It has to be said that at least Bhattacharjee was more generous than Mr, Chamling on the issue of offering a compensatory package for people directly affected by development projects. At Nandigram in West Bengal (a name that has come up repeatedly as indigenous Lepcha tribals went on the warpath against the hydel projects), Bhattacharjee had offered alternate housing sites and jobs for every affected family that would make way for the proposed SEZ. At Dzhongu, north Sikkim, the native Lepchas who have been living in the area for centuries and needed relocation, got no such assurance. The Sikkim government did not offer any compensation or land, let alone any assurance about future jobs. Observers found this strange, because under Mr. Chamling, made considerable progress in recent years.

But in politics, no one escapes calumny. Chamling's critics pointed out that being a Nepali heading a virtually Nepalese majority state, probably made him a little reckless in approaching the delicate issue of sensibilities of marginalised, indigenous tribals. Among them, there are the Lepchas and the Bhutiyas, along with smaller groups. They regard people like Chamling and other Nepalis mainly as latter day settlers, who took over their state by the weight of sheer numbers. .

True, Chamling made some concessions to tribal sentiments by helping them acquire the primitive tribe status. But that also entitled them to automatic protection in certain areas of their lives under section 371F of the Indian Constitution. The state government's handling of the Lepcha non violent agitation against the projects certainly gave short shrift to the legal protection Lepchas were entitled to under the Constitution.

All six projects were to come up at Dzongu, where the Lepchas have lived for centuries. These were, The Teesta power project stages I and II, Lachen, Lachung, BOP and Bimkyong, scheduled to produce 1027 megawatts of hydel power. Sikkim has the potential of producing hydel power to the extent of 8000 megawatts, a crucial part of the 50,000 MWs or so that can be potentially tapped from the NE region as a whole.

Naturally popular agitations followed, the name of Nandigram came up. Lepchas and other groups like the affected people of Teesta went on hunger strikes and prolonged sit-in demonstrations over a year. The issue attracted international attention as environmentalists expressed their concern about the construction of large dams and reservoirs in a highly sensitive seismic zone of the world.

Even as the National Hydel Power Corporation went about taking up the preliminary work such as land acquisition, preliminary road building etc, the centre itself, sensing the mood of the people, stepped in. What did the controversial projects in finally, were separate adverse reports from the Ministry of Environment and the Centre of Interdisciplinary Studies of Mountain and Hill Environment (CISME).

Following this, it became difficult for the state government to proceed any further and all projects were put on an immediate hold. This is a major setback for the Sikkim Government and Chief Minister Chamling as well as a significant victory for the common people. (IPA)