Alert‬ taxi driver foils alleged trafficking bid, 4 Darjeeling girls rescued

10:43 PM

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NGO

Writes Amitava Banerjee, 

7 Jul 2016, DARJEELING: Four local girls were rescued from Darjeeling Hills on Saturday just as they were about to be trafficked, thanks to a vigilant taxi driver who alerted authorities in time.

The incident happened at Mirik, a scenic tourist town in Darjeeling surrounded by tea gardens. However, the economically backward condition of people of the tea gardens and surrounding villages makes it highly vulnerable to trafficking. A number of sex rackets operating from private residences and guest houses were unearthed in SIliguri and other towns of North Bengal recently.

Sailesh Subba, the taxi driver at Krishnanagar taxi stand in Mirik, noticed the four girls talking to a man, who looked like an outsider.

“Recently I had attended an anti-trafficking awareness programme conducted by MARG, an NGO, and police,” Subba told HT. Suspecting something wrong, he approached the girls and learnt that they were going to Bangalore for jobs in a beauty parlour and that the man was escorting them to Siliguri railway station.

He immediately informed the NGO which in turn alerted the police. The four girls and the man were taken into custody for questioning.

Sailesh Subba, the taxi driver at Krishnanagar taxi stand in Mirik. (HT Photo)

The girls, aged between 18 and 24 years, revealed that they had undergone a beautician course and were offered jobs in a salon in Bangalore through a manpower placement agency in Kolkata. (The name of the manpower agency and the salon has been withheld for investigation purposes.)

“We found a lot of anomalies in the documents,” investigating officer R K Diyali said. “The Kolkata placement agency document claimed that seven girls would be joining as stewards in F&B service department of the Bangalore based organization. However, the girls had no clue they were joining as stewards. The offer letter from the Bangalore salon claimed they would be joining as hairstylists and beauticians.”

Nirnay John Chettri, president of the NGO, Mankind in Action for Rural Growth (MARG), said they got in touch with “our partner NGO, Justice and Care, in Bangalore. They paid a visit to the salon posing as customers. Except for a massage bed, the single room did not have any equipment used in a salon.”
50-year-old Prabal Mohan Bhattacharya from North 24 Parganas has been arrested and charged under Section 370 IPC (trafficking). “We are thoroughly investigating the case,” the Investigating Officer Diyali said.

Recently four students of Darjeeling Hills had unearthed an international flesh trade racket resulting in the arrest of its kingpin from Gurgaon in Haryana. “Along with the four students we will felicitate Sailesh Subba also,” Chettri said.

Source: hindustantimes

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Darjeeling police busted International sex racket with the help of school kids

9:11 PM

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West Bengal

Writes Amitava Banerjee

Darjeeling, Jun 19, 2016: Intervention by schoolchildren helped uncover an international sex racket, leading to the arrest of the operation’s kingpin from Delhi along with a woman trafficker from Nepal.

Three traffickers were arrested at the West Bengal-Nepal border, and a police team from Darjeeling was rushed to Delhi to nab others involved in the racket. Members of Mankind in Action for Rural Growth (MARG), an NGO, accompanied the police team.

Gagan Verma, the alleged kingpin, was arrested from his residence in DLF Phase 2, Gurgaon, by the Darjeeling police team along with Haryana police on Saturday. Verma allegedly forged government documents such as Aadhaar cards to traffic girls, and force them to dance in bars and into flesh trade.
Most of the girls were trafficked from the hills of Darjeeling, Sikkim and Nepal. The racket was operational in the National Capital Region, particularly in Gurgaon and Mudrika area of Delhi.
However, Verma’s aide, Sunni Tamang, managed to give police the slip and escaped to Nepal by road. MARG subsequently informed its partner NGO, Maiti Nepal, and Tamang was apprehended at the Nepal-West Bengal border at around 6pm on Saturday.

 Darjeeling police busted International sex racket with the help of school kids

The Darjeeling police team comprised of two sub-inspectors, two women and two men constables. “We are bringing Verma to the Darjeeling district. He will be produced at the additional chief justice court in Siliguri,” said Deo Gazmer, officer-in-charge of Khoribari police station.v
The operation to bring down the racketeers began after MARG received information from Maiti Nepal that a 15-year-old girl had gone missing from a remote village in the Sidhupalchowk district of Nepal.

The NGO has 12 Students Against Trafficking Clubs (SATC) running successfully in Darjeeling schools, under which students of Class 10, 11 and 12 are sensitised on the human trafficking issue.
“We had alerted our SATC regarding the missing girl. Four of our students from an SATC we run in a school located in the remote part of the district bordering Nepal managed to trace [the girl] on a social network site and befriended her,” said Nirnay John Chettri, president, MARG.

The students pretended to be residents of Nepal who were looking for jobs. The 15-year-old girl then introduced the SATC members to her “friend” in Delhi, who offered them jobs with a salary of Rs 15,000. They would have to work as bar dancers and entertain guests in Delhi.
When the SATC members raised concerns about being caught at the India-Nepal border, they were asked to e-mail their photographs and within 20 minutes they received fake Aadhaar cards along with their appointment letters.

“The students then laid a trap, stating that they would run away from their homes for Delhi. They requested the person in Delhi to send someone to meet them in Panitanki on the Indo-Nepal border, located in the plains of the Darjeeling district,” said Chettri.

At 1 pm on June 8, a man and a woman arrived at the rendezvous point in Panitanki, and were apprehended by police. The duo was identified as Ugen Tshering Bhutia, 23, of Jaldhaka in Kalimpong sub-division and Srijana Rai, 22, of Kumai in Darjeeling district.

“The whole evening, we continued chatting with the Delhi people from where we learnt that a girl from their group had boarded the Rajdhani Express to pick up our SATC girls from the New Jalpaiguri Railway Station (NJP) on June 9,” said Chettri.

A second trap was laid on June 9 at NJP, and Pranita Mukhia, 22, originally from Sipchu in Jalpaiguri district of West Bengal, was arrested.

Along with her Hierien (39) of Shilong, Prashant Borah (24) and Pranjol Sunwar (37) of Dibrugarh were arrested from NJP.

MARG the key NGO working in this case states: After our recent intervention in Panitanki (Indo Nepal Border) and NJP on 8th and 9th of June we got certain lead information of sex racket flourishing in Gurgaon and Munrika area of Delhi and NCR.

Most of the girls were trafficked and recruited from the hills of Darjeeling, Sikkim and Nepal. Darjeeling Police Team organised by  Deodoot Gajmer (OC Khoribari) and headed by  Anup Roy (SI) and MARG members left for Delhi.

After taking support from  Robin Hibu (IPS) Jt. Commissioner Delhi Police, (Nodal Officer for the North East Folks), Deepak Saharan (HPS) DCP East of Gurgaon, Mam Tanya Singh (ACP) Gurgaon, SHO DLF Phase 2, Darjeeling Police Team raided and arrested  Gagan Verma from his residence.

Verma is one of the kingpin who was pushing girls into club dancing, flesh trade and was illegally making documents like Aaddhar Cards for the girls.

Sunni Tamang an aide of Verma escaped that very morning for Nepal by road. This information was again relayed to Maiti Nepal. At around 6pm yesterday Sunni was apprehended by Maiti Nepal Team in Nepal Gunj.

Mission Impossible became possible because all worked as a team.

It was the joint effort of Robin Hibu (Jt. Comm), Deepak Saharan (DCP), Mam Tanya Singh (ACP), Deodoot Gazmer (OC Khoribari), Kalyan Gurung (CI, Khoribari), DYSP (Khoribari), Sanjay Prasad (Maiti Nepal), Subir Roy (for arranging a vehicle for the team on the 16th), Lisa from Caritas India (Anthony Chettri, Delhi) for arranging vehicle for two days for the team, SATC members.

Via Hindustan Times

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GTA's borewells to overcome water crisis meets opposition from environmentalists

11:04 AM

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NGO

Vivek Chhetri and Rajeev Ravidas

June 3: The GTA's move to overcome water crisis in the hills by digging borewells has met with opposition from environmentalists who say machines shouldn't drill the fragile land without a proper study.

The Darjeeling district magistrate deputed a hydrogeologist under the state government to submit a report on three borewells dug by individuals in the Kalimpong municipality area. The hydrogeologist said the bore-wells had been dug without permission from appropriate authorities.

The GTA had already identified 10 places to dig borewells and set in motion the administrative process for it.

Mark Lyngdoh, a young entrepreneur, is believed to be the first person to dig a borewell in the hills. He successfully dug the borewell in the Hill Top locality in Kalimpong a couple of months back and over 6,000 litres of water could be pumped out a day.

Samden Dukpa, executive director, public health engineering department, GTA, had said the borewell dug by Lyngdoh should be the first in the hills. "I am not aware of the existence of any other borewell in the hills," said Dukpa.

Water being pumped out of the borewell dug by Mark Lyngdoh in Kalimpong's Hill Top in May.
Picture by Chinlop Fudong Lepcha

One had never tried a bore-well before in the hills because of the terrain where water is hard to be found below the surface.

After Lyngdoh, two more individuals dug borewells in Kalimpong which is located around 4,200ft.

Dukpa today said world renowned hydrogeologist Dr. Ritesh Arya had identified 10 locations in the hills for digging borewells.

"In February, we had engaged Dr Arya to carry out a preliminary survey on the feasibility of drilling borewells in the hills. Dr Arya has the experience of digging such wells successfully in high-altitude places like Ladakh, Leh, Shimla and Dharamsala. The (GTA) chief executive (Bimal Gurung) himself is very keen on the project. We intend to carry out pilot projects to drill borewells at 10 different sites in Darjeeling, Kurseong and Kalimpong and tenders will be floated soon," he said.

Environmentalists and the general public, especially in Kalimpong, however, raised questions on drilling the fragile hills to extract water. The public's concern has found resonance with the district administration as well.

Wing Commander (retd) Praful Rao, the president of Save The Hills, a Kalimpong-based NGO, said: "A proper survey needs to conducted before the mountains are drilled. The impact of drilling the fragile mountains needs to be studied, the type of aquifers beneath the surface needs to be understood, the quality of water needs to be tested and the amount of water that can be extracted needs to be carefully analysed before such an adventure can be allowed."

He went on: "The water scarcity in the hills is more about mismanagement and drilling should be the last resort. There are also enough research materials that show that drilling of fragile mountains is not among the best options. There were instances when digging of deep wells had dried up springs in the mountain areas."

Asked about the issue, Anurag Srivastava, the Darjeeling district magistrate, said he had asked Soumit Chatterjee, a hydrogeologist in the state water investigation department, to submit a report on the borewells in Kalimpong.

Chatterjee who visited Kalimpong yesterday, said the borewells had been dug without permission.

"All borewells dug in the hills are illegal. Permission has to be obtained from the district level ground water resources development authority and the state level ground water resources development authority for digging borewells under the West Bengal Groundwater Resources (Management, Control and Regulation) Act, 2005."

The hydrogeologist said the district level authority would grant permission to extract water till 50 cubic meters per hour. "Beyond the 50 cubic meter mark, permission has to be sought from the state authority," he said.

The official is expected to submit his report to the district magistrate soon. "We were not aware that drilling was taking place in the hills. Apart from merely looking into administrative technicalities, one has to take into account what the impact would be on a young mountain like the Himalayas if thousands of deep wells are dug," said Chatterjee.

Zion Lepcha, the vice-chairman of Kalimpong municipality, said: "After concerns were raised by a section of the society, we have informally asked those who have dug borewells to stop extracting water until we get experts to carry out a scientific study of our area."

A GTA official, who didn't want to be named, said the hill body was not aware of the rules restricting the digging of borewells.

Another GTA official said it was to be found out if the two authorities referred to by Chatterjee had jurisdiction over the hills.



Via Telegraph

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Facebook helps find 22-year-old Gorkha woman missing from Dooars

10:13 AM

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NGO

Vivek Chhetri

Darjeeling, Feb. 26: From China to Canada, Delhi to Darjeeling, a motley group of people networked across continents to unite a 22-year-old woman with her family almost three weeks after she lost her way from a Dooars tea garden.

Chunnu Tamang went missing from Tulsipara tea garden near Birpara on February 7.

She was tracked, identified and united with her family at Salua in East Midnapore yesterday by several Facebook and WhatsApp users whom she hasn't met and will perhaps never see.

Chunnu had been staying in the tea garden with her mother Bela and three sisters. She lost her father few years ago.

Earlier this month, she lost her way while roaming in the plantation.

Her family lodged a police complaint and while they looked for her in the Dooars, Vivek Lepcha, 23, a graduate from St Xavier's College, Calcutta, got a call from a friend in Siliguri.

"He shared some photographs of a girl with me and said she was seen at the NJP station and added that she must have lost her way. He told me she had been seen in the area for three days. Since my friend is in a government service, he did not want to come out in public. I decided to post the photos on a Facebook page called The Darjeeling Chronicle," Lepcha said.

The Darjeeling Chronicle page lists news and events and it has multiple administrators not only from Darjeeling, Calcutta, Mumbai and others cities of India but also from Canada, the Netherlands and the United States. The page has more than 48,000 followers.

Rinchu Doma Dukpa, one of the administrators, said: "We received the message on February 10 and as soon as we put it up, it was shared 2,400 times. It seems that Rajen Chhetri from Delhi informed Rangu Souriya of Kanchenjungha Uddhar Kendra (an NGO) based in Siliguri, about the message."

Souriya rushed to NJP but by then, Chunnu had left the area.

"She went missing again and all of us were very worried," Dukpa said. "We got information about the girl from Bikash Lama, Ugen T. Bhutia, Simran Sharma (in Calcutta) and Sanjeev Rai."

Facebook helps find 22-year-old Chunnu Tamang missing from Dooars

Bikash, 38, a businessman from Jaigoan in the Dooars, said: "When I saw the post on Facebook, I decided to share it and some of my friends from Birpara told me about the girl's family. Since the FB post said she was seen in NJP, I, along with some of the girl's relatives, went to NJP station but we could not find her."

By this time, other pages on Facebook, like Dooars Express and Hamro Darjeeling, had also shared the posts.

Sanjeev, 30, a travel guide from Alubari in Darjeeling, managed to get in touch with Chunnu's eldest sister, Binu, who works in Chennai.

"I saw a post on FB pages Hamro Darjeeling and Darjeeling Chronicle. I also saw another post stating that someone had gone missing and a contact number had been given," Sanjeev said.

When Sanjeev called that number, he found it was Binu's

On February 21, the DC team received a message from Anmol Mukhia, a international relations PhD scholar from Jilin University, China.

"Anmol had shared the girl's photographs posted by Bishal Tamang from Salua in East Midnapore," said Dukpa.

Anmol in a WhatsApp message from China said: "I had seen a post about a missing person. Once I got the pictures shared by Bishal Tamang, I send those to DC."

Bishal said they got a call from police "saying a girl who spoke Nepali was found walking aimlessly on a highway. They asked if we could help. We tried speaking to her but she could not give proper answers. Sometimes she said she was from Delhi and then she named other places. She was admitted to the sadar hospital here," said Bishal.

Bishal then posted the woman's pictures on the Hamro Darjeeling page. Eventually Amnol came across the posts. "I contacted DC," said Anmol.

The DC got in touch with Sanjeev Rai, who had helped identify Chunnu. "I contacted Binu in Chennai, who confirmed that it was her sister," said Sanjeev.

Binu said: "I heard from my friend that pictures of my sister, who had gone missing from the garden, were being circulated on Facebook. My friend shared the pictures and mentioned my phone number along with that. Later, I was contacted by some people who informed me about my sister. I am relieved that she has been found in Salua (around 800km) from the estate. My mother and relatives reached Salua yesterday. They are on their way home today."

Note Kudos to The Darjeeling Chronicle team, keep up the good work..

Telegraph

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Two Minor girls from Tea Garden rescued from traffickers by KUK NGO

10:03 AM

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Stop Human trafficking

Report by PRASHANT ACHARYA

Siliguri2 Feb 2016 Two minor girls from closed Panighatta Tea Garden were rescued from allegedly being trafficked to Dubai with the efforts of   NGO KanchanjungaUddhar Kendra (KUK), Siliguri and Railway Protection Force (RPF) Patna.

According to the information one local agent Guria Darjee from Jabra More, Naxalbari has been arrested who had contacted the victims first for providing jobs.
The victims are now in Patna and kept in a government shelter home. Patna police is trying to trace the other agents involved in the case.

Two minor girls were lured with providing lucrative jobs were travelling with an agent from Nepal in a train from NJP on 31st January. Family members informed KUK when their children didn't return home till evening.

Human trafficking, - Representational image

RanguSouriya, general secretary of KUK told that the victim's family contacted her for help. After filing the missing dairy at Panighatta she tried to contact the victim's number. After repeated call she convinces them to inform about their whereabouts. The girls informed that they were travelling in a train with a lady from Nepal and also informed the name of a local agent.

Later police traced the number and then with the help of RPF Patna they were rescued the minor girls but unfortunately the agent somehow manage to flee from the train.
According to the information there were other three girls missing from eastern Nepal and these agents had taken them in another train. Plans were to make all five girls fly on the same date to Dubai from New Delhi.

Souriya who recently received award from President of India among 100 powerful women of India is doing tremendous work to save the lives of hundreds of girls trafficked from various parts of India including Nepal.

Till now more than 700 girls has been rescued from brothels and from the hands of pimps since 2004.

Souriya informed that till date 14 traffickers has been arrested and four were convicted. Vicky Biswa from Kalchini has been convicted life time similarly BinayTamang of Darjeeling with 14 years, SangitaDarjee of Naxalbari with 10 years and JamunaThapa a brothel manager from Pune and resident of Nepal with 7 years imprisonment.

Via EOI

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Bharatiya Gorkhali Welfare Association Initiatives

9:48 PM

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social

Bharatiya Gorkhali Welfare Association is a non-political, non-profit social organization of the Indian Gorkhas of Bangalore, Karnataka, India. Bharatiya Gorkhali Welfare Association has done numerous services for the welfare of the Gorkhas in Karnataka. Some of its major activities are listed below:

1 . It has obtained a 2% reservation for Gorkhas under the OBC category for admission into government colleges in Karnataka after fulfilling certain criteria.
2. It provides scholarship to meritorious students from Class 1 to Class 10.
3. It has provided various vocational courses to resident Gorkhas.
4. It has been instrumental in procuring from the government 12 houses for resident Gorkhas.
5. It has held numerous cultural and sports events for the Gorkhas of Bangalore from time to time.
6. It provides a helpline for resident Gorkhas in times of emergency.
7. It is recognized by many areas and states in India including Darjeeling and Sikkim as a socially responsible organization and maintains good relations with major organizations in those areas.
8. It provides career counselling and placement assistance for the Gorkhas.

Bharatiya Gorkhali Welfare Association (BGWA)logo

CURRENT INITIATIVES

SAHAYOG – This is a BGWA initiative for providing free accident insurance to its members. It was launched on 25 January 2009 at the occasion of the 14th General Body Meeting of the BGWA. A group of students and members from the unorganised sector, who do not get insurance cover from their employers have been provided insurance. This initiative will spread to all the members of BGWA who lack such insurance cover.

BGWA can also arrange for health insurance to its members at a very low premium. Sahayog has entered into a partnership with a reputed NGO to help facilitate the paperwork and claims procedure for the insurance policy so that the members will have a steady support in their times of need. Additional facilities of Sahayog include opening of a bank account (with debit card facility) for the members from the unorganised sector.

AASHWAS – A BGWA initiative, is a series of career counselling, personality development and vocational training workshops. As an attempt to attain its objective of advancement of the Gorkha community, Aashwas (Nepali translation being "Reassurance") has been organised by corporate and industry professionals residing in Bangalore. With the enthusiasm and drive to share professional wisdom and acumen to the budding sections of community, Aashwas provides a ready forum to students and professionals alike, wherein ideas and concepts are freely discussed and exchanged - all within the hope that the younger generations of our community become aptly equipped to take on the professional world as and when they do so. To those from the non-corporate arenas, Aashwas is roping in stalwarts from respective industries in order to buttress their positions and growth prospects thereon. Kindly note that Aashwas is a social welfare initiative of BGWA, wherein NO remuneration has been charged by the professionals in mentoring the attendees. A list of Aashwas mentors have been prepared who will offer professional guidance to those seeking career counselling in various fields.


SAJILO - BGWA's initiative "Sajilo - Hami Sabai Ko Lagi" is aimed at sharing information amongst us, which would be useful in our daily lives away from home. We request you to email us at bgwabangalore@gmail.com any information that you may have on the areas listed below and the same will be posted on this site. If you would like to post details regarding "Sale of Vehicle & Furniture", please do provide your Name and Contact Number so that once the post is made,  interested people can get in touch with you.

Via bgwa

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Three Minor Girls From ‪‎Kurseong‬, Rescued in Kolkata

9:27 AM

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Stop Human trafficking

Three minor girls were rescued from the port area of the city today after they went missing from their Kurseong home in Darjeeling district, police said today.

The three were rescued after a tip off from an NGO and were spotted Mallikghat Flower Market area.

The girls have been handed over to representatives of the NGO till the arrival of Kurseong Police, police said adding that a case under IPC section 363 (Punishment for kidnapping) against unknown people have been registered.

"We are looking into the incident to check into whether the girls were kidnapped or not. We are talking to the trio and trying to track into how they reached the city," the investigating officer of Kolkata Police said.

Via PTI

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National Honour for ‪GORKHA‬ ICON - Rangu Souriya

9:21 PM

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NGO

Ms. Rangu Souria is one of the 100 top women achievers of India, and yesterday she received an award at the Rashtrapati Bhavan.

Ministry of Women and Child Development, Government of India, New Delhi, in collaboration with Facebook had launched 100 Women Initiative last year to recognize and acknowledge women who are making a difference in their communities.

Ms. Souriya has devoted her life to rescuing children and youth trafficked into brothels, domestic-slavery and other exploitative situations, and has so far rescued over 600 victims from the traffickers.

She has risked her life and devoted all her resources to this cause, and it was befitting to see her hard-work being finally acknowledged by the Hon'ble President of India and the Ministry of Women & Child Development.

We are thankful to all our readers who have supported her cause and we hope that this incredible love and support will continue for her in the future.

Hat's Off to Rangu Di and all the people associated with Kanchanjunga Uddhar Kendra, Marg Ngo Darjeeling and Dooars Express who have worked selflessly and tirelessly to save our most vulnerable children and youth from the traffickers

Via TheDC

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