Kareena Kapoor to make her OTT debut from Darjeeling

Kareena kapoor file pic

Writes : Vivek Chhetri

Kareena Kapoor is set to make her over-the-top (OTT) debut from Darjeeling and many believe Bollywood’s latest foray into the hill station is the result of prevailing stability and peace in the region.

“Kareena Kapoor will be starring in a film directed by Sujoy Ghosh and she is expected to reach Darjeeling next week. Some of the places where shootings will take place are Mt Hermon School, Ghoom railway station, a monastery near Ghoom and also near Lava in Kalimpong,” said a source who is in the know of things.

The untitled movie is an adaptation of a novel, The Devotion of Suspect X, written by one of Japan’s most popular writers, Keigo Higashino.

According to director Ghosh’s tweet, the other lead characters in the movie are Jaideep Ahlawat of the Gangs of Wasseypur fame and Vijay Varma who is known for his role in the film Gully Boy.

Following the shooting in the Darjeeling hills, the next round of filming will be held in Mumbai in June, said a source.

Darjeeling was a regular feature in Bollywood many years ago. While Rajesh Khanna-Sharmila Tagore starrer Aradhana put the place in the spotlight, more than 200 films have been shot in the hills.

Sanjay Biswas, a writer in Darjeeling, said: “The list of even Bollywood films shot in Darjeeling is long. Over 200 films in Hindi, Bengali, Nepali and even Tamil and Telugu films have been shot here.”

Some well-known films to be shot in Darjeeling include Vinod Khanna-Shabana Azmi starrer Lahoo Ke Do Rang and Raj Kapoor’s Barsaat. Dev Anand visited the town many times to shoot for Mahal, Joshila and Jab Pyar Kisise Hota Hai.

Amitabh Bachchan was here with Rekha for Do Anjaane and with Rakhi for Barsaat Ki Ek Raat. “Anurodh, which had Rajesh Khanna, was also shot in Darjeeling. Sunil Dutt, too, had visited Darjeeling for Humraaz,” said Biswas.

Shah Rukh Khan shot Raju Ban Gaya Gentleman and Main Hoon Na. “Main Hoon Na was shot in Darjeeling in 2003 and the next major Bollywood shooting was for Anurag Basu’s Barfi! in 2011,” said a movie buff from Darjeeling.

Between 2007 and 2011, the hills were in turmoil over Gorkhaland. There was another round of agitation in 2013 and Bollywood stayed away from the region then. However, when things settled, director Basu came to Darjeeling in 2016 to shoot for Jagga Jasoos which had Ranbir Kapoor in the lead.

Sujoy Ghosh, too, was in Kalimpong to shoot for Kahaani 2 which had Vidya Balan in the lead in 2016.

The hills went into agitation mode again in 2017. “As soon as there was stability in 2018, Rajinikanth came to Kurseong to shoot for his Tamil film Petta,” said the movie buff.

Paras Chhetri, who works as a line director in Darjeeling for Bollywood films, admitted that lack of stability and peace in the region hit the industry hard.

“In the past two-and-a-half months, the pandemic hit us hard. Earlier, the strike and agitation did play spoilsport. We can now expect two to three major web series to be shot in Darjeeling soon,” said Chhetri stressing that those could be seen as spoils of some stability and peace in the hills.

Most web series are aired through OTT, which essentially is a media service offered directly to viewers via the internet bypassing cable broadcast and satellite television platforms.

[Source : Telegraph]

Diesel price hits a ton, buses bear brunt

There are around 5,500 private buses on local and long-distance routes across north Bengal, but hardly 2,500 buses run on roads

In Pic : Private buses parked at the Tenzing Norgay Central Bus Terminus in Siliguri. File picture

Writes : Avijit Sinha

Almost half of the private bus owners in north Bengal have stopped running their vehicles in the region and to Assam and Bihar because of galloping diesel prices. 

The price of diesel — increasing rapidly in the last few days — touched Rs 100 per litre at a number of locations of Bengal on Tuesday, including Darjeeling and Cooch Behar of north Bengal. 

According to Pranab Mani, the secretary of the North Bengal Passenger Transport Owners’ Coordination Committee, many bus owners grounded their vehicles as their earnings can’t match their fuel cost. 

There are around 5,500 private buses on local and long-distance routes across north Bengal, but hardly 2,500 buses run on roads, he said.

“In 2018, the bus fare was hiked for the last time by the state government when the price of a litre of diesel was Rs 68. Now, it is Rs 100 in many places. It is obvious that many owners are in acute financial crisis,” Mani said. 

In the last week alone, 500 buses went off roads in north Bengal as diesel prices have increased virtually every day. 

Bus owners said that in 2014, when diesel was Rs 64 per litre, the fare of private buses was fixed at 60 paise per kilometre for local buses and 65 paise per kilometre for long-distance buses. In 2018, when diesel price increased to Rs 68 per litre, the state government revised the fares by 10 paise per kilometre to be 70 paise and 75 paise for local and long-distance buses, respectively. 

“Now diesel is around Rs 100 per litre and we are charging the same old fares. It is not possible for us to sustain the loss,” said a bus owner based in Cooch Behar.

Over the past one week, there has been a dip in the number of private buses that connect Siliguri to different locations. Around 48 private buses used to run between Cooch Behar and Siliguri but now only 30 do. 

Similarly, 15 private buses would run along the Siliguri-Alipurduar route but now only six to seven do.

“We fail to understand why the state government is not increasing the bus fares when price of every other item is on the rise. The state itself has to bear the loss as it is paying subsidies to the North Bengal State Transport Corporation and other state-run transport companies every month. An immediate revision of fares can help the sector to revive or else the situation will worsen,” another bus owner said.

In north Bengal, around 20,000 people are associated with the private passenger transport sector.

A senior official of the state transport department said they were aware of the situation. “We understand their problem but the decision to revise fares has to be made at the top level of the government. All we can do is to make recommendations,” he said.

Source : The Telegraph

Residents of Dalgaon tea estate recalls Bogtui-like carnage

In one of the most horrific massacres in north Bengal, 19 persons were killed and burnt at the home of a Citu leader on November 6, 2003

[In Pic :The Dalgaon tea estate near Birpara of Alipurduar district, the site of the 2003 carnage where 19 persons were murdered.File Picture]

Writes : Avijit Sinha

The carnage at Bogtui village in Birbhum district, where eight persons were murdered on Monday, made residents of the Dooars tea belt recall a similar incident of 2003 at Dalgaon tea estate near Birpara of Alipurduar district.

Seen as one of the most horrific massacres in north Bengal, 19 persons were killed and burnt at the home of a Left-backed trade union leader on November 6, 2003.

A group of workers of the garden attacked the house of Citu leader Tarakeswar Lohar who was holding a meeting. The workers,  furious with Lohar and his henchmen for their highhandedness, resorted to the attack when they learnt the trade union leader wanted to induct three “outsiders” in clerical posts of the garden, instead of local educated youths.

They barged into the house with sharp weapons and indiscriminately attacked those sitting inside. Lohar and a few others managed to escape but 19 people, including two women, died. The house was torched and what remained were charred remains of the bodies.

“The thought of it still sends a chill down our spine,” recalled Parameswar Mahali, a former worker of the garden. “We rushed to see the house in flames. There were bloodstains everywhere and charred bodies on the ground.”

Lohar did manage to escape from the spot and later died a natural death .

In due course, it was found that the attack was retaliatory, similar to the Bogtui incident. But here, unlike in Bogtui, where the massacre seems to be a sequel of Trinamul leader Bhadu Sheikh’s murder on Monday, Dalgaon residents were fed up with Lohar and his aides.

However, Debaprasad Roy, a veteran Congressman from Jalpaiguri, pointed out that while the government in Bengal had changed from the Left to Trinamul, the culture of violence had not.

“There is information that the incident in Bogtui happened because of a dispute between the two groups of Trinamul workers who were into illegal sand mining and some other activities and wanted to gain control over the area,” said Roy.

[source : Thr Telegraph]

Hill solution, not GTA poll, says Bimal GurungOn Tuesday, Mamata had again spoken of her wish to hold the elections

Writes : Vivek Chhetri

Gorkha Janmukti Morcha chief Bimal Gurung on Thursday wrote to chief minister Mamata Banerjee requesting her not to hold the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA) elections but work out a “permanent political solution” for the hills.

“Today we wrote a letter to chief minister Mamata Banerjee requesting her to work out a permanent political solution instead of holding GTA elections…. Holding elections would go against the democratic spirit as the people of the hills have rejected the GTA,” Gurung, who is an ally of Trinamul, said in Kalimpong.

On Tuesday, Mamata had again spoken of her wish to hold the GTA polls. “...Now Darjeeling is peaceful, I am so happy. Darjeeling started the election process, I am so happy. Next, we will go for GTA election also but before that I will sit will all... and try and adjust with so many parties. We want to see that Darjeeling smiles,” she had said.

A senior leader of Morcha, Lopsang Yolmo, who was the chairman of the GTA Sabha, said his understanding of permanent political solution was the state of Gorkhaland.

Although the BJP government promised a “permanent political solution” in its 2019 Lok Sabha election manifesto and Mamata while campaigning for the Assembly election in 2021 had said in a rally that the BJP-led Centre would never work it out and only the state government would, the exact contours of the "PPS" has neither be defined by the BJP nor Trinamul.

Gurung’s Morcha is now pressing on this point. Yolmo said the Morcha would organise a seminar in Kalimpong on April 2, to discuss the PPS .

Earlier, Roshan Giri, general secretary of the Morcha had talked about a provision under Article 244 (A) of the Constitution. This Article was inserted in the Constitution in 1969 for the formation “of an autonomous state comprising certain tribal areas in Assam” with provision for creating local legislature or council of ministers or both.Gurung’s party had rejected the GTA when they started the Gorkhaland agitation in 2017. In the hills, the BJP and GNLF are also opposed to it. The GNLF even filed a case against the hill body in Calcutta High Court. However, new hill parties — Hamro Party and the BGPM — are in favour of the GTA elections.

source : @Telegraph

Woman, son dead in blaze inside flat in Cooch Behar

According to sources, they own a flat in the third floor of a building in New Kadamtala area under ward 11 of the town

[Representational image.Shutterstock]

A middle-aged woman and her son died in a blaze that broke out at a multi-storey building in Cooch Behar town on Tuesday.

The deceased have been identified as Supriya Sarkar, 51, and her son Sujoy, 32.

Sources said they own a flat in the third floor of a building in New Kadamtala area under ward 11 of the town. A few days back, they had come to the flat from Patna, where they usually stay.

On Tuesday morning, some residents spotted smoke coming out of the flat and informed the police and the fire services. Two fire tenders from Cooch Behar fire station reached the spot and doused the blaze.

A team from Kotwali police station also went to the site.

After the fire was extinguished, firemen and police entered the flat to find the bodies of the mother and the son.

“The son works in Patna and both he and his mother stayed there most of the time. Around three-four days back, they had come to the flat which otherwise used to be under lock and key,” said a local resident.

The cause of the fire is not yet known.

Residents also pointed out that the firemen had to break a lock to enter the flat. “They were inside the flat and yet it was locked outside. The police should find out why,” one said.

On February 12, another fire had broken out in another multi-storey building in Bhawaniganj Bazar, the largest market of the town. However, no casualty or injury was reported in that incident.

[source : The Telegraph]

Focus on work ethic, Mamata Banerjee sets road map for Siliguri

There have also been reports of several ruling party leaders leading a flashy lifestyle, something that the Bengal chief minister has never approved of

[Chief minister Mamata Banerjee with newly elected Trinamul Congress councillors of the Siliguri Municipal Corporation on Tuesday]Picture by Passang Yolmo

Writes : Devadeep Purohit, Bireswar Banerjee

Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday told the newly elected Trinamul councillors of the Siliguri Municipal Corporation (SMC) to lead a spartan life and work for the common people, the message coming at a time the chief minister is repeatedly stressing the virtues of a simple life for leaders of the ruling party.

“You have a roof above your head… You get decent square meals. You can have a two-wheeler or at best a car to move around. Ideally, you should be using two-wheelers when you go out to meet people,” said Mamata in her brief interaction with the 37 councillors of Trinamul who came to Uttar Kanya to meet her.

The lesson that Mamata gave to the councillors assumes significance as the last few years have seen several Trinamul leaders making big SUVs and sedans with tinted glasses a part of their lifestyle. There have also been reports of several ruling party leaders leading a flashy lifestyle, something that Mamata has never approved of.

The chief minister told Gautam Deb, the would-be mayor of Siliguri, that after assuming office, he should constitute a monitoring cell.

“You should form a monitoring and implementation cell to check progress and execution of development works (in the SMC). I will also monitor (it),” she said.

She also asked the councillors to put in all possible efforts so that Siliguri — the largest city in north Bengal and the gateway to the Northeast — can be developed as urban centres like Calcutta and Rajarhat. “You will have to ensure participation of people from all walks of life in the development process,” she said before adding that development didn’t only mean “large expenditure”.

The chief minister’s missive to the councillors, a source said, meant she did not want any malpractice in the running of the civic body.

In 2012, a year after Mamata first came to power, a scam had come to surface at the Siliguri Jalpaiguri Development Authority (SJDA) — a development agency that functions under the state municipal affairs and urban development department — that had embarrassed the newly sworn in Trinamul government.

It was alleged that government funds to the tune of Rs 80 crore was misappropriated on the pretext of projects like electrical crematorium and sewerage treatment plants, which either were unfinished or not carried out. The scam led to a CID probe, which resulted in the arrest of an IAS officer who was the chief executive officer of the SJDA then.

“That scam had been a setback for Trinamul. At the 2015 civic elections, the Left and Congress made it an agenda. Trinamul lost and the Left came to power. This seems to be another reason why the chief minister rang an alert today (Tuesday),” said a political observer.

Deb, while talking to newspersons after the interaction with Mamata, said she has set a road map for the civic board and they will follow it.

“We will take up the tasks like improvement of traffic movement system in the city, better drinking water supply, along with other infrastructure works as per the road map,” he said.

source : The Telegraph

Tea tourism plan brews in garden

In pic : Saket Agarwal, director of Majherbari tea estate, and (right) Giriraj Agarwal, an executive officer of the company, with their teas.

Writes : Anirban Choudhury

The management of Majherdabri tea estate on the outskirts of Alipurduar town has drawn up a major tea tourism project in the garden for which the company will invest funds to the tune of Rs 10 crore.

Recently, the Bengal tourism department approved the project, the work of which will soon commence in the garden.

In Alipurduar district, this is the first major project to be taken up in a tea garden.

“We hope to finish construction work of the first phase in two years. There will be an array of amenities for tourists. It will also be an attraction for people of this region,” said Saket Agarwal, a director of Majherdabri.

The garden is favourably located for tea tourism, as it is adjacent to the Buxa Tiger Reserve and close to NH 31C that connects district to the Northeast. Also, Nonai, a hilly stream, flows through the garden. It is also near two railway stations – Alipurduar Junction and New Alipurduar, with the the Bhutan hills in the background.

Agarwal, while elaborating on the proposed project, said they will use around 10 acres of land to set up the infrastructure.

“The work will be carried out in three phases. In the first phase, we will build 10 cottages, a swimming pool, a tea and coffee bar, a multi-cuisine restaurant and a banquet hall,” he said.

These would be followed by a destination wedding hall, another 10 cottages, a spa and a gymnasium in the second phase.

In the final phase, the tea company will develop a golf course, along with tennis and badminton courts.

“There is also a plan to build a hanging bridge. Also, the cottages would be built in such a manner so that people can have different views of rivers, forests, the tea plantation and the hills,” Agarwal added.

In recent years, a number of proposals for tea tourism have reached the state government, especially after the government  increased the ceiling of land that can be used for tourism  purposes in a tea garden. Now, 15 per cent of the vacant land (maximum 150 acres) can be used for this purpose. Earlier, the ceiling was 5 per cent.

Special teas

Along with the tea tourism project, Majherdabri has also come up with CTC and green teas with special flavours.

The varieties — around 30 of them — have been named as “wellness teas” and are available at their outlet in Alipurduar and also online.

These include moonlit tea, hibiscus tea, masala tea and elaichi tea.

“We have plans to open various outlets for these teas in Cooch Behar and Siliguri soon,” said Agarwal.

Source : The Telegraph