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Ghising to be the DGHC administrator

     Kolkata/Darjeeling: West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadev Bhattacharjee on Wednesday announced Subash Ghising as the sole administrator of Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council (DGHC) from March 26. Opposition parties in Darjeeling have threatened to immolate themselves to protest against the decision. Bhattacharjee, however, expressed his helplessness in arriving at the decision. "I am being forced to take this decision. Considering the situation in Nepal, I do not want to take any risk," Bhattacharjee told the Assembly. He said that he was in favour of an all-party board of administrators for the council with Ghising as its chairman. The chief minister threw the ball in the centre's court and said New Delhi should convince the GNLF leader about the council election in September. "Delhi should tell him this clearly," he said. According to him, he tried his best to accommodate Ghising's never ending demands, but then also Ghising didn't compromise on the council elections issue. In Darjeeling, five-party alliance convener Madan Tamang said that they were forced to take to the self-immolation drive. "What can we do? We can't take up arms, nor can we set the district magistrate's office on fire.We will have to immolate ourselves." Nor was it advisable to go on bandhs, he added, as the people had made it clear they did not want bandhs anymore. Tamang termed the move as the "murder of democracy in Darjeeling" and said the state government had buckled under the pressure from "autocratic people".

Advani not to visit Pakistan (Go To Top)

     New Delhi: BJP chief LK Advani has cancelled his scheduled visit to Pakistan. Advani was scheduled to visit Islamabad between March 24 and April 18 to meet Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf. He was invited by the Paskistani President, Pervez Musharraf. According to the sources in BJP, the decision has been taken because it would be awkward for Advani to meet the General at a time when the party is opposing the Srinagar-Muzzafarbad bus. Sources from the BJP has also said that it is not happy with the recent remarks of the General that just confidence building measures are not enough for progress. Now, Advani and Musharraf would meet when the later comes to India on April 17.

Tropical storm claims 32 lives in Bangladesh (Go To Top)

     Dhaka: A senior opposition leader narrowly escaped with his life as tropical storms lashed Bangladesh, claiming at least 32 lives late on Wednesday. The fierce storms also disrupted power supply, transport and communication links and badly damaging crops. Officials said 21 of Bangladesh's 64 districts were hard-hit by this year's fiercest storms. Abdul Mannan, the Secretary General of the Opposition Bikalpa Dhara, had a narrow escape when his helicopter crashed in southeastern Bangladesh after being caught in a storm. The pilot and another passenger were hospitalised, the party said. The death toll in seasonal storms called "NorWesters" was put at 32, up from 14 last evening, with 18 new deaths reported overnight.

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