Just the other day, CNNIBN displayed a news item on their channel regarding disproportionate assets amassed by the Chief Minister, Mr Pawan Chamling. This news item was carried by two of the local dailies the next days and we had the Sikkim Police swing into action - the action was :

- The Govt of Sikkim, Information and Public Relations Department published a denial that should rightly have come from the Chief Minister since the assets in question are those of Mr Pawan Chamling and not the Chief Minister of Sikkim.

- The Government gave the channel 72 hours to apologize and retract the news item failing which the channel will be sued.

- A similar threat was made to the two local newspaers that carried the story.

- On the morning of publication of the news item, the police went around the market and confiscated all undelivered copies of the two local newspapers either without or, in some cases, with payment.

In the mean while, a PEACEFUL agitation along with a hunger strike is in progress at the BL House, Tibet Road, Gangtok, by activists of ACT (Affected Citizens of Teesta), an apolitical organization. Three young men, Dawa Lepcha, Tenzing Lepcha and Ongchuk Lepcha are on an indefinite hunger strike in a medically precarious condition while a relay hunger strike by villagers of the region of Lepchas, known as the Dzongu Area of Sikkim, is in progress which has crossed 300 days mark.

UNFORTUNATE AS IT IS THAT THINGS SHOULD COME TO SUCH A STATE, THE LOCAL GOVT'S APATHY AND INDIFFERENCE TOWARDS THE LEPCHAS IS DEPLORABLE; ESPECIALLY SO, CONSIDERING THE AVARICE AT THE APEX OF THE ADMINIASTATION OF MR PAWAN CHAMLING.

Lepchas are said to be the aboriginals of Sikkim who settled in this area eons ago. Their origin rests in the Dzongu Area which is considered especially holy because relics of Guru Padmasambhava lie in the holy Tolung Monastery. Lepchas the world over hold the area in great reverence as also do the Bhutias of Sikkim.

The cause for the ACT agitation is the construction of hydel power projects in this area at a mamoth cost of thousands of crores of rupees with a limited life span of some 35 years. Unfortunately and regrettably, the massive upheaval of construction plays havoc with the fragile ecology of the sensitive Kanchenjunga National Reserve and Protected Area. This also happens to be an area where no one other than Lepchas can buy land but land seems literally to have been gifted to the companies executing the project. Locals have been paid a paltry compensation unless they owed allegiance to the Chief Minister's party, the Sikkim Democratic Front (SDF) whose members have received compensation at a rate about three times that of the others.

Rumours (that need confirmation) suggest that upto 50 % of the project cost has already been pledged to Mr Chamling and his associates.

Just yesterday, Lepchas from Kalimpong and Darjeeling organised a pilgrimage to visit Dzongu Area which was attempted to be stopped by the Sikkim Police under orders directly from Mr Chamling; however, the brave lady that the ACT have supporting their activities, Ms Chukie Tobden, could not be stopped. She had to politely but firmly ask the DIG-in-Charge (Mr Akshay Sachdeva) of the Police Force deployed not to stop the Lepchas on peaceful pilgrimage. Pilgrims could thus proceed onwards towards Dzongu.

CNNIBN missed this important news as also details of some other assets said to belong to Mr Chamling or his family members directly or in benami deals. These include WaiWai noodles factory at Sikkim Mining complex on the governent land, Nayuma establishment and its other many actrivities as also the manipulative acquisition of land for Akshardham temple at Namchi where Mr Chamling is reported to have made a huge profit while acquiring the land from the locals and thereafter selling it to Akshardham establishment.

It should be of interest to the people of Sikkim who have been consistently been fed a falsified euphoric diet of the State's achievements while the rural population struggles to make ends meet. Indian taxpayers should be interested because it is their tax money which is being misspropriated to fill the personal coffers of the Chief Minister and his ilk.