The indefinite hunger strike by Satyagrahis of Affected Citizens of Teesta led by Dawa and Tenzing Lepcha ia a month old now. They lie on their hospital beds each with a Ryle’s tube hoping that the government will listen to them this time.
Meanwhile, hydel project supporters from
North Sikkim, drove into Gangtok in vehicles flaunting banners announcing their pro hydel project credentials a few days back raising quite an eye bro! They poured into Samman Bhawan on Saturday to petition the Chief Minister with a request to expediate work on the hydel projects in
North Sikkim for which MOUs had been signed!
Sadly, most of the so called hydel supporters were ruling government party supporters and affected people who were selling land to the hydel project companies for money. ACT later alleged that the said supporters were not from Dzongu, but from other parts of
North Sikkim.
The Hydel debate has
always been a fractured one in Sikkim and although both ( pro and anti) sides have been leveling allegations at each other for quite sometime now, the gloves truly came off yesterday. The banners on the pro-project rally vehicles carried direct confrontation with ACT (Affected Citizens of Teesta), as did the 2 page memorandum that the hydel supporters submitted to the Chief Minister.
One of the banners in the said vehicles said that they did not want to go back to the 16
th century but ironically, super felicitation celebrations were organized sometime back on the government recognizing
Lepchas as the “Most Primitive Tribe”!
Meanwhile the Hon’ble High Court of Sikkim has dismissed a Public Interest Litigation by one Tashi Tshering Lepcha seeking the High Court’s intervention in ensuring the implementation of the hydel projects in Dzongu. Apart from the State Government, ACT (Affected Citizens of teesta) was made respondents in the matter.
The writ Petition was dismissed at the admission stage itself. It is pertinent to note that the Hon’ble
High Court also concluded that, “ If writ petition of this type are entertained, the Courts will have no time left for proper litigation.”
Meanwhile expectedly, about 500 Lepchas from all over the Eastern Himalayan region (Darjeeling District , Illam Western Nepal , southern
Bhutan and
Sikkim) have planned to undertake a pilgrimage to their holy land Dzongu.
The said pilgrims will be marching all the way to Dzongu from various places mentioned.
The indefinite hunger strike by the satyagrahis continues indefinitely.
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