Chariot festival in Cooch Behar
COOCH BEHAR, June 27: Ratha-yatra festival started in Cooch Behar in 1890. Then Maharaja Nripendra Narayan was the ruler of Cooch Behar State. The tradition is still on.
On behalf of Debatra Trust Board, the Dwarbaxi Mr Amiyo Baksi inaugurated the Ratha-jatra festival in front of the Madan Mohan temple today. A huge crowd of devotees gathered there to get a glance of Lord Madan Mohan in the specially decorated chariot. The chariot went to Gunjabari and it will stay there for seven days.
A mela was also organised at Gunjabari and also near Madan Mohan temple complex today. Heavy police arrangement was there to maintain peace. []
PHOTO : Devotees at the Ratha-yatra festival of Lord Madan Mohan in Cooch Behar on Tuesday.
Ghost panic in Tufanganj
COOCH BEHAR, June 27: Tufanganj Police arrested a “ghost” and detained five suspected persons for interrogation but the ghost-panic is still prevailing in Tufanganj. Plainclothesmen were deployed to keep watch on the situation. A senior official of Cooch Behar District Police said that a probe started into the matter.
It may be mentioned here that mysterious incident of stone pelting started from last Thursday on ten residences with corrugated iron sheeted roofs of Sukanta Palli in Ward No. 3 of Tufanganj Municipality. The mysterious incidents made residents panicky in that area. A rumour started over it terming the incident as ghostly affair. Some locals started believing that the soul of a teenager boy who committed suicide by hanging himself a few days ago was behind the stone pelting incidents. Members of a local club engaged themselves in patrolling the area in the night to catch the ghost red-handed. After failure of citizens and police to nab anyone the rumour rose to its height about presence of ghost.
At last, officer-in-charge of Tufanganj Police Station, Mr Binay Gurung and other policemen were able to nab the “ghost” from a cowshed on Sunday evening. He was identified as one Atul Saha (50). Saha is a local businessman dealing with jute and betel-nut. But his family members are not ready to accept him as the wanted “ghost”. They demanded the police should investigate into the matter to find out the actual culprit.
Police said the arrested person was a patient of mental disorder. About two years ago he turned ill but after treatment he became normal again. At first, the pelting of stones started in his residence and so no one suspected him. Later, nine other residences of the area got affected. But police believes that not only Saha but also some other ill motivated ones were there behind the incidents. They tried to make people panicky with some covert intentions.
After the arrest of Atul Saha and detention of five others the stone pelting incident almost came to a halt. No massive stone pelting occurred but a few stones disturbed residents. Police deployed plainclothesmen in the ghost-affected area suspecting there were some others of the gang still out of the net. []
Health situation angers MLA
COOCH BEHAR, June 27: Alipurduar MLA Mr Nirmal Das will speak on the ongoing health situation of Alipurduar sub-division and Dooars, in the state Assembly on 5 July. He will do it to draw attention of the state health department to the grim situation of this region.
Mr Das had talks over telephone with the director of health services today. He told the DHS that about sixty persons already died of malaria in government hospitals, health centres and outside too. Three persons died of diarrhoea recently. He blamed the Jalpaiguri district health department and also the tea garden managements for the situation. He demanded immediate measures to control the malaria and diarrhoea situation. He also asked the DHS to consider the longstanding demand to upgrade the Alipurduar sub-divisional hospital into a district hospital with all modern medical facilities.
Mr Das said he would participate in the Budget session of the state Assembly and deliver a speech containing the healthcare scenario of Alipurduar and Dooars on 5 July. []
