Himalayan Times (1952)

.lu ne 8, 1052

Nm i

ifiimtl'nnnil llnltfe

of the damage that is being caused today in
Darjeeling could be prevented, probably prevented *
for all times to come, provided Govt, took up
what he called the task of preventive aflortsta-
tion. In that connection he also told me that
it was necessary to protect our roads by w i,at
he called the multi storey planting of trees.

Afer coming here, the District Board pre-
sented me with an address in which ii referred
to the desirability of having two alternative routes
to the plains. There are two life lines of commu-
nication in this district of Darjeeling—the Hill
Cart Road and the Tecst.a Valley Road—and it
was pointed out to me by people, for whose
opinion I have great respect, that this is not a
desirable Date of tilings and that it would be
much better if Darjeeling and Kalimpong were
provided with alternative routes down to the
plains. I have not been able to find out exactly
how much this would cost.

But ther.* cannot he any doubt whatsoever
that these two measures viz, preventive affore-
station and the planting of trees on both sides
of our road*, constitute long term programmes
and that the West Bengal Govt, will have to
spend not a f-w lakhs, but probably a f-w crons,
to u.ake this district a place where people can
build their houses and factories, where people
can plait cr.-esand grow crops, vegetables, fruits,
tea, etc., with a sense of security.

1 think 1 am on safe ground when I say
that those are schemes which require rho appro-
val of, and financial as-istanco from, the Central
Govt., as aho that, mv Govt, are fully a live to
the necessity of putting through these schemes.
How long these schemes will take, bef.re they
arc pm through, I am not in a position to say.
Wobtthly 50 lakus of rupees will have to be annually
spent fi»r a number of years before the district
of Darjeeling can recover and fully protect, itself
against, landslides such as those which occurred in
1800 and 1 !>o().

Now tin*, next two insistent problems whi.-h
dematid our immediate attention are the problems
of Public Health and Education. I shall try to
givo you some idea as to what is being done
today by the \Y«st Bengal Govt.

There are today five Govt, hospitals namely,
the Victoria Hospital in Darjeeling, the Kurscong
Hospital, the Si iguri Hospital, the Nuksalbari
Hospital and the one at Pet long. In addition,
we have two Mission hospitals viz., the Charter is
Hospital at Kalimpong and one at Bhogibniit ,
la th of whir , I think, receive Govt, grants.
Op the top of it, we have a Thana Health

Centre at Takdah and a .Social Hygiene Clinic
run by Government. Excluding money received
from patients in the shape of fees, the West
Bengal Govt, at least during the year which
has just concluded, spent Rs. 5.20,000 for tlioir
maintenance*

Then there are 10 district Board Rural
Health I'nit Treatment and Kala-Azat centres.
J understand that all these aie .outdoor dispen-
saries located in hired houses. For their upkeep
the Darjeeling District Board pays Rs 15,000/-
an« the West Bengal ^Govt. 1.15 lakhs. The
expenditure incurred by the West Bengal Govt,
last year was Rs. 6.35 lakhs. •

Recently the West Bengal Govt, has sanc-
tioned 12 Health Centres of which 6 are under
construction. The sites of two have been selected
and the jest will probably be finished duiiug
the current financial year. Of these 12 Health
Centres, 11 will have 20 beds and one will have
10 beds. The capital expenditure for putting up
the buildings will he about 12 lakhs; epiipmeut
will probably cost 3 to 4 lakhs; and maintenance
cost will be Re. 40,000 for each centre, which
comes up to Its. 4.SO lakhs per year. Therefore
during the current year, the West Bengal Govt,
will have to spend altogether 11.40 lakhs.

On top of that, recently the Jat-iya Swastha
Kendra Sangathau has suggested the opening of
12 more Health Centres Of these, Kalimpong
Sub division will have 5, Kurseong 3, Nadar Nub
division 3, and/Niliguri 1. This proposal is under
the cpnsidenftion of Govt, and so ftr ns my
knowledge /goes, probably the Scheme will he
accepted. This means another capital expenditure
of 12 lakhs for the buildings, between and
4 lakhs for o niipment. and 1.80 lakhs (recurring)
for their maintenance. When all these schemes
are put through, the total amount which will
have to he contributed by the West Bengal
Govt. f>r placing public health facilities at the
disposal of the people of this district will be
16.20 lakhs.

Coming to T. B., yon are ptobably awate
that simple sutveys have shown that 60",„ of
the population are infected with this disease.
Tlu» reasons arc so well-known J,hat I shall not
mention them here, but I may sum them up bv
saying that it is due to bail sanitary conditions,
huddling together in rooms of both sick as well
as tho*e who are not sick, unsuitable and inade-
quate food and probably excessive drinking of
liquor. Now today in the Kurseong hosnitaI there
an* 20 beds ,v in the S. B. Dev Sanatorium
maintained out of public funds generally collected