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The Telegraph

July 28: The Gorkha Janmukti Morcha is now hoping to divide the Adivasis with the help of the newly formed Progressive People’s Party and push ahead with its movement for a new state.

The attempt comes after the Morcha failure to stitch up an alliance with the Terai-Dooars regional committee of the Adivasi Vikas Parishad. Earlier, party president Bimal Gurung had re-christened Gorkhaland — the new state it is clamouring for — as Gorkha Adivasi Pradesh to woo the tribals. But that failed.

Now, the Morcha hopes to take advantage of the fact that the PPP consists of suspended and breakaway leaders of the Parishad who are in favour of a joint movement with the hill party, and gain a foothold in the tribal dominated areas of the Dooars and the Terai.

“This new development will allow the Morcha to make a backdoor entry to a region where it has failed to make major inroads despite repeated attempts,” a Morcha leader said.

The PPP was formed on Sunday after the Parishad’s organising secretary in the Dooars, Raju Bara, and senior party leader Kiran Kumar Kalindi were suspended for “indiscipline”: they had expressed their willingness to talk to the Morcha on the creation of Gorkha Adivasi Parishad. (more…)

The Telegraph

Siliguri, July 28: The hills are rife with speculation that the convener of the Terai branch committee of the GNLF, Rajen Mukhia, will join the ABGL that has invited him to a joint movement against the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha.

Mukhia said he was seriously considering the request and a decision would be taken in a couple of days.

Dawa Sherpa, the ABGL working president, today said: “We have written to a number of leaders across the hills, requesting them to join the ABGL to strengthen the movement against the atrocities of the Morcha and to strive for restoration of democracy and peace in the hills. The list includes Rajen Mukhia and we are waiting to hear from him. We would appreciate if he joins the ABGL but it is up to him to take the final decision.”

Mukhia was the only leader to stay in the GNLF when the Morcha was gaining support base in the hills and even party chairman Subash Ghisingh went into political hibernation.

Acknowledging the invitation, Mukhia said: “I am considering the invitation. It will take a couple of days before I take a decision.”

GNLF supporters in Panighata, where Mukhia is based, said he had already made up his mind to join the ABGL.

“Mukhia was present at a rally here (Panighata) organised in memory of those who had lost their lives during the Gorkhaland agitation in the 1980s. He said in his speech that yesterday was the last martyrs’ day observed by the GNLF in Panighata, which was enough to indicate that he was leaving the party. If he joins the ABGL, all his supporters like me will follow suit,” said a GNLF leader over the phone from Panighata.

If Mukhia joins the ABGL, it would be the last nail on the GNLF’s coffin. Only Mukhia and Kalimpong leader Dawa Pakhrin remained active after the emergence of the Morcha. As Pakhrin had resigned from the party, Mukhia’s departure will trigger the exodus of rest of supporters from the GNLF.
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The Telegraph
VIVEK CHHETRI

Darjeeling, July 28: Cruising in a caravan to soak in the ambience of a typical hilly village is still a distant dream for travellers visiting Darjeeling despite the Union ministry of tourism unveiling plans to introduce caravan rides across India in a big way.

Plans by tour operators to start the caravan rides have hit a roadblock because of the state government’s 2005 order stopping the Darjeeling district administration from issuing permits to commercial vehicles in the municipality areas of Darjeeling and Siliguri.

Tashi Sherpa, additional district magistrate, Darjeeling, said: “We cannot issue permits for commercial vehicles carrying passengers in Darjeeling and Siliguri municipality areas.”

Permits are denied to stop congestion in the two towns.

The decision has annoyed Darjeeling-based tour operators who are constantly trying to shrug off stiff competition from Sikkim. (more…)

The Telegraph
BIJOY GURUNG

Gangtok, July 28: Want to buy a car? Get a garage first.

This is what the Sikkim transport department has told residents of the state where, as almost everywhere in India, cars parked along roads choke traffic.

The department issued a notification this month making it mandatory for buyers to produce an availability-of-parking-space certificate before they can get their vehicles registered.

Consumer rights and automobile industry sources described the rule as a first in the country and said it might not stand the test of a legal challenge.

“This notification, which has come into effect from July 7 this year, is only for new vehicles. Everyone is aware of the traffic problems in Sikkim, especially Gangtok,” a motor vehicles department official said.

In urban areas, the superintendent of police in charge of traffic has been mandated to issue the certificates after physical verification of the parking space. For the rest of Sikkim, the responsibility has been given to panchayats.

This will be followed by an inspection by officers not below the rank of motor vehicles inspector, who will submit details to the transport department along with a rough map of the site. (more…)

The Telegraph

Kalimpong, July 27: The ABGL has accused the Centre and the state of using the murder of Madan Tamang to their advantage to bring the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha to its knees, forcing it to accept an interim authority instead of the DGHC.

ABGL central committee members Pratap Khati and Trivuban Rai said if the Morcha settled for the interim council, it would conclusively prove the party’s role in Tamang’s murder. The ABGL chief was hacked to death in Darjeeling on May 21 and since then the Morcha has been on the back foot in the hills.

The ABGL leaders hinted that the government knew who was behind the murder and was using it to browbeat the Morcha into accepting the interim set-up.

“Madan Tamang was one voice which consistently opposed the interim set-up that the three sides were working towards, and that is why he was killed. Now all the three sides (state, Centre and the Morcha) are conspiring to force an interim set-up in the hills,” alleged Khati at a media conference here today.

However, the ABGL, its leaders said, would not allow the interim set-up to happen. “When the people could successfully foil attempts to bring the hills under the Sixth Schedule even after a memorandum of settlement was signed, stopping this (the interim set-up) will not be difficult. We will settle for nothing less than Gorkhaland,” said Rai.

The ABGL leaders also ridiculed Morcha spokesperson Harka Bahadur Chhetri for terming the proposed set-up a “de facto” state. “How can there be a de facto state. Can there be a de facto wife? The Morcha has been trying to hoodwink the people by agreeing to the set-up while paying lip service to Gorkhaland,” said Khati.

Quoting from a release issued by the Union home ministry after Saturday’s tripartite talks, Khati said even the set-up being discussed is not the one proposed by the Morcha, but suggested by the Centre. “The Morcha is on the verge of settling for something which is even lesser than the DGHC,” he alleged.

“It required a woman in the shape of Dil Kumari Bhandari (former member of Parliament from Sikkim) to secure the recognition of Nepali as an official language of the country, it will be another woman (Bharati Tamang, ABGL president and widow of Madan) who will deliver Gorkhaland,” an ABGL leader said.
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The Telegraph

Siliguri, July 27: Ban on felling of trees and halt in auction because of frequent agitation in the hills by the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha have led to an annual shortage of timber worth Rs 40 crore in the past couple of years, the Timber Merchants’ Association of Siliguri today said.

“We used to buy timber through auctions conducted in Kurseong and Kalimpong divisions of the state forest department. However, over the past two-three years, because of political agitation that halted auction and the ‘ban’ on felling of trees, we could no longer buy timber from the hills and had to depend on the ones sold from the depots in the plains,” said Onkarnath Banerjee, the association general secretary. “We cannot say how much loss the forest department has been incurring for this but we have suffered a heavy loss as we used to buy timber worth Rs 40 crore or so every year from the hills. Discontinuation of the auction has led to shortage of timber in the market and has scaled down our business.”

The traders said the absence of timber of certain species, which grow in higher altitudes, was also affecting business. “Certain species of timber like pine, dhupi, which grow only in high altitudes and are used for designing furniture, is no longer available. A section of buyers are eager to purchase this type of timber but we cannot supply it,” said Sanjib Sinha, a timber merchant from the Dooars. “This shortage has also affected around 500 people directly involved with the trade.” (more…)

The Telegraph
AVIJIT SINHA

Siliguri, July 27: Serpentine snow-strewn roads, a dazzling Kanchenjungha and its range, the historical Jelep-la leading to Tibet and a variety of flora and fauna. All these, added with consistent promotion, have led to the emergence of Zuluk as an ideal destination for tourists wanting to plunge into the nature’s lap.

Located at 10,000ft, Zuluk is a tiny hamlet in East Sikkim with a population of 335 people.

“The place was unknown to outsiders till a few years ago. But over the past couple of years, it has emerged as an ideal tourist destination because of its idyllic locales and serenity,” said Sandeep Chourasia, a Calcutta-based tour operator.

“Even today, tourism is in its nascent stage in Zuluk and at best a maximum of 50 tourists could be accommodated there,” he told The Telegraph over the phone from Calcutta. (more…)

The Telegraph

Darjeeling, July 27: Bimal Gurung today said he had instructed the hill delegation that participated in the July 24 talks not to rake up the issue of territorial jurisdiction of the interim set-up, indicating that the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha president had wanted a dialogue without hindrance. Gurung said he did not want the territorial issue to crop up at least till the new hill authority was put in place.

He expressed his satisfaction on the tripartite meeting between the Centre, the state and the Morcha and said he did not want any “deadlock”, which would have happened if the territorial issue had been broached during the parleys.

So far, both the Centre and the state have been insisting that the jurisdiction of the interim set-up be restricted to the three hill subdivisions of Kalimpong, Kurseong and Darjeeling. The Morcha had maintained that it wanted Siliguri, the Terai as well as the Dooars, besides the Darjeeling hills.

“I am happy that the talks are back on track. I had called the members of our delegation an hour before the talks begun on Saturday and briefed them on Gorkha Adivasi Pradesh. However, I realised that the government would first discuss the interim arrangement and told them not to discuss the territory as it would create a deadlock. I told them to concentrate first on the powers and functions of the set-up,” Gurung told a gathering at Gymkhana Club on the occasion of martyrs’ day.

The Morcha president also said he had asked the delegation to keep their mobile phones switched off so that they were not disturbed during the discussions. (more…)

The Telegraph

Darjeeling, July 26: The Darjeeling district administration has refused to grant permission to the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha to hold its martyrs’ day meeting at Chowrastha tomorrow, with the ABGL refusing to shift its hunger strike from the spot.

Although the Morcha declared today that it would go ahead with the meeting at Chowrastha, insiders said the party would avoid a confrontation by making some other arrangements for the programme.

“We have received a report from police, expressing the apprehension that there could be a law and order problem if permission was granted (to the Morcha) to hold its function at Chowrastha,” said Surendra Gupta, the district magistrate of Darjeeling. (more…)

The Telegraph

Siliguri, July 25: The Gorkha Janmukti Morcha today announced that it would not agitate or demonstrate in the hills till the next round of talks scheduled for August 17.

Morcha spokesperson Harka Bahadur Chhetri told reporters at the Bagdogra airport that the ball was now in the “state government’s court” as the onus lay on Writers’ Buildings to clear its stand on the two demands of the hill party, the interim set-up and the new state.

“In previous meetings whoever represented the state government in Delhi behaved like tourists: they attended the talks and came back (and did nothing). Every time, they only offered assurances on whatever was discussed. Apart from that, the state government has nothing to show for as its contribution towards resolving the issue,” said Chhetri, who was on the talks delegation to New Delhi that returned here this afternoon. (more…)