipants regarding book read-
ing and many expressed their
eagerness to become more
engaged with the amazing
world of books," a college offi-
cial said.
Coconut Research Institute in
Sri Lanka, thoroughly men-
tioned the origin, history,
domestication and impor-
tance of Asian tea germplasms.
The second day's pro-
gramme was addressed by
speakers like Dr Jiaul Hoque,
Post Doctoral Fellow, School
of Medicine, Duke Universi-
ty, Durham, USA, Dr Santosh
K Shah, Scientist 'D', Birbal
Sahni Institute of Palaeo-
sciences (BSIP), Lucknow,
India and Dr Sailesh Ran-
jitkar, Honghe Centre for
Mountain Futures, Kunming
Institute of Botany China &
NGene-Solutions of Natural
Innovation, Kathmandu,
Nepal. A team of college
teachers like Dr Debashis Das,
Dr Kishore Kumar Thapa,
Subhas Chandra Das, Joy
Mukherjee, Manjil Gupta and
Dr Bappa Sarkar were active-
ly involved in designing and
conducting the colloquium.