01 November, 2004; NOW! 1

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GANGTOK, 31 Oct: Onewoman was killed and threepassengers injured, two of themsuffering serious injuries, in anaccident that occurred on 30October in the West district. Allwere tourists from West Ben-gal returning after a holiday inWest Sikkim.

Speaking to NOW! PravinGurung, SP West informed thatthe accident took place ataround 9.15 am in the morningon the road between Reshi andKaijalai, 2 kms from Reshi.

The Tata Spacio [SK-04-1812], travelling from Pellingto New Jalpaiguri with elevenpeople on board including thedriver, went off the road andplunged 300 ft below.

According to preliminaryinvestigations conducted so far,the cause of the accident is sus-pected to be over speeding.

Jaya Pal, a 49-year-oldwoman from Kolkata died onthe spot while her husband isadmitted at STNM hospitalwith simple injuries. Rakhi

Rajak, 20, also from Kolkata iscritically injured and SanjayKhan, 40, from Kolkata hassuffered grievous injuries alongwith a fractured leg.

All the injured passengerswere evacuated from the acci-dent site and taken to Jorethanghospital from where they werebrought to STNM while thedead body of Jaya Pal has beensent to Namchi Hospital.

Family members of all theinjured passengers have beencontacted, informs Mr. Gurung.

TOURIST KILLED IN WEST SIKKIMROAD MISHAP, TWO SERIOUS

OVER-SPEEDING SUSPECTED

RANJIT SINGH

Sagar Chakraborty couldsoon become a household

name if you go by the numberof people and their families indifferent parts of the countrywho are cursing him right now.Not just the prospective candi-dates to whom he promised jobsabroad but also his business as-sociates seem to have realised,rather belatedly, that it was upthe garden path the conman wasleading them all the time.

Absconding since the firstweek of September Sagar, MD,Pacific Ship Management andServices, has successfullyevaded detection – thus far at

Sagar’s con runs deep

least. And if we go by thenumber of people he has de-ceived with his glib talk, hewould be valued at a few crore

rupees at least and could justas well be abroad given the con-tacts he has. For the record,though, he was last reported tohave been in Khandala, nearMumbai around the end of Sep-tember. Incidentally, it is alsolearnt that a Kolkata CrimeBranch official is in Mumbai atpresent following this lead.

As things stand, the maneveryone is after, SagarChakraborty, seems to be quitelike an ocean himself – themore you explore the more yourealise how little you know.Only, this one is a big mess.GANGTOK: Yes, we know hehas swindled money of job aspir-

THE PACIFIC SHIP MANAGEMENT & SERVICES SCAM

FROM GANGTOK TO THE DARJ HILLS TO JAMSHEDPUR TO KOLKATA,PACIFIC HAS JOB ASPIRANTS BAYING FOR ITS BLOOD ALL OVER

Sagar, the Pacific MD who went missingafter swindling suspected crores

turn to pg 2

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2; NOW!; 01 November, 2004

NOW!FIRST WITH THE NEWS

ED-SPACE

ants here, big time promisingthem jobs abroad in the Sey-chelles etc. The Crime Branch hasregistered a case under sections420 and 34 IPC against him. Wealso know that he has not paid therent for the office space norcleared his telephone bills.

Supriyo Bhattacharya ofKolkata, who worked in theGangtok office claims he wasnot paid his salary for the lastfive months. He worked forPacific Ship Management andServices for about 6 months.

“I first met Sagar in Kolkatathrough a mutual friend,Debojit Biswas. And I last methim in mid-June here inKolkata,” says Supriyo who hasleft Gangtok for good and iscurrently in Kolkata.

Also working in theGangtok office was oneDhawal Parekh, a resident ofJamshedpur.SILIGURI: Here is SealinkTours & Overseas Consultancyowned by one Mr. Mukhia.Sagar duped nine candidateshere through this company.Also in Siliguri is the residenceof advocate Pradeep Sarkar,villain number two of the condrama as is alleged.

“He convinced us that Sagarwas a nice person and that Pa-cific was a genuine company,”laments Mrs. Mukhia. The ad-vocate even presented themsome documents to convincethem. Mr. Mukhia swallowedthe bait and started recruitingyoungsters from Siliguri as wellas Darjeeling and Sonada forSagar and Pacific.

Sealink was functioning inSiliguri long before Pacificcame into the picture, it seems,and was also a recruiting agency.

“We had absolutely no prob-lems till all this happened; it isall because of Pradeep who in-troduced my husband to Sagar.The candidates are pestering usand my husband is very dis-turbed,” says Mrs. Mukhia.

She also maintains that herhusband is innocent and has nohand in the scam. Mr. Mukhia,as informed by his wife is alsocurrently in Mumbai on the trailof the con artist.

Incidentally, the candidatesrecruited by Sealink paid Rs.1.40 lakhs for the “jobs” onoffer. And interestingly, advo-cate Pradeep Sarkar is alsountraceable. “We have not beenable to locate him,” says a har-assed Mrs. Mukhia.JAMSHEDPUR: is whereDhawal Parekh hails from. He,too, has “disappeared”. He re-mains unreachable, at least

telephonically from Gangtok.Jamshedpur is also where

Mr. Parekh has his own “careerand counselling” agency by thename of DP Enterprises. Thiscompany, too, was functioninglong before his tryst with Pa-cific or Sagar. The intriguingpoint is that he left Jamshedpurand his company to work forPacific in their Gangtok office.

“He probably came to re-cruit people for his company aswell which was providing stafffor call centres etc,” feelsSupriyo. Though he did notmanage to recruit anyone fromhere for DP Enterprises, hisJamshedpur office did manageto recruit some people for Pa-cific. This seems to have beenthe deal they had – you recruitfor me; I do the same for you.And Mr. Parekh, too has takena dive into the messy Pacificocean with the Jamshedpurcandidates crying for his blood.From what is learnt, DP Enter-prises on its own seems to be agenuine company.ASANSOL: this is probablywhere it all started. PacificShipping had an office inAsansol and probably recruited– and fooled - persons fromhere as well. Here Sagar hadMrinal and Mridul Ghatakworking as sub-agents whoeven went down to Kolkata attimes to collect money fromcandidates there.KOLKATA: Here supposedlywas the Pacific head office[which had to relocate threetimes], the family and home ofSagar [who also had to relocate]and his bank accounts. Here isalso Jyoti International and othergullible characters. Jyoti Inter-national is a sort of ‘parent’company which authorised Pa-cific to operate and supply themmanpower. Sagar Chakrabartymanaged to convince JI that hiswas a genuine recruiting com-pany, the same way he con-vinced many others. JI then per-mitted Pacific to operate as‘agents’ for their company.

Last heard, JI, locatedsomewhere on Theatre Road,Kolkata, was pretty peeved atSagar for having stained theirgood reputation and was plan-ning to take him to court.

Then there are more boys andgirls who fell into the trap, ratherobediently. They were the firstbatch recruited by Pacific in May,2003, which started out with anoffice at a Kolkata marketingcomplex called Dakhinapan.These youth who had coughedup around a lakh of rupees forthe dream-jobs had even beensent to Chennai for training. In-cidentally, they had applied for

jobs on international cruise lin-ers. On their return and after sev-eral excuses made by Sagar, theywere told that openings in cruiseliners had all been exhausted.

That was that, but not quite.They eventually had the

sense to file an FIR at the LakePolice Station in Kolkata, whichis a stone’s throw fromDakhinapan. But Sagar had dis-appeared from the jurisdictionby then. From Dakhinapan, Pa-cific shifted its office to thesouthern limits of the city atMahamayatala which soon shutdown. The reason given was thatSagar Chakraborty had beenkidnapped from the EM Bypassarea! According to people towhom Sagar talked after he had“rescued” himself, he had beenkidnapped and taken to theSunderbans from where he, asthe story goes, managed to givehis captors the slip and returnedto the city. Sunderbans, inciden-tally, is a long way from Kolkataand is probably the most remote,unreachable and inhospitableregions of the state.

The kidnapping story is be-lieved to have been concoctedby Sagar to keep his growinglist of “gullible victims” frombecoming his predators. Thiswas around January this year.

On his reappearance the of-fice functioned from a place atRicky Road, Kolkata. Of course,the office is shut for good now.Interestingly, Sagar gave the im-pression that he had branches allover the country – and there isreason to believe that he actu-ally did. He was also planningto open a branch at Lucknow.

The most pressing question,those interested, would probablyhave is where did all the ac-quired money go. Severalplaces, actually and interest-ingly. Only a small amount wentto the bank account of Pacificwhich had an account with theUTI bank in Kolkata. This itselfputs up a question-mark as Pa-cific was reportedly not a regis-tered company. A large chunk ofthe loot was put in the bank ac-count of Mrs. Nitu Singh, wifeof Sagar Chakraborty. Some ofthe cash was put in the accountof Sanat Chakroborty, brother ofthe main character in his ICICIbank account. And another por-tion of the swag was put into theaccount of one Suman Ghosh.

Who is Suman Ghosh?He is actually an old char-

acter in the tale and a businesspartner of Sagar’s and themoney delivered to his accountis probably his ‘salary’. Sumanlooks after the Dubai sector ofthe business. This is probably

Sagar’s con runs deepContd from pg 1

a NOW REPORT

GANGTOK, 31 Oct: 20 play-ers [pic above] have been se-lected to represent Sikkim atthe National 20th Female Jun-ior and Sub Junior and the 22ndMale Junior and Sub-Juniorand Male and Female MUYETaekwondo Championship2004 to be held on 4-6 Novem-ber at Karnail Singh Stadium,

Pahargang New Delhi.The team comprises of all

gold medalists at the 1st Juniorand Sub-Junior State TaekwondoChampionship 2004 organisedby the State Taekwondo Associa-tion held on 30 October at PaljorStadium Indoor Gym. The finalshad Lok Sabha MP, Nakul DasRai as the chief guest.

Rapden Tshering Lepcha of

Inviting ConsPeople can be fooled easily. All it takes is some smooth-talking,a lot of promise-making and some dream-selling. Someone whocan pull off such a charade convincingly is left with an open fieldto con. It happens all over the world, with all kinds of people.Only recently, a person in Africa convinced people he hadenough voodoo powers to make money multiply and fall fromthe sky. Perhaps that is why we still know Africa as the DarkContinent. But what name do we give to Sikkim, where slightlydifferent, but much larger scams were played out on the peo-ple? We had a social-worker in Jorethang promising [and deliv-ering till his arrest], interest on donations! As bewildering as theconcept may sound now when we have the benefit of hindsight,this person managed to find many investors to his scheme. Thenwe had the dream-merchants with a bombastic name as Pa-cific Ship Management & Services who pawned everything fromjobs aborad cruise liners to employment in resorts in exotic Sey-chelles. All they did was advertise widely, share an office spaceand appoint some counsellors to convince their backers herethat they were “bona fide” company and dupe eager young-sters of lakhs of rupees. They spun similar webs in Kalimpong,Darjeeling, Kurseong, Siliguri, Kolkata and Jamshedpur. Beforethe entire picture is clear, there will probably be more placesthat fall in the Pacific Scam footprint.

But with jobs scarce and aspirations high, con-men willalways flourish. But can’t something be done to make the peo-ple safer [the locals, that is, not the scamsters]?

Here the police and the policy-makers will have to play alarger role. To begin with, it should be mandatory for every com-pany recruiting people from Sikkim to get their credentials veri-fied by the cops. This does not take much time. Before anyoneplaces an advertisement for interviews for jobs outside Sikkim,they should be made to submit the relevant documents with theSikkim Police so that at least preliminary verifications on thecompany and its people can be made. The same should applyto all organisations promising admissions in colleges outsideSikkim. It would also be preferred if a local company is alwaysused as liason for companies from outside Sikkim. If the parentcompany goes underground, at least there will be some localcontacts to provide the threads to the con-men when the schemebecomes a scam. These might sound awkward regulations, butare required when it is not just local revenue, but also the fu-tures and very lives of local youngsters that we are trusting intothe hands of people we have never heard of earlier. While thecops can always do this on their own, the regulation would workbest if the policy-makers actually framed a rule which mandatessuch policing. Of course, cons will still happen, but at least wewould have tried our best to avoid them. Right now, we areopen from all sides for a con-attack.

Gold in State tourney takes 20 tonational Taekwondo meet

turn to pg 6 turn to pg 3

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a NOW REPORT

GANGTOK, 31 Oct: GangtokMunicipal Corporation elec-tions will be held by the end ofFebruary, informs a press re-lease issued by the rulingSikkim Democratic Front.

The release informs thatDD Bhutia, Minister, UrbanDevelopment and Housing De-partment in a meeting held on30 October directed his offi-cials to complete the electionprocess by the end of February.

Mr. Bhutia has also in-formed that between Ranipooland Gangtok, 21 wards wouldbe set up which would be sepa-rated by poles.

The election will be con-ducted under the supervision ofthe State Election Commissionand procedure and discussionson reservation of seats for vari-ous communities have alreadybeen completed.

a NOW REPORT

GANGTOK, 31 Oct: The 5-day long Jute Fair 2004 was in-augurated by the District Mag-istrate, East, K Srinivas on Sat-urday at Hotel Rendezvous here.Jute Manufactures Develop-ment Council, Ministry of Tex-tiles, Government of India areorganizing the fair in associationwith Sikkim Consultancy Cen-tre, a division of West BengalConsultancy Organization Ltd.

Present for the inaugural daywere HL Saha, vice-president,SICON, Mr. Basu, Manager,SISCO, Jayanta Chatterji, Man-ager, UTI, PT Srinath, MarketPromotion Officer, JMDC.

There are 21 stalls in the fairexhibiting all kinds of jute prod-ucts, handicraft, jute ornaments,bags, novelty and gift items,footwear, mats, carpets and wallhangings. Prices range from Rs.20 to Rs. 450. The participantsare from all parts of the countrywith stalls also taken by threelocal entrepreneurs.

“This is the sixth time weare organizing this jute fair inGangtok. The main objectivebehind organizing these fairs isto basically promote jute-baseddiversified products and to pro-mote self-employment of localeducated unemployed youth.

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Another reason is to allow thejute industry in the State togrow and in turn make Sikkiman eco-friendly State by substi-tuting and replacing plastic andother eco hazardous materials,”stated NC Baral, Officer inCharge, Sikkim ConsultancyCentre.

The chief guest, Mr. Srinivas,in his address stated that holdingof the jute fair was a positive stepsince it was an environmentallyfriendly product.

“The Chief Minister has de-clared to make Sikkim thegreenest state and this objectivecan be reached only if theSikkimese people totally discardbio-hazardous materials likeplastics. The most effective andefficient substitute for these bio-hazardous materials is jute. It isdurable, cost effective and doesnot pose a threat to nature andenvironment. Thus such prod-ucts should definitely be pro-moted in the state,” he said.

above: DM [East], K. Srinivas,at one of the stalls at theongoing jute fair at Hotel

Rendezvous.

right: An innovative promo-tional bid to promote the

virtues of jute - a ventriloquistat the jute fair with his doll and

an audience at the Jute Fair.

JUTE MAKES ANOTHER ATTEMPT ATWINNING OVER GANGTOKIANS

the only place the company was“really” sending people forwork. Suman, as is informed,spends more months in Dubaithan in India. And interestingly,both Suman and Sagar belongto the same locality in Kolkatacalled Kalibazaar which lies atthe southern tip of the city.

Well, they don’t live thereany more. According to a localof the area Sagar’s family waspressurised by the local com-munity to vacate the area andfind a new home. This occurredearly October. The residentsprobably got wise to the uglyduckling among them.

As for those who had put inmoney for work, most have re-turned home to look for alterna-tive employment. Among thosefrom Gangtok, two girls have

preferred to stay back in Kolkata.Fortunately, for them they arecurrently employed with ParkHotel, Kolkata, a five-star hotel.Mrs. Mukhia is awaiting her hus-band’s return from Mumbai. Mr.Mukhia seems all set to strangleSagar on first sight. With the kindof money he has “earned” he andhis wife could be in China orMars. They started off fromKhandala as it is.

Contd from pg 2

Sagar’s con runs deep

4; NOW!; 01 November, 2004 NEWSSCAN �

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GANGTOK, 31 Oct: TheState Government has stronglycondemned allegations madeby the Congress regarding theshortfall of essential commodi-ties during Dasain. The Depart-ment of Food & Civil Suppliesand Consumer Affairs and StateTrading Corporation of Sikkimhave reacted sharply against theallegations.

The Food & Civil SuppliesDepartment has clarified thatthe Department had already de-posited money for 2,000quintals of Sugar with FCI inSeptember 2004. However,fresh stock of levy sugar wasnot made available by FCI tillthe first week of October 2004.Amidst time constraints androad blockages in neighboring

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NOTICEIt is for the general information of the public thatthe Household Survey in connection with the pro-posed Gangtok Municipal Corporation was con-ducted w.e.f. 27.9.2004 to 15.10.2004. The publicwho have missed or were left out during the surveyis requested to contact the GMC Cell of the UD &HD, Govt. of Sikkim with their voters I.D. Card, forinclusion of their names in the enumeration.

Sd/-Special Secretary,

UD & HD, Govt. of Sikkim

PURAN TAMANG

NAMCHI, 31 Oct: SDFA be-came the first team at the Gov-ernor’s Gold Cup to reach thesemi final stage with a convinc-ing 6-2 win over last year’schampions, TFA.

The first quarter final matchof the 26th All India GovernorsGold Cup 2004 was played to-day, 31 October between SDFA,Namchi and TATA FootballAcademy. SDFA had entered thequarter final with 3-0 victoryover Jamshedpur SA while TFA,being the title-holders, went di-rectly into the quarter finals.

The first goal of the game wasscored by Mayel Lepcha of SDFAat 10th minute of the first half and2 minutes later Bikash Jairu ofSDFA scored the second goal. AsSDFA led by 2-0, Dawa Lepchaof SDFA crossed the ball from

right wing in the 16th minute andRina Anto of TFA while trying tosave that ball put in a suicide goalinstead. The 23rd minute saw TFAwin a free kick which KT Paiteconverted. The score at the endof first half read 3-1.

The 51st minute of thematch saw Sanju Pradhan ofSDFA scoring a goal which tookthe score to 4-1 in SDFA’s fa-vour. Five minutes later, MayelLepcha scored his second goalwhich took the score to 5-1.

The desperate attempts ofTFA finally paid off and in the64th minute when GautamKajjur scored the second goalfor his team. The lead extendedten minutes later whenEngpong Subba scored the fi-nal goal for his team. Thematch ended with the finalscore reading 6 goals to 2 inSDFA’s favour which came at

the cost of two yellow cardsshown to its players.

SDFA will play with the win-ner of the match between SikkimPolice XI and Nepal XI which isto be played on Monday.

The first match of the daywas played between Oil India,Assam and George Telegraph,Kolkata. The match ended withno score and match was extendedto over time. Bijav Mushary ofOil India, Assam scored the onlygoal of the match and with thisvictory of 1-0, Oil India enter thequarter finals.

Sports and Youth AffairsMinister, PS Tamang was thechief guest today. He handed acash award to the manager,Samten Bhutia of SDFA.

The match of 30 Octoberwas played between Assam SEBand Tibetan National FA whichwas won by the former 3-0.

South District team downs titleholders 6-2 to enter semis

States of Bihar and UttarPradesh, Department requestedGovernment of India to allowpermission to procure sugardirectly from the Mills for Pub-lic Distribution. Accordingly2840 quintals of sugar wasmade available for distributionto the Public before Dasain.

Regarding Kerosene, theGoI has drastically reduced itsquota under Public Distribution

System. However, the monthlyallocation was lifted on timeand distribution as per thenorms was made.

STCS, has in turn stated thatin Oct 2004, it procured andsupplied nearly 8,000 cylindersmore cylinders than the averagefor the previous two months.Hence, to allege that there wasa shortage of LPG is baseless.

[IPR]

Supplies maintained despite logisticalproblems, claims govt

01 November, 2004; NOW! 5� NEWSSCAN

Anthyesthi KriyaThe Anthyesthi Kriya of late Madan KumarPradhan of Daragaon who left for heavenlyabode on 22 October 2004 falls on 3 No-vember 2004. All friends, relatives and wellwishers are requested to join us for offer-ing prayers for the departed soul at our resi-dence at Daragaon, Tadong. We wouldalso like to take this opportunity to thank allthose who extended their help in the hourof our bereavement.

Mrs. Ongmu [wife],

Om Kumari [daughter], Neel Kamal Pradhan, Jogendra

Pradhan [sons] & Bhupendra Kothari [son-in-law]

Anthyesthi KriyaThe 13th Day Anthyesthi Kriya of lateTrilochan Dhakal of Sajong Busty, CentralPendam who left for heavenly abode on 22October 2004 falls on 3 November 2004.All friends, relatives and well wishers are re-quested to join us for offering prayers for thedeparted soul at above mentioned date at place.We would also like to take this opportunity to thank all thosewho extended their help in the hour of our bereavement.

Tikaram Dhakal, Nagendra Dhakal,

Nirmal Dhakal [sons] & all family members

Ph: 263909, 9434339226

Anthyesthi KriyaAnthyesthi Kriya of our beloved father/hus-band Late SM Pariyar, who left for heavenlyabode falls on 3 November 2004, at our resi-dence, Pariyar Awaas, Deorali School Road,Gangtok.We thank all our friends, well-wishers and ourrelatives for their support in time of grief.

Mrs. G Pariyar [wife]

Jyotsna & Avalokita [daughters], Jigmee Gyatso[son-in law], Sherab Layden & Rapgyal [grand-children]. And all family members.Phone: 9832077335/9832070907/03592-280849

a NOW REPORT

DARJEELING, 31 Oct: TheSikkim Chief Minister, PawanChamling, reiterated thatthough he was very close to thepeople of Darjeeling, he pre-ferred to stay far away from theDarjeeling politics.

Mr. Chamling was inDarjeeling on Saturday to at-tend a felicitation ceremonyorganised in his honour by theGorkha Limbu-Subba Sched-uled Tribe Welfare Organisa-tion [GLSSTWO].

“I was not very eager to comeat this time with the DGHC elec-tions knocking on the door. Allmy visits to Darjeeling are givena political colour, though theyhave all been absolutely socialvisits, with the sole motive to in-teract with the people ofDarjeeling,” Mr. Chamling saidat the function.

Addressing the gathering,Mr. Chamling steered clear ofpolitical references and insteadspoke on national and develop-mental ideologies.

“We, as Gorkhas, should beproud to be Indians and alwaysremain loyal to the Govern-ment, whether State or Cen-tral,” he said, while adding thatalways complaining of not get-ting proper recognition and ex-posure at the national level, wasa sign of weakness.

“We should rather strive todevelop ourselves to becomeone of the leading races in In-

dia so that recognition comesautomatically,” he stressed.

“We have to change withtimes. Just being known as abrave race will not help usachieve much in this century.We should rather eye the serv-ice sector and make tourismand natural resources our mainforte,” he added.

Earlier, DM Chemzong, theGLSSTWO president, revealed

that Mr. Chamling had playeda pivotal role in getting theLimbus enlisted in the Sched-uled Tribes list.

Mr. Chamling, in turn, re-fused to claim all credit andsaid, “The Limbu and theTamang communities shouldget the most credit along withthe ancestors of these two tribeswho have religiously guardedand preserved the language,

culture and heritage of thesetwo tribes.”

The Tamang and Limbuswere included in the scheduledtribes list in 2001.

Mr. Chamling went on tostate that both these communi-ties should not rest satisfiedwith being declared as tribals.

“It is their duty to createawareness and find out what fa-cilities and amenities come along

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The programme also wit-nessed the felicitation of thestalwarts of the Limbu commu-nity in different fields alongwith meritorious Limbu stu-dents. Mr. Chamling presenteda cheque of Rs. 2 lakhs to theGLSSTWO and Rs. 3,000 eachto the six meritorious students.A show was also organized forthe visiting dignitaries to show-case the rich tradition and cul-ture of the Limbus.

The Chief Minister being felicitated by the Gorkha Limbu-SubbaScheduled Tribe Welfare Organisation at Darjeeling on Saturday

CM announces plans formonthly constituency visits

GANGTOK, 31 Oct: TheChief Minister will visit eachof the 32 assembly constituen-cies every month to inspect theprogress of developmentalworks in the area, informs anSDF press release.

At a meeting held atMintokgang on 29 October, Mr.Chamling is reported to haveinformed his MLAs that onthese visits he would be accom-panied by the head of the de-partments, to enable him tosanction emergency works onthe spot.

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Short-body Jeep in excellentcondition with up-to-date pa-pers available for sale. Contact:9832035092/ 9434241601

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Ref. No.GWSSP/DK/PQN/01 Date:26.10.2004

PRE-QUALIFICATION NOTICE

Australian Agency for International Development (AusAID) intends to improve water supplysystem of the city of Gangtok under Gangtok-Shillong and South Asia Regional Water Supplyand Sanitation Program. The project is named as GWSSP.Large number of demonstration works are identified and it is proposed to take them up underthis project.Sealed pre-qualification documents are invited from approved contractors. Those having officesin Sikkim will be preferred. The pre-qualification document can be obtained from the OfficeManager, GWSSP, Tenzing & Tenzing Building 31/A National Highway, Gangtok, duringworking hours. Contractors have to submit a request letter and need to attach copy of latestIncome Tax Clearance Certificate, Sales Tax Clearance Certificate and Company’s Registrationproof to obtain the Pre-Qualification document.Project details and other deadlines are given here below.

Name of Work: Shortening of house connections and improving residual pressure in the Arithangarea of Gangtok including laying of pipe lines, installation of pressure reducing valves, constructionof distribution boxes, construction of valve chambers and reinstatement of roads etc.Sale of pre-qualification document: 03.11.2004 to 10.11.2004 during 10:30 am to 4:00 pm.Last date of submission of pre-qualification document duly filled-in by contractors:15.11.2004 at 4:00 pm

The sealed pre-qualification document should reach the office of GWSSP on/or before thedate and time specified above. The GWSSP shall not be responsible for any delay in receiptof the document submitted by the contractor by post. No document shall be entertained whichare received after last date and time mentioned above.

A committee constituted by GWSSP shall examine the pre-qualification documents, and theshort-listed individuals/ firms shall be informed by post. Any queries in this context will not beentertained. Any effort by an individual or firm to influence the processing of short-listing mayresult in rejection of the contractor.Instructions given in the Pre-qualification document should be read carefully before filling-inup the document. Firms/contractors should furnish all the details asked in the document.Responses like “shall be furnished later” will be considered as non-responsive and may leadto rejection of the contractor.

The GWSSP reserves the right to accept or reject any, partial or all the pre-qualificationapplications without assigning any reason thereof.

It is informed that only the short-listed contractors will be required to submit the offer. Thesuccessful bidder shall have to enter in to an agreement with PHED to execute the work.

Office ManagerGWSSPGangtokEast Sikkim

GOVERNMENT OF SIKKIM

WS & Public Health Engineering Department

S U P P O R T E D B Y

Gangtok Water Supply and Sanitation Project

(AusAID Funded)Tenzing & Tenzing Building, 31/A National Highway, Gangtok

Tel: 03592-201057/ 58. Fax: 03592-201056

WANTEDSales personnel for reputed

firm in Gangtok. Goodsalary. Apply today with bio-

data to: NOW!, NearAyurvedic Clinic, Gairi

Gaon, Tadong-Gangtok

Central Dozang, Gangtok wasselected the Best Fighter [Male]while Binney Tamang, also ofCentral Dozang, was the BestFemale Fighter. Sandeep

Gurung of Saleybong, Namchiwas adjudged the Best Loser.

The team championship waswon by Central Dozang, whileModel English School, Sombariawas the runners-up team. The En-

couragement Trophy went toYoung Dragon Dozang, Gangtok.

The name of students whowill represent Sikkim in the Na-tional Taekwondo Champion-ship are: Kumar Tirwa, Bisharam

Rai, Amar Gurung, Rapden

Tshering Lepcha, Roshan Rai,

Yatan Rai, Rupesh Subba, Sameer

Gurung, Birkharaj Pakhring,

Prayas Chettri, Tapas Shah, Ugen

Gurung, Om Kumar Rampal,

Bijeshna Paudali, Sabita Pakhrin,

Nima Dolma Sherpa, Binney

Tamang, Srijana Gurung, Manshira

Pradhan and Sapna Rai.

Contd from pg 2Gold in State tourney takes 20 to national Taekwondo meet

01 November, 2004; NOW! 7� NEWSSCAN

SAGAR CHETTRI

GANGTOK, 31 Oct: TheState Level Sports Festival2004 started in a grand mannerhere at West Point SchoolGround. Organized by theSports & Youth Affairs Depart-ment, it’s Minister PS Tamang,declared the Sports Festivalopen on Saturday. Around 540sportspersons are taking part inthe tournament.

SK Gautam, Special Secre-tary, Sports & Youth Affairs, inhis welcome speech, said thatthe Sports Fest was an annualeffort of the Department to findand train young sports-persons.

Lobzang Bhutia, Secretary

SOCCER

GANGTOK: On 30 October,the first quarter final match ofState Level U-19 Boys footballwas played between South Dis-trict and North District.

Both the teams were evenlymatched and the first half fin-ished with the score reading 0-0. In the second half, Southsurged ahead with two goalsscored by Bikash Gurung andLakpa Kedar Sherpa, winningthe match 2-0.

In the second quarter-finalmatch between East and WestDistricts, East District won thematch by 2 goals to 1.

On 31 October, the firstmatch of State Level U-14Boys was played betweenNorth and South Districts.South easily won the match 4goals to nil to reach the finals.

In the match between Eastand West Districts, the latter wonthe match to reach the finals.

The final match will beplayed on 03 November be-tween South and West.

On the same day, South playedagainst West District in the U-19Girls category at West Point SchoolGround. West District won by sin-gle goal scored by Laxmi MayaSubba to reach the finals.

The second match playedbetween North and East was wonby East District 2 goals to nil. Thetwo goals were scored by SangitaSubba and Ranjita Subba.VOLLEYBALL

The State Level U-19 GirlsVolleyball tournament was heldat Tathangchen School Ground.

On 30 October, South tookon East district, which won 25-18, 25-15 and 25-12.

In the second match, NorthDistrict played against West inwhich West District won 25-24,25-21 and 15-14.

On 31 October, the semi fi-nal matches were played, in thefirst match played betweenWest and South District, South

of the Department, in his ad-dress said that organizing suchtournaments was important towean the youngsters away fromthe negative influences so ram-pant nowadays.

The Minister in his addresssaid that the main aim for holdingsuch events was to provide expo-sure to students from rural areasand to encourage them in their re-spective games so that they couldtake up sports professionally.

He added that the Chief Min-ister harboured the dream tomake Sikkim produce moresport-stars like Baichung Bhutia,Rupen Pradhan, and TarundeepRai. Such tourneys could helprealise this dream, he said.

District won 25-22, 25-19 and25-08 to reach the final.

In the second semis, Eastplayed North District and won thematch 25-09, 25-19 and 25-19.

On Monday, the final matchwill be played between Southand East Districts at West PointSchool Ground.TABLE-TENNIS

In the State Level U-14 Boysand Girls Table Tennis Cham-pionship, East District won theteam championships in bothcategories. The TT Tourna-ment, played at the White HallTable Tennis complex, saw theparticipation of players from allthe four districts.

The West District stood asrunners up with North Districtcoming third in the Boys category.

In girls category West Dis-trict again was the runner upteam with South District teamcoming third.

Although the annual event,the sports meet was made spe-cial this year with an elaborateand colourful opening cer-emony and the inclusion ofmore events.

SPORTS JOINS THE CALENDAR OF FESTIVALS IN SIKKIMThe opening ceremony of the State

Level Sports Festival 2004

SNAP-SHOTS FROM THE SPORTS FESTIVAL

At the events...

SUBASH RAI

GANGTOK, 31 Oct: Allega-tions and counter-allegationsmarred the second semi-finalmatch of U-14 football be-tween East and West District atthe State-Level Sports Festival2004 organized by Sport andYouth Affairs Department hereat West Point School Ground.

Managers of both the teamsaccused each other of fieldingover-age players. The organiz-ing committee in turn barredsome players of both teamsfrom playing today’s match. Allthe players however had docu-ments showing that they werewithin the prescribed age limit.

Altercations between theteam managers and the officialscontinued even while the matchwas on. It was then decided thata medical examination would be

conducted on all players of teamswhich make it to the finals sched-uled for 02 November.

Speaking to NOW!, an of-ficial of Sports Department in-formed that the players will betaken to STNM Hospital for athorough medical examinationto verify their age.

On the other hand, DRChettri, team manager, WestDistrict, whose team receivedthe maximum complaints offielding over-age players, ex-pressed his dismay over the or-ganizer’s decision to holdmedical examinations.

“I will accept their decisionbut they should have done itearlier as my players are nowgoing to play their final match,”he said. Out of eighteen boysunder Mr. Chettri, five were de-barred from playing today.Even from the balance 13 play-

ers, complaints have been madeagainst four players.

Mr. Chettri said that histeam has fulfilled all the for-malities of documentation re-quired by the Department add-ing, “After disqualificationeven if my players are reducedto less than 11 players, my teamwill still play the final.”

Mr. Chettri further re-quested the officials to holdproper procedures to check theage of the players. He was alsoof the opinion that the depart-ment should hold all such testsat the time of selection, whichtakes place at the district itself.

Organizing committeemembers believe that if man-agers willingly allow olderplayers to take part in this man-ner, they were depriving theyounger players of the oppor-tunity being provided.

...and the controversy over age

8; NOW!; 01 November, 2004

Published by Lt. Col. (retd) P. Dorjee and printed at Baba Offset Press Works Pvt. Ltd., Gangtok. Editor: Pema Wangchuk. Executive Editor: Mita ZulcaNow! Near Ayurvedic Clinic, Gairi Gaon, Tadong. East Sikkim. ph: 03592 271167 email: sikkimnow@rediffmail.com

THEFINALONE �

R U N N I N G H O U S E F U L

ARIES: Financial strain will bebrought under control. Under-standing with your life partnerwill be good. Happiness will pre-vail. Cash flow will be very good.Tensions will be reduced. Youwill receive encouraging com-munication. Business will bebrisk. You will be happy.TAURUS: Happiness will prevail.Tension will be reduced. Cashflow will be very good. You willrelease tangled assets. You willmaintain a balanced perspectiveon things. You will receive en-couraging communication.GEMINI: Domestic happinesswill prevail. Financial crisis willbe better controlled. You willgain popularity. Social status willimprove. Health will be good.You will be free of all tension.CANCER: You will be success-ful in all you do. Financial statuswill be sound. You will be in aposition to release tangled as-sets. You may acquire ancestralproperty. Prosperity is indicated.Worries will be reduced. Under-standing with your life partnerwill be very good. You may havea grandchild in the family.LEO: You may go on a long trip.Financial position will be sound.

today in

History01st November

79: Pompei buried by Mt Ve-suvius1210: King John of Englandbegins imprisoning Jews1512: Michelangelo’s paintingson ceiling of Sistine Chapel,first exhibited1604: William Shakespeare’stragedy “Othello” first presented1611: Shakespeare’s romanticcomedy “The Tempest” firstpresented1755: Lisbon earthquake killsmore than 50,0001798: Born, Sir Benjamin LeeBaronet Guinness, Irishbrewer/Dublin mayor1800: First US President be-gins to live in the White House[John Adams]1894: Vaccine for diphtheriaannounced by Dr Roux of Paris1922: Ottoman Empire abol-ished1936: Mussolini describes al-liance between Italy & Ger-many as an “axis”1938: Seabiscuit beats WarAdmiral in a match race atPimlico1939: 1st animal conceived byartificial insemination (rabbit)displayed1939: 1st jet plane, Heinkel He178, demonstrated to GermanAir Ministry1952: Fusion occurred for the1st time on Earth1954: Algeria begins rebellionagainst French rule1956: Madhya Pradeshformedand states of Punjab, Patiala& PEPSU merge as Punjabprotection1966: Haryana created fromPunjab1993: European Union comesinto existence

You will continue to be on cloudnine. Business will be brisk. Youmay acquire immovable prop-erty or a new vehicle.VIRGO: You may face a finan-cial crisis. You may acquire im-movable property. Domestic hap-piness is indicated. You may getpromoted. Happiness will prevail.Those in trade or with agenciesmay find improvement.LIBRA: You will find positivechanges in your life. You may goon a long trip. You may face asetback in health. Business willbe brisk. You may take up a newagency business. A change ofenvironment will cheer you up.SCORPIO: You will be very ac-tive. You may get an opportunityabroad. You will enjoy goodhealth. Understanding with yourlife partner will be good. Litiga-tion will be postponed. Positionand prosperity are indicated.SAGITTARIUS: You may take anew, important decision in familymatters. Financial crisis is likely.

Litigation will be postponed. Ex-penses due to children are indi-cated. Encouraging communica-tion will be received. Understand-ing with your spouse and busi-ness partner will be very good.CAPRICORN: You will be suc-cessful in all you take up. Litiga-tion will be postponed. Exportbusinesses will do well. Cashflow will be very good. Expenseswill be reduced. Worries will godiminish. You will continue toface hostility through the day.AQUARIUS: Financial crisis willbe reduced. Traders will do bet-ter. Understanding with yourspouse and business partnerwill be very good. Those appear-ing for competitive examinationswill enjoy easy success.PISCES: You may get a goodopportunity to demonstrate yourcapability. You will do well incompetition. Attentive studentswill do well. Financial positionwill very good. You may initiatea new venture.

a NOW REPORT

GANGTOK, 31 Oct: Promo-tional campaigns are de rigueurthese days, even though somemay not seem to be at all con-nected to the product or serv-ice that are being promoted. Topromote Information Technol-ogy, Agni Interlink MarketingIndia Pvt. Ltd organized theAgni Star Talent Hunt at theSikkim Government Collegeauditorium here on Sunday.

Part of a mega IT promo-tion, the Music & Dance Rec-ognition Seminar was partici-pated in by 20 female and 10male candidates from all thefour districts of the state.

Minister, HRD, GMGurung was the chief guest onthe occasion.

“The main idea behindholding these song and dancetalent competitions is based onthe American concept of totalcomputer literacy throughonline education,” says AbhayPathak, Senior Associate,AIMIPL, adding, “this alsogives the participants a plat-form to perform at a big leveland in turn generates awarenessabout computer literacy to the

parents and the participants.During the talent hunt smallbreaks are taken to inform allabout computer literacy.”

Categories for competitionwere solo dance, duet dance,Under 12 solo song and opensolo song. There were 4 maleand 4 female candidates partici-pating in the song competition.

The candidates had to gothrough two auditions at HotelMount Simvo before enteringthe final round today. Cashprizes amounting to Rs. 4,000

were also awarded to the win-ning participants.

“This opportunity informsthe candidates and the peoplein general about the benefits ofcomputer literacy and how itcan be used in our daily lives,”stated Nishan Basta, Senior As-sociate and also the person con-ducting the technical part of thecomputer literacy sessions.

There are about 600 asso-ciates all over the State under-going computer literacy pro-grammes through AIMIPL atpresent and the company ex-pects to increase the number byholding many such pro-grammes in the future.

Participants chat up in the green room awaiting their turn on stage

Promoting computer literacy through the stage

Now you can WATCH yourfavourite SONGS on

JUST DIAL 4444 AND FOLLOW

THE ON-SCREEN INSTRUCTIONS

Eg.: To select language dial 01 or 02 or 03 or 04

- Enjoy watching -

I NV I TAT I ONInauguration of

Lashithang Gumpawill be held on

4 November 2004.Pathing Rinpoche

will also confer“WANG” on the

auspicious occasionof LhababDuechen

celebration.All devotees are

rquested to attendthe prayer function.

OrganizingCommittee,Lashithang,

Pakyong

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