Chamling presents budget

Gangtok, Feb. 23: Sikkim chief minister, Pawan Chamling, who also holds the finance portfolio, today tabled a vote-on-account of Rs 1586.62 crore in the Assembly for a period of six months starting from April 1.

The provisions in the vote-on-account represents half of the gross expenditure for the next financial year. A full budget was not presented as the elections to the Lok Sabha and the Assembly elections are due.

Arrest

Islampur: A 25-year-old of Sultanpur was arrested by Karandighi police on Sunday on the charges of raping a housewife in the same locality on February 5. Mojammel Haque, who had been absconding, was arrested on the basis of a complaint lodged by the woman’s husband.

Suicide

Islampur: A 50-year-old man committed suicide by hanging at his residence in Nahargach near Chopra on Sunday. Police said Md Nasiruddin had been suffering from cancer for a couple of years and depression may have been the reason for the suicide.

Burglary

Islampur: Ornaments and utensils worth Rs 1 lakh were stolen from a temple at Karandighi market on Sunday evening. Police said burglars had entered the temple by breaking open the door.

New college

Malda: Bengal environment minister Sailen Sarkar laid the foundation stone of the Harishchandrapur College building on Monday. The college will be built at a cost of Rs 2.95 crore. Sarkar said the college had been sanctioned in 2008, considering that Harishchandrapur did not have an institute for higher education.

Conference

Siliguri: A.P. Singh, the additional director general of BSF (New Delhi), inaugurated the two-day bi-annual conference at Kadamtala on Monday. The conference places emphasis on various issues like improving the quality of training and enhancing professionalism of the force.