Cong leader Ved Prakash assures for starting DD Gangtok

Gangtok, June 12 (UNI) AICC secretary and in-charge of Northeast party affairs Major Ved Prakash today said the Doordharshan in Gangtok will start functioning at the earliest.

''I have been told by Sikkim Pradesh Congress Committee (SPCC) workers that there is a full fledged DD office here in Gangtok but it has not started yet. I will be taking the matter to Union Minister P R Das Munshi and see that it (DD Gangtok) is started at the earliest'', Mr Prakash told UNI after a review meeting at the SPCC headquarters here in Gangtok.

The AICC secretary was on a 3-day visit to Sikkim after touring Arunachal Pradesh and Meghalaya.

After a closed door meeting with SPCC president Nar Bahadur Bhandari and other members, Mr Prakash said the Congress party was getting 'galvanised' at all levels.

''We have to gear up for panchayat and local bodies elections which are expected to take place later this year,'' he added.

''We feel that in coming panchayat and local bodies elections, the galvanised Congress will win majority of seats'', he said.

With National Rural Employment Guarantee Act being implemented in three districts of Sikkim, Mr Prakash said he had come to know that youths in North Sikkim registered under this scheme was not being paid regularly. He assured to take it up with the Centre.

The AICC secretary said SPCC workers must expose the weakness of the present SDF government in Sikkim. He will be touring parts of East, South and West districts tomorrow to get a first hand account of the 'development progress or the lack of it' and also to see the SPCC organisational strength in the state. Accordingly, a report will be submitted to the Central High Command of AICC, he said.

UNI