EIILM appeals Sikkim govt to take over varsity
Transcription
EIILM appeals Sikkim govt to take over varsity
www.facebook.com/himalayan.mirror ♦ A C C U R A T E B A L A N C E D ♦ C R E D I B L E VOL 9 No 147 RNI No: SIKENG/2006/18384 GANGTOK, SUNDAY 08 FEBRUARY 2015 EIILM appeals Sikkim govt to take over varsity HM Correspondent Gangtok, Feb 7: Mired in court cases due to large scale financial irregularities, promoters of EIILM University have approached the Sikkim government requesting it to take over the university. Days after the Enforcement Directorate freezed its bank accounts worth over Rs. 360 crores, Malvika Foundation that promotes EIILM has written to Chief Minister Pawan Chamling appealing for "accession" of the university. Started as a state Private University in 2006, the NEWS BRIEFS Cable theft Some unknown miscreant entered a hydro project site at Chungthang, North Sikkim and stole away 80 metres of 6 mm 4 core electrical cable worth Rs. 50,000. A case of theft has been registered against unknown persons at Chungthang Police Station and efforts are on to identify and arrest the culprits. Eastern Institute for Integrated Learning and Management has also approached the High Court with an appeal to make the Sikkim Government take over the university. Meanwhile, exasperated students at the university continue their protest for 45 days. With no sight of relief coming from neither the university nor the State administration, the fate and career of around 250 students, mostly outstation hangs in balance since their semester end exam was abruptly called off in December 2014. The university has neither a Vice Chancellor nor a Registrar at present and the only contact that students or authorities is an acting VC, has been over phone or email. Earlier, the HRD Department had mediated in the matter and received an undertaking from the acting VC that the stalled semester exams would be resumed. This however did not come through and the student protest at the campus continues. Now EIILM’s promoters have approached the State government to take over the varsity. RP Sharma, one of the trustees of Malvika Foundation and currently the Acting Vice Chancellor of the EIILM, wrote to the Chief Minister on 1 January, 2015 appealing for "accession" of the university by the Gov- 2 killed in truck mishap A driver and handy boy was killed and one occupant was seriously injured when a truck they were travelling in met with an accident at Lower Sanga Dorjee, West Sikkim early hours of Friday. The truck fell off the road into the Rangit river killing driver Bhim Bdr. Rai, and handy boy Suman Rai on the spot. The injured occupant was evacuated to Gyalshing District Hospital for medical attention. The dead bodies have been handed over to its legal guardian after post mortem examination. Suicide A 25-yr-old youth committed suicide by hanging himself at his residence at Ralap, East Sikkim at around Friday afternoon. The body was discovered by the brother of the deceased who informed the police. the Rai Foundation established by Vinay Rai. The university is developed on an 8.7 acre campus at Malbasey, Budang under Soreng SubDivision of West District. EIILM has also filed a writ petition in the High Court of Sikkim seeking court directions to the State Government to take over the university. The winter bench of the High Court has reportedly issued notices to the parties and directed that the matter be listed for 17 February. When contacted, the Human Resource Development Department Director for Higher Education, Jitendra Raje, said that the matter was pending before the Court and that the State government is consulting with a panel of Advocates and will filed para-wise reply of the writ petition. EIILM University, it may be recalled, is facing the charge of fraudulent act by fabricating records/ documents, committing instances of misrepresentation and forgery, having cheated lakhs of students and their socalled coordinators running their various off-campus institutions and study centres all over the country. Sikkim Police registered a case against EIILM University in 2012 and has already submitted chargesheets in connection with fake certificate scandal. HM Correspondent Kurseong, Feb 7: Police arrested Anup Pradhan (45) of Paanch Ghar, Ambootia tea estate under Kurseong sub division area on charges of attempt to murder, causing grievous hurt by dangerous weapons and arms act Friday night. Pradhan was Saturday produced before the Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate (ACJM) Court, Kurseong under section 326/ 307 IPC, RW/ 25 (1B) (a) (b)/ 27 Arms Act and later sent to four days police remand. Friday night at around 9pm the accused Anup Pradhan had allegedly stopped three youths of the same village who were on their way. Soon there was an argument between them and during the fracas Anup had fired two rounds from his revolver, in which, one from the three Prashant Pradhan (22), was injured by a bullet that pierced through his left thigh. Later, Prashant was admitted at the Kurseong sub divi- sional hospital. Presently his condition is said to be stable and out of danger. The three were reportedly working in shopping malls in Siliguri. Kurseong SDPO, Abhijit Singh Kadian said the accused has alleged that the three persons had tried to attack him. He had fired twice from his revolver. Out of the two bullets that were fired that night one has been recovered by the Kurseong Police. Further investigation is going on the history of the revolver which has not been found so far and from where it had been bought as well as about the whole incident. Police sources said that the accused Anup Pradhan owns and runs a MR Shop (ration) in Ambootia tea estate and during investigation a lot of PDS commodities was found stored there. Now the police officials with the help of Food & Supply officials are investigating whether the stock stored is more than allotted or any stock has been stored illegally. STDC to manage Kailash Mansarovar luxury Yatra Governor plants Kiwi at Raj Bhawan complex Drug arrest One Bappi Biswas, of Jorethang, South Sikkim has been arrested by Jorethang Police for selling contraband substances to the local youths. A huge cache of contraband substances was also recovered from his possession. A case has been registered against the accused. ernment of Sikkim. The fivepage letter details that the university's nine bank accounts operated from within and outside Sikkim and having deposits to the tune of Rs. 1.52 crores, were attached by the Enforcement Directorate on 18 October 2014 along with all the acquired immovable properties outside Sikkim. The letter goes on to inform that the university suspended operations on 24 November, 2014 because it was facing monetary hardships, following which the students began their protest. In the plea addressed to the Chief Minister, EIILM contends that "...the arbitrary action under the garb of powers of investigation by the police, the university has suffered an irreparable harm not only in terms of finances but also in terms of credibility. The reputation of the university has been torn to shreds and has resulted in adverse publicity. Sponsoring body is finding it very difficult to make appointments to the post of Vice Chancellor and Registrar as none is interested in getting embroiled in unnecessary controversy." Malvika Foundation, Delhi-Mathura Road, is the sponsoring body of the EIILM university which is also one of the sister concerns of Man arrested for attempt to murder HM Report Gangtok, Feb 7: Sikkim Governor Shrinivas Patil undertook a special plantation drive of Kiwi plant at the Raj Bhawan complex here today. The first lady, state agriculture & horticulture minister Somnath Poudyal and State government officials also attended the event. Seized drugs destroyed HM Report Gangtok, Feb 7: Contraband drugs worth around Rs. 1 Lakh seized under 61 cases of East district was destroyed by the Prosecution branch of Sikkim Police at District Court, Sichey here today. The contraband substances were seized under the Sikkim Anti Drugs Act (SADA), 2006 in 61 criminal cases from 2012-14. The contraband drugs burnt included 2935 Nitro- sun-10 tablets, 34,625 of Spasmo Proxyvon capsules, 7 bottles of Recodex, 481 bottles of Eskuf, 39 bottles of Cofband, 39 bottles of RCuf, 46 bottles of Pupicuf, 24 bottles of Rexcon and one small pouch of Marijuana. The drugs were burnt under the supervision of Tshering Yangzom Bhutia, Court Inspector/Prosecutor, East in the presence of SI. Bal Bahadur Chettri, Prosecution, East and two local residents as independent eyewitnesses. Bengal ponzi firm's MD arrested Kolkata, Feb 7 (IANS): The managing director of URO Group - a West Bengalbased deposit-taking company - has been arrested on charges of cheating and fraud, police said Saturday. "Several warrants were pending against Biswapriya Giri and he was absconding for some time. A fresh complaint by a depositor was recently filed and we arrested him Friday night on charges of cheating, fraud and other charges," Assistant Deputy Commissioner of Police (Bidhannagar) Debashis Dhar said. Following the unearthing of the multi crore rupee Saradha scam, police had raided the offices of the company which mainly operated in North 24 Parganas and Nadia districts. URO group features in the list of 73 ponzi firms in West Bengal which the ministry of corporate affairs had published in 2013. The plantation has been undertaken under ICAR flagship program on temperate fruits and under the technical guidance of ICAR RC for NEH Region, Sikkim Centre. The Governor, while interacting with the officers suggested that Kiwi plantation can be taken as a model plantation by the Department and can be turned in to a training ground for the farmers. He stressed on the need to create awareness amongst the farmers about the benefits of the fruit and encourage them to undertake Kiwi plantation. Kiwi plantation was introduced in West Sikkim in 1995 and more than 50 farmers are engaged in commercial Kiwi plantation in Rinchenpong and Timburbong area in the district. The fruit is sold at around Rs. 150-200 per Kg in the local market. Horticulture department director PT Bhutia said Kiwi plantation will be introduced in East district this year. Later during the day, the Governor released a compendium of activities under- taken by the students from Sikkim during their trip to Pune under the ‘Students Exchange Program’ as part of Connecting Champions Programme initiated by 24 Hours Inspired recently. A group of 48 students comprising 26 girls and 22 boys selected from 13 different schools across 4 districts of the state under the guidance the Governor had an opportunity to explore, expose, learn and share their culture with the students and the people of Pune, Maharashtra during their 5 day long trip from January 11 to 22. The Governor while addressing the gathering congratulated the organizers for successfully completing the programme stating that the students will get an opportunity to not only see new things but it will also help them to broaden their career choices. Dewaker Basnett, the Chief Learning Officer of 24Hours Inspired also shared his experience about the exchange programme during the function held at Ashirwad Bhawan at the Raj Bhawan premise. HM Correspondent Gangtok, Feb 7: With India and China having exchanged notes on modalities for opening Nathula as a second route for pilgrims undertaking the Kailash-Mansarovar Yatra, the state nodal department, Tourism & Civil Aviation Department, has handed over the responsibilities for the entire management and coordination with Ministry of External Affairs for pilgrims to Sikkim Tourism Development Corporation (STDC). The Yatra through Sikkim is scheduled to begin from June. This is the first luxury route to Kailash Mansarovar from India and pilgrims, after crossing over from Nathula, will travel on to Shigatse, the second largest city in Tibet, from where they will take the Kailash-Mansarovar highway. Thus far, from India, the only route to Kailash involved an arduous and dangerous trek through Uttarakhand. The only vehicular travel option was via Nepal. The new motorable route through Nathula is scheduled to accommodate around 250 pilgrims this season. They will proceed in batches of 50 each. These 250 are in addition to the usual quota of 900 pilgrims allowed from Uttarakhand. Although the Chinese government has assured all facilities for the travelling pilgrims, the pilgrimage is not for the fainthearted and infrastructure along the highway in Tibetan Autonomous Region is rudimentary at best. Tourism Special Secretary Sarala Rai, who undertook the Yatra via Kathmandu and onwards to Lhasa and Kailash Mansarovar in 2011, attests that travel even in luxury vehicles is difficult. Medical facilities are few and far between along the route and sanitation is another area of concern along the route in TAR, she informs. Getting porters or other resources during pilgrimage is also difficult, it is informed. Sikkim does not have enough experienced porters to escort pilgrims to Kailash Mansarovar. The parikrama at Kailash-Mansarovar also comes with its own set of challenges given the difficult terrain and extreme weather. The parikrama reportedly take three days and two nights, with the second day involving a difficult traverse of the Dolma La. Pilgrims have the option of taking yaks or ponies on this leg, but these come at a high premium. This will be the first season of the travel, and with some coordination and proactive problem-solving, Sikkim could benefit from it in more respects than just handling the pilgrims while they are in Sikkim. 3 bridges miss multiple deadlines, ffinger inger on dept HM Report Gangtok, Feb 7: Inordinate delay by the Roads and Buildings department in completion of three bridges along the Pakyong-Gangtok road under Assam-Lingzay, Pasetang Village has attracted criticism from the residents of the area. Construction of three steel bridges at Tharey, Salsaley and Bala rivers along the PakyongGangtok road are yet to be completed despite missing many deadlines. Sundar Rai, a local said the construction on the bridges is going on at snail’s pace and the contractor Kishor Rai has already missed two deadlines for the completion of the project. “The work orders for the construction of the bridg- es along the three rivers were issued in March 2011 and the work was scheduled to be completed within 10 months. The deadline was further extended till the last week of January 2015. But the constructions of the bridges are yet to be completed even after missing the latest deadline. Only the base of the bridges has been constructed at Tharey and Bala rivers whereas work at the Salsaley River hasn’t even started.” Rai informed. The total work value of the three bridges comes to about Rs. 3.23 Crores and Rs. 48.53 Lakhs mobilization fund has already been re- leased by the department Rai informed, adding that despite repeatedly informing the concerned officials about the delay in the work, no concrete action was taken by the department. He further informed that he has submitted a written complaint to the Chief Secretary along with a copy to Secretary PWD, DC and Chief Engineer regarding the matter. Rai also lamented that due to the carelessness of the contractor the road along the construction site was blocked for the past one week due to landslide which was caused by the construction work, adding that the people of the area who are mostly dairy farmers and use the road on daily basis to reach Ranipool to sell their products were suffering immensely due to the blockade. When contacted, Krishna Rai, the contractor of the project lamented that the delay in the work was caused because of change in the department structure and it may take some time before the work is completed. CMYK CMYK www.himalayanmirror.net 2.00