The Sikkim Democratic Front has lodged a complaint at Gangtok Sadar police station against two persons for allegedly posting false information on its president and former chief minister Pawan Chamling testing positive for Covid-19.

Dev Gurung, the administrative secretary of the SDF, in his complaint lodged on Thursday said the Facebook posts of Karishma Chettri and Angelina Rai were not only false and fabricated, but also done with mala fide intent to create mischief.

“Such false and incorrect news or information circulated by the said persons in the social media has created great confusion and serious concern amongst larger section of the people and members of the SDF,” said the complaint.

Gurung in his complaint demanded a proper investigation and appropriate legal action against the two persons. “Shri Pawan Chamling is medically fit and fine and is presently staying at his residence at Namchi, South Sikkim. Further, in order to ensure personal safety for himself and for the well-being of others, he has not been in personal contact with the public as well as the party workers and supporters,” he added.

Siva Prasad Yellasiri, the superintendent of police of East Sikkim, said the complaint was being investigated and according to preliminary findings, the two Facebook accounts appeared to be fake. “That is not a cognisable offence, right. Basically, (it is) a non-cognisable offence. We cannot register an FIR on it. We have made a GD (general diary) entry. We have found out so far that these are fake profiles,” he said.

Taxi and bus fares

Following the lifting of restrictions on inter-state movements, the Sikkim transport department on Thursday notified revised share taxi and bus fares. Till such time social distancing protocol is in place, share taxis and bus fares have been hiked because of the limitation in the number of passengers a vehicle can carry.

While the fares of multipurpose utility vehicles (MUVs) like Tata Sumo and buses have been doubled, the fare of five-seater taxis has been increased by one-third of the previous fare. MUVs can carry only five passengers, instead of the previous 10, small taxis three, instead of four, and buses 50 per cent of their seating capacity. Following which, the MUV fare between Gangtok and Siliguri has gone up from Rs 250 per passenger to Rs 500.