Siliguri Sex Racket: Three more arrests from Pradhan Nagar

9:36 PM

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Siliguri Police

Siliguri: After the recent arrest of 18 people, allegedly involved in sex trade from Pradhan Nagar, Siliguri police yet again on Monday busted another big racket from the same area and arrested three people including two girls and a male from Pradhan Nagar.

Police said interrogation on arrested persons will lead to more arrest speculating that the number may rise till late night.

The racket was running inside a house at Pradhan Nagar and the police are still investigating on the details of the house owners and the kingpin.

Since last January 2016 police have arrested 26 people from Pradhan Nagar area.

Local people time and again have alleged that Pradhan Nagar, Hyderpara and NJP areas are becoming sex market and the series of arrest by police has proved their allegation.

Siliguri Sex Racket

On July 1 acting on a tip-off police from Pradhannagar Police station had conducted raid in a guest house located at Pradhan Nagar and arrested 18 people including 12 males and 6 females. Two cars were also seized.

On January 31 police had arrested five people including three females and two males from a flat at Pradhan Nagar. 

Via newstimetoday

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Waterlogging in Siliguri, yellow alert on the banks of Teesta river

9:10 AM

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Siliguri

Siliguri, June 24: Incessant rainfall led to waterlogging today in areas in and around Siliguri, including New Jalpaiguri railway station, and a rise in the water levels of a number of rivers in north Bengal.

The downpour forced the state irrigation department to issue a yellow alert (primary alert) in the unprotected areas on either bank of the Teesta river this afternoon.

The data available with the department show the Teesta is flowing close to the danger mark at Sevoke and near the Teesta Bridge on the outskirts of Jalpaiguri town.

Siliguri received 187.50mm rain in 24 hours till 8am today, leaving NJP, Santoshinagar, Shaktigarh, Champasari, Fogdoibari, Hatiaganga, Milanpally, Ashoknagar and Rajendranagar, areas located outside town, under water.

The exit point and a major portion of NJP station are under knee-deep water. Although water accumulated on the tracks, there was no disruption in rail traffic.

"We fail to understand what the railways and the state government have been doing. There is no proper drainage to let water flow out of the parking area and the exit point at NJP. In case of heavy rains, areas outside the station get marooned. Considering the importance of the station and movement of thousands of passengers everyday, we believe the railways and the state government should look at the issue and take necessary steps to avert water-logging," said Rajat Dutta, a schoolteacher who reached NJP from Calcutta by train this morning.

Waterlogging in Siliguri, yellow alert  on the banks of Teesta river

Rivers like the Mahananda, Jaldhaka, Raidak I and II and the Torsha are also on the rise because of rains in the sub-Himalayan north Bengal.

The India Meteorological Department has forecast rain measuring between 70mm and 200mm at isolated places in Darjeeling, Jalpaiguri, Alipurduar and Cooch Behar districts in the next couple of days.

Via Telegraph

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Darjeeling toy train resumes its daily train service between New Jalpaiguri and Darjeeling

9:48 AM

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Tourism

Siliguri, May 23: The Darjeeling Himalayan Railway will resume its daily train service between New Jalpaiguri and Darjeeling next week, more than five months after it had been rescheduled to thrice a week because of lack of diesel engines.

Narendra Mohan, the area officer of the DHR, said daily services between NJP and Darjeeling halted in January when one of the four diesel engines had developed problems.

"We had to run the services on alternate days, instead of everyday, because one of the diesel engines had developed a snag and was sent for repairs. We were short of engines and we had to reduce the number of trips on the route. Since January, we have been operating the trains on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays," Mohan said.

"But the engine has been restored and is back with the DHR. We will conduct trial runs to see if it is functioning properly and will commence regular services from NJP to Darjeeling by next week," he said.

Additional coaches have been attached to toy trains on the Darjeeling-Ghoom route since May 19 to cater to tourists.

"Normally, there are two first-class coaches but now there are four. The footfall of tourists has increased in the past one week. Two coaches were not enough," Mohan said. "We are planning to keep the additional coaches till June."

The four coaches can ferry around 120 passengers and the cost is Rs 630 per person.

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Toy train resumes Darjeeling-NJP service after 5 years

7:43 AM

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Tourism

 Mrinalini Sharma

World heritage, Darjeeling Himalayan Railway today resumed its full-fledged toy-train service along the whole length of 80km tracks from New Jalpaiguri (NJP ) to Darjeeling after a gap of five years.
The toy train service from NJP to Darjeeling, the most sought-after choice of tourists, has been suspended since June 14, 2010, after a major landslide swept away 500 metres of NH55 at Paglajhora - located 35km from here - and the track running parallel to it.

Toy train resumes Darjeeling-NJP service

Although the toy trains used to run from NJP till Gayabari, another landslide on the highway at Tindharia in September 2011 cut short the joy ride till Chunabhati. Chunabhati is 27km from Siliguri and Gayabari is 7km uphill.

The resumption of Siliguri-Darjeeling service today was a low-key affair with no fanfare. The diesel-driven toy train hauling two first class coaches and a second class one started its journey to Darjeeling from the NJP station around 8.50am with a single passenger Edward Copperman from Ireland.

"I arrived in Siliguri on Tuesday and got to know through Internet that the DHR service from Siliguri to Darjeeling would resume today after a gap of nearly five years. The toy train is very popular in Ireland and I have heard that the scenery along the route is spectacular. This is my first visit to Darjeeling and it feels great that I am the first passenger to board the Unesco World heritage train which is resuming its journey from here to Darjeeling after five years," said Copperman who works for a travel agency.

The scheduled departure of the train from NJP is 8.40am and its scheduled arrival at Darjeeling is at 4.15pm. Although the train departs from NJP, the toy-train service is popularly referred to as the Siliguri-Darjeeling service.

When the toy train reached Siliguri Junction at 10am, eight more passengers boarded the train.
Among them was Shweta Rani from Bhagalpur in Bihar, who along with her husband and two children, had come for a holiday to Darjeeling.

"We had arrived in Siliguri yesterday and were supposed to go to Darjeeling by road today. However, we got to know through Internet that the Siliguri-Darjeeling service would be starting today. So, we decided to travel by it. My children had wanted to take a ride in the heritage railway during our Darjeeling visit and their wish has been fulfilled," said Shweta.

In March 2013, Unesco - which had conferred World Heritage status on the DHR in 1999 - had rapped the Indian Railways over the delay in restoration of the tracks at Tindharia and Paglajhora and resumption of service from NJP to Darjeeling.

In February 2014, the toy train service resumed from NJP to Gayabari after restoration of the tracks at Tindharia.

"The restoration of tracks at Paglajhora was completed on December 13 last year and trial runs were being conducted since December 24. We had applied for permission to restart the Siliguri-Darjeeling service to the Northeast Frontier Railway and got it a few days back. So, we are starting full-fledged daily service from NJP to Darjeeling with passengers from today. It will be a regular service from Siliguri and online reservations will start as soon as the service has been updated in the railway reservation system. Till then, we will provide manual tickets to the passengers," said a DHR official at Siliguri Junction.

Another train service from Darjeeling to Siliguri started from Darjeeling at 10.15am today and reached Siliguri after 8pm.

Source: Telegraph,

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