• Sujal Pradhan, NET Correspondent, Sikkim 

Raising the issue of illegal usage of government property, the Sikkimey Nagarik Samaj (SNS) has lodged a First Information Report (FIR) in Ranipool Police station against the Mesaso Infrastructure Pvt. Ltd for illegally using the proposed SEZ Industrial Park at Marchak, Ranipool, East Sikkim.

This FIR copy reads “this is to bring to your kind notice that Mesaso Infrastructure Pvt. Ltd, a private company having its registered office at 3rd floor, Vega Circle, 3 Mile, Sevoke Road, Siliguri is illegally using the proposed SEZ Industrial Park at Marchak, Ranipool, East Sikkim to store materials without obtaining permission from the State Government. As such you are requested to immediately remove them from illegally occupying the public land and initiate action against the management of Mesaso Infrastructure Pvt. Ltd. as per the law of the land.”

The General Secretary of Sikkimey Nagarik Samaj, Passang Sherpa while addressing a press conference asserted “from last few months the issue of PPP model work in Old West Point School was going on even though it was opposed by many but government remained deaf air and went ahead with the project which is being carried out by Mesaso Infrastructure and there is a government land at Marchak. It is a huge piece of land which has been kept as Special Economic zone for industry development declared SEZ one part of the land is possessed by IT department for proposed IT park but Mesaso a Siliguri based company is using the land to keep their construction raw materials without any approval and they have even cut down the trees so we filed an FIR yesterday. We believe it should be used by Sikkimese entrepreneur as it meant for them and this shows that Sikkim is being run by private firm like Mittal and Mesaso so we want to bring this in public and where we are heading and what we Sikkimese are now.”

Passang when speaking on the recent stone pelting incident shared “they are not terrorist and why they are obliged to take stone is because of rising unemployment. They are picking stones today and fighting with each other but private companies are earning money every moment so this is the time we Sikkimese must introspect.”