Veterans in Darjeeling are worried about the purported decision of the army to shift the century-old 163 Military Hospital in Lebong to Tawang in Arunachal Pradesh.

The Darjeeling hills have a strong base of army personnel with veterans putting the number of ex-servicemen at anything between 16,000 and 18,000, apart from 20,000-odd serving army personnel.

“We have information that an order was issued to shift the 163 Military Hospital at Lebong to Tawang in Arunachal Pradesh and work out a plan to use vacated buildings. We are against the shifting of this century-old hospital,” said Col (retd) Keshab Rai, president of the Bharatiya Gorkha Bhutpurva Sainik Tatha Ardhsainik Sangathan, an association of ex-servicemen.

The facilities at the hospital are open to serving and former army personnel and their families.

Army officers posted in the region neither confirmed nor denied the development.

Even though the exact year of the Lebong hospital’s commission is not immediately available, documents suggest that it existed even in 1899. It was classified as the British Military Hospital for British Troops in 1939 while an “Indian Wing” was added in 1941.

In 1971, it was named the 163 Military Hospital.

The number of beds was increased from 50 to 71 in 2012.

“We fail to understand why a century-old hospital, which is serving many veterans, is being transferred from Darjeeling,” Col (retd) Rai, a war veteran, said.

“The decision to shift the hospital could have an effect on the serving military personnel as their families use this hospital,” he added.

The ex-servicemen’s association has also written to Union defence minister Rajnath Singh to mark their protest through Darjeeling MP Raju Bista.

The defence minister in a letter to Bista stated that he has asked for the matter to be looked into.

Trinamul Rajya Sabha MP Shanta Chhetri also flagged off the issue.

The ex-servicemen’s association said that they were worried that the Gorkha Recruiting Depot at Ghoom in Darjeeling might also be shifted to Siliguri.

Hill support to Sikkim

The Bharatiya Gorkha Parisangh (BGP), a national-level apolitical organisation of the Gorkhas, organised a protest and a rally in support of the Nepali-speaking people of Sikkim in Darjeeling on Saturday.

The rally started from the motor stand and ended at Chowrasta.

Although organised by the BGP, representatives of the Hamro Party, including its chief Ajoy Edwards, joined it.

The BGP had planned a silent march. But supporters of the Hamro Party shouted slogans in the rally.

Protests over remarks in a recent Supreme Court judgment describing Nepalispeaking people as foreigners and migrants have escalated in the last couple of days in neighbouring Sikkim. But this was the first time that a rally was held in Darjeeling.

However, many political parties in the hills have in the last few days expressed solidarity with the Nepali-speaking people of Sikkim.