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RAJEEV RAVIDAS

Kalimpong, April 8: The opposition parties in the Kalimpong subdivision have demanded an election to the chamber of commerce here, which has been in a moribund state for nearly 15 years.

A team of local opposition leaders will meet the subdivisional officer Shakeel Ahmed on Tuesday with a request to facilitate the formation of a new body at the earliest.

For the past two years, the chamber of commerce was run by an ad hoc committee. The committee was supposed to become permanent within three months of its formation, as the long-awaited election was supposed to be held then. But the election is yet to be held and even the ad hoc committee was dissolved recently.

A convener for the body has been appointed at the intervention of Dawa Pakhrin, the Kalimpong unit president of the GNLF. Pakhrin reportedly has instructed that a new committee with “selected” members be formed before April 30.

The Opposition has taken exception to Pakhrin’s “intervention”. “The chamber of commerce here does not fall under the domain of the GNLF and Pakhrin has no business interfering in its workings,” said Tara Sundas, local CPM leader. D.K. Pradhan, president, GNLF(C) said: “The chamber office-bearers should be elected following democratic norms and not selected by an individual or a political party.”

Pradhan also said a vigorous membership drive should be conducted before the election. “Members should be from all trade communities,” he said.