Islampur, Jan. 30: The North Dinajpur district administration has started the proceedings to return more than 70 acres of land to its rightful tribal owners in Ramganj. This is the first time that the administration has taken up the initiative to restore illegally occupied tribal land, an official claimed. On January 16, the subdivisional officer of Islampur, Partha Ghosh, wrote to the district project officer-cum-district welfare officer to begin the proceedings for restoration of the land under the provisions of the West Bengal Land Reforms Act, 1955.

SILIGURI, 8 DEC: The north Bengal development minister, Mr Gautam Deb, today inaugurated the North Bengal Tea park near New Jalpaiguri railway station. It has been learnt from the SJDA officials and senior functionaries of the Indian Tea Board that the Rs 23 crore 92 lakh project happens to be the second tea park of the world after Dubai and the largest tea park in the world.

SILIGURI, 9 OCT: The Darjeeling district administration has been falling upon its contingency funds in providing relief to the earthquake victims across the Hills who are now residing in over 100 makeshift shelters.

The forest department will experiment with chilli crackers to scare away elephant herds from forest villages. The aim is to reduce man-animal conflict in the region by preventing elephant herds from entering certain regions. Following an order by the state forest minister, Mr Hiten Barman, top forest officials plan to try different ideas, like beekeeping and bursting chilli crackers, to find out the impact of these measures on wildlife.

The death toll in the 6.9-earthquake that convulsed Sikkim last night crossed 70 this evening as Army columns and paramilitary personnel battled torrential rain, mist and landslides that cut off affected areas and stalled relief and rescue work.

Siliguri, Aug. 25: The Siliguri Municipal Corporation will propose to the state government to develop the town as an eco-tourism destination, the decision coming a day after travel operators urged the mayor to help Siliguri become more than a mere transit point for hill and Dooars visitors.

As a first step to realise its plan, the SMC will develop a bird sanctuary in Fulbari on the outskirts of Siliguri.

Siliguri, Aug. 21: The foundation for a water supply plant that will benefit more than 7 lakh people in Siliguri will be laid after the Pujas by the chief minister, PHE minister Subrata Mukherjee today said.
The minister said the government was also hoping to complete the Rs 55-crore Balasun water project for Darjeeling town within the same time frame.

SILCHAR : Tripura was a princely state during the British-raj and gateway to Shillong and Calcutta through Sylhet and Commilla, now in Bangladesh. Tripura was annexed to India in 1949. During the pre-independent days, the Maharaja of Tripura did not permit the Britishers to open tea gardens in Tripura. JC Das, a prominent personality in the tea industry, said most of the tea gardens in Tripura were opened by the land lords of undivided Bengal and ICS officers of Bengal as well as professors of Murari Chand College, Sylhet.

SILIGURI, 5 AUG: The minister for irrigation and waterways, Dr Manas Bhuniya, today said the state would demand at least Rs 307 crore from the Centre to carry on the construction work of the Teesta Barrage Project (TBP). Dr Bhuniya (see sns photo) said: "The Centre had allotted Rs 83 crore in 2010-11 but the department received only Rs 63 crore from the state finance department. We will demand Rs 307 crore from the Centre for 2011-12. We hope that the Centre will allot at least Rs 227 crore from its budget. The state would contribute 10 per cent.”

Siliguri, June 12: Apalchand forest is set to be declared the third habitat for one-horned rhinoceros in the state after Jaldapara and Gorumara.

The forest, 35km from here, has been home to a pair of rhinos for about two years.

Forest minister Hiten Barman had held a meeting with the senior forest officials at Aranya Bhavan in Jalpaiguri on Friday where the matter was discussed.