15/06/2021
A controversy has gripped the state for the past few days. The controversy is primarily about the construction of 300 bedded hospital at a playground in Namchi South Sikkim and the statement given by the founder member of Hamro Sikkim Party and a former captain India National team, Padmashree and Arjuna Awardee Shri Bhaichung Bhutia on this matter. It took an ugly when a group of women supposedly backed by the ruling party protested against the statement of Shri Bhutia by burning his effigy and sloganeering against him in the heart of Namchi- the Central Park.
CONDITION OF HOSPITAL ALREADY ESTABLISHED IN SIKKIM
Sikkim has one 1000 bedded super speciality hospital, four 100-bedded district hospitals, a few Community Health Centres, several Primary Health Centres and Primary Health Subcentres. The planned 300 bedded hospitals at Namchi will be the second-largest hospital after STNM super speciality hospital at Sochegang Gangtok. Unfortunately, the standard of services, particularly in secondary level hospitals, is so low that the patients who afford choose to visit a private clinic or private hospital and those who can’t afford rely on shamans(dhami,jhakri) rather than visiting them. Almost all district hospitals have no adequate doctors, staff nurses, technical manpower, adequate machines, testing labs etc. Even for an ordinary pathological test, the govt hospitals send the patient to nearby private diagnosis centres. For little complicated services like Ultrasonography tests or MRI, either the facility is not at all available or if it is available the patient has to wait for months for his turn to come. Almost all medicines need to be bought by the patient party. When testing and medicine costs money, the govt hospital becomes unaffordable to the economically weak. Small private clinics started by doctors privately provide far better service than those run by Govt spending crores from the taxpayers’ money. PHCs and PHSCs are there only for the name with almost no reliable service available to the people.
THE POLITICS OF PERCENTAGE AND COMMISSION
It is an open secret in Sikkim that the governmental constructional projects come with high inflated monetary estimates, which the elected representatives happily pass not because the project will serve the needs of the people but primarily because a sizeable portion of it goes to the pockets of politicians and its lackeys through commissions and percentages. Be it the proposal of constructing 3200 buildings under CMRHM or the construction and repairing of new roads or any other construction work. The newly planned hospital at Namchi may not be an exception. If the fate of this upcoming hospital will be the same as the 4 other district hospitals it is better not to waste peoples’ money. The Govt should show the same kind of zeal as it is showing for the new hospital for improving the facilities in the hospitals already established. Buy adequate machines, appoint sufficient manpower, procure sufficient medicines and other chemicals in the hospitals already constructed. The Govt should work to restore the diminishing trust of the people in Govt hospitals.
THE RULING PARTY’s DEEP-ROOTED HATE FOR DISSENT
In a democracy, people can place their voice. The ruling SKM party’s hate for dissent and its leaning towards using violence to suppress the voice of the dissenter is something people are used to. It uses its lackeys, paid goons and stooges to suppress the dissenters. In October 2020, people have not forgotten the incident when the ruling party sent a group of violent people to a designated place for the protest at DAC East to create a ruckus to end the dharna of SPYF against the Govt’s decision to double the taxi fare by putting illogical restrictions on vehicles. Similarly, the ruling party sent a group of hyper zealous women to create ruckus in the middle of the town.
ADMINISTRATION LOSING THEIR SPINE
One of the most dangerous trends seen recently in Sikkim is the police and administration losing any kind of neutrality while acting in public. Its action has been more like the extended wing of the ruling party rather than an institution of Governance for the people. The best example of it is the Police’s failure to arrest or stop the group of protesters from assembling in the central park in Namchi and burning effigy in the middle of the stringent lockdown and curfew declared in the state. As the protest was orchestrated by the ruling party the police stayed as a mute spectator while the incident was unfolding in front of them. The Police in Sikkim becomes hyper zealous when it comes to arresting anyone opposing the ruling party. It is the same Sikkim Police that did not hesitate even a bit to arrest the students of Geyzing College in college uniform in the middle of the night. It is the same Sikkim Police which has made several arrests in the recent past for Facebook posts and comments that has not made a single arrest in this case of the burning of the effigy in the middle of the lockdown.
THE REACTION OF THE SOUTH DISTRICT ADMINISTRATION
The funniest part of the entire episode was the statement given by the South District Administration on this matter when it said that the protesters had masks on and they could not identify them. There are videos on social media where police, that never fails to penalised the common people for even accidentally falling the mask below their nose, were seen watching the entire episode unfolding in front of them helplessly. Are our Police so inefficient that they cannot arrest the culprit simply because the culprit had worn the mask? Weren’t the intelligence branch aware of the protest being planned in the heart of the town in the middle of the stringent lockdown when even normal movement of the people is heavily restricted? What will happen if a criminal with a mask come to central park and loot the Namchi Bazar tomorrow? What will the police do if a masked person murders a person in Bazar tomorrow? Will it give a similar lame statement again that since the culprit has the mask on that they could not identify him?
DIFFERENT LAWS FOR THE ELITE MEMBERS OF RULING PARTY IN SIKKIM
What can be a more glaring example of the administration and police not acting in a neutral or unbiased manner like this one? After this incident and a series of such incidences of police acting as an arm of the ruling party in the recent past, there are questions in the mind of the people that will the police arrest the people of the ruling party even if they commit a crime as heinous as a murder or a r**e tomorrow? Are there different laws for the people of the ruling party in Sikkim? People are losing any kind of trust in the administration and police in Sikkim.
SPYF’S STAND AND DEMANDS
SPYF condemns the daylight violation of lockdown orchestrated by the ruling party to create terror in the mind of the people against criticizing the policies of the Govt. We request the administration to show some kind of neutrality in its action by acting like administration rather than the branch of the ruling party and make immediate arrests of the culprits involved in the daylight violation of lockdown in Namchi. SPYF also requests the Govt to show similar enthusiasm to improve the facilities in the already established hospitals by providing adequate manpower and infrastructure like it is showing to start a new hospital of more than 500 crores.
SPYF
