Tiger Hill declared plastic-free zone
DARJEELING: In support of the “Beat Plastic Pollution” theme of the World Environment Day this year, the tourism department of the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration has declared Tiger Hill, a plastic free zone. Stringent action will be taken against anyone found dumping plastic in this famous sunrise point in Darjeeling.
Tiger Hill, situated 14 km from Darjeeling at an altitude of about 8000ft is one of the most famous tourist spots in Darjeeling. Tourists visit this spot located in the Senchal Wildlife Sanctuary to see the sunrise and Mount Kanchenjunga. It also is a bio-diverse hotspot.
However, all this has been marred by a huge number of tourists not only visiting this bio-diverse hotspot but also leaving behind garbage in the form of empty food packets, plastic water bottles and plastic coffee cups. In order to check the numbers, police issue permits for around 700 vehicles daily to visit Tiger Hill.
“For the past months we have been cleaning up the garbage from Tiger Hill. World Environment Day has been marked by declaring Tiger Hill as plastic free. We request all visiting Tiger Hill not to dump waste here. In case they are caught, appropriate action will be taken against them,” stated Dawa Gyalpo Sherpa, Chief Coordinator, Adventure Tourism Department, Gorkhaland Territorial Administration.
Along with the tourists, he has appealed to the taxi drivers bringing in tourists not to clean their cars in Tiger Hill and leave behind plastic waste. During peak season, Tiger Hill witnesses around four-and-ahalf-thousand footfalls daily.
RAIGANJ: The Northeast Frontier (NF) Railway has decided to beautify and add more passenger facilities at the Raiganj Station of North Dinajpur district in the next six months.
The platforms will be extended. They will have drinking water facilities. Shades and toilets will be constructed. Railway authorities reportedly will spend Rs 2 crore on the development and beautification works in Raiganj Station.
The entry gate of the station will be beautified with works of art and lighting. Photographs of different historical places of North Dinajpur will be displayed at the gate of the station. Previously Radhikapur-Kolkata Express train would arrive on platform 1. After the addition of more coaches to the train, platform 1 is too short to accommodate Radhikapur-Kolkata Express train. So this train has been arriving at platform 2 instead. The resi
dents had raised a demand to extend platform 1 and construct proper shades for passengers on platform 2.
Recently the construction of the shades started. S K Chowdhury, Divisional Railway Manager of N F Railway, Katihar division, during his visit to Raiganj on Sunday said: “As Raiganj is the district headquarter, we decided to introduce more facilities for the passengers in Raiganj station. The extension work on platform 1 will start soon.”
Now there are four shades for passengers at the Raiganj station. Additional eight passenger shades will be set up. Drinking water facilities with Reverse Osmosis (RO) technology water purifiers will be provided to the passengers on the platforms, he added.
“The entry gate of the station will be beautified with light and display of popular historical places of the district. Everything will come up in the next six months,” added the DRM.