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June 2008
Monthly Archive
30 Jun 2008 05:27 pm
www.telegraphindia.com
Kalimpong, June 30: NH31A was blocked for more than five hours today after five trees uprooted by a landslide fell on the highway near 27th Mile, about 25km from here.
Vehicles travelling between Kalimpong, Sikkim and Siliguri were caught in the traffic jam that stretched for kilometers on both lanes of the busy highway.
This is the third time in the past eight days that the road has been blocked.
Sources in the Border Roads Organisation (BRO), which maintains the highway, said traffic on the road initially came to a standstill for nearly three hours from 8am and again for another two-and-a-half hours from 2.30pm.
In between, traffic was stalled for another 15 minutes. (more…)
30 Jun 2008 05:26 pm
www.telegraphindia.com
Siliguri, June 30: The CPM has accused Gorkha Janmukti Morcha supporters of threatening the family members of the party’s district secretary S.P. Lepcha and district committee member Tara Sundas.
Although Lepcha is in Siliguri now, his family lives in Singtam Tea Estate, around 10km from Darjeeling. The Sundases live in Kalimpong.
“Over the past few days, a section of the Morcha supporters has been constantly threatening the family members of our district secretary with dire consequences if they do not join the movement for statehood,” said Jibitesh Sarkar, a district secretariat member of the CPM.
Sarkar added that Sundas’s family in Kalimpong is facing similar threats. (more…)
29 Jun 2008 07:43 pm
www.telegraphindia.com
RAJEEV RAVIDAS
Kalimpong, June 29: The Kalimpong Municipality will seek the help of self-help groups (SHGs) and traders to promote the use of carry bags made from environment-friendly material like paper and jute in lieu of the banned polythene bags.
The civic body’s health officer S.B Zimba will hold a meeting with members of SHGs tomorrow and urge them to start manufacturing paper bags (locally called thungas). “We will take the help of the Kalimpong Chamber of Commerce to market the thungas,” said Zimba.
“We are taking these initiatives since we believe we cannot solve the plastic problem just by imposing a ban on its use. The people must be provided with alternatives to plastic carry bags,” he said.
The indiscriminate use of plastic in the town is borne out by the fact that plastic are the major component of solid waste that has been accumulating on the streets since Monday after residents stopped the civic body from depositing trash in the dumping ground in Lower Bhalukhop.
The Chamber of Commerce, too, has wholeheartedly endorsed the decision to ban plastics.
In a four-point resolution adopted at a meeting here, the trade body said it would also urge its members to revive the old practice of making thungas during their free time.
28 Jun 2008 02:33 pm
28 Jun 2008 01:03 pm
(Please check out related articles and videos in the next post.)
Sougata Mukhopadhyay / CNN-IBN
www.ibnlive.com
What went wrong with the Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council? Was it insufficient to fulfill the political aspiration of the Gorkhas? Why was Ghising alienated by his own people? The house which the Subhas Ghising-led Dargeeling Gorkha Hill Council used as the seat of power is today completely deserted, even as the so-called “prince of hills” remains under house arrest for all practical senses of the term.
Siliguri (Darjeeling): Darjeeling hasn’t witnessed a political upheaval like what the GJM has been doing in the past two decades. The last time under Subhash Ghising, was far more violent, in the mid-80s.
The GNLF had promised better civic infrastructure, better health and education. But by the end of the ’80s it was clear that Ghising the rebel fell short of Ghising the administrator.
Former Teacher Loreto College, Amar Rai says, “I would give credit to the GNLF and Subhash Ghising because he raised the issue of ‘mato’. Mato means the soil. And it was linked to our whole question of identity. But then, we felt very disappointed when instead of Gorkhaland he went for Darjeeling Hill Gorkha Council (DHGC).” (more…)
28 Jun 2008 12:58 am
www.expressindia.com
Kolkata, June 27: The West Bengal government on Friday said it was not averse to a tripartite meeting and there was no need for creation of a separate state, as the GJM rejected the offer of more powers for the hill council and stuck to its demand for Gorkhaland.
“I have no objection to a tripartite meeting, but it will be more meaningful if we ourselves discuss and reach an agreement. Before that it will be premature,” Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee told reporters after a meeting with a 4-member GJM delegation.
The chief minister said that the delegation had told him that they were asked by the Centre to approach the state government “…. but I asked them on what basis will we go to attend a tripartite meeting in Delhi.
“If we find out a path for a political solution through a mechanism of more rounds of bilateral discussions and then go to Delhi for the tripartite meeting, it will be meaningful,” he said. (more…)
28 Jun 2008 12:06 am
www.dnaindia.com
Sumanta Ray Chaudhuri
Saturday, June 28, 2008 02:36 IST
KOLKATA: The bipartite meeting on Friday between the West Bengal chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee and the Gorkha Janamukti Morcha (GJM) on the continuing Darjeeling impasse failed to come up with a concrete solution, with both parties sticking to their respective stands.
The deadlock could not be broken as the GJM delegation did not accept the chief minister’s offer for greater financial autonomy to Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council (DGHC) in place of the GJM’s demand for the separate Gorkhaland state.
After the meeting, the leader of the GJM delegation Amar Lama told reporters that although the chief minister had offered greater financial autonomy to DGHC, they had rejected it outright. “Our only demand is a separate Gorkhaland state,” Lama said.
According to him, the main purpose of the GJM delegation to attend the Friday’s meeting was to make the groundwork for the tripartite meeting with the Union and the state government. “The chief minister has told us that he has no objection to attending the tripartite meeting,” Lama said.
Later, Bhattacharjee told reporters that the state government has no in-principal objection to attending the tripartite meeting. “However, I feel that the tripartite meeting should be preceded by some rounds of bipartite discussions to find a political solution to the continuing impasse. Attending the tripartite meeting straight away will be too premature,” Bhattacharjee said.
He also said that it is always better to approach the Union government only after the state government and the GJM together find out a solution through bipartite discussions. “If we go to any tripartite meeting without any preparation, I doubt what will be result of the meeting,” he said.
28 Jun 2008 12:04 am
Outlookindia.com
Not all their demands are unjust. A studied resolution is a must. …
Jaideep Mazumdar
Separated We Will Stand
A few reasons why the Gorkhas are demanding a whole new state…
* They allege the Darjeeling Hills region, dominated by Gorkhas, has been neglected by the state government.
* The Hills Council set up 20 years ago under Subhas Ghising has failed to deliver.
* The Hills region is cash rich. But it’s not getting its due vis-a-vis development.
* Gorkha leaders say the promise of accelerated growth by the West Bengal CM is too little and too late.
* They want the centre to intervene, hold tripartite talks with the state government and Gorkha leaders.
***
When Bengal chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharya announced at the end of an all-party meeting earlier this week that ‘Gorkhaland’ was beyond the pale of possibility, was he effectively closing all doors to an amicable resolution? Those demanding a separate state for the Gorkhas believe so.
“We’re for quick development, even reservations, but won’t ever allow the state’s division.” Buddhadeb Bhattacharya, West Bengal CM
The meet, convened to evolve a consensus among political parties on the Gorkhaland issue, resolved to preserve the state’s territorial integrity. This consensus against Gorkhaland led to the Gorkha Janamukti Morcha (GJM) demanding the Centre’s intervention. “We want Gorkhaland and nothing short of that will do,” Bimal Gurung, president of GJM, which is spearheading the movement, told Outlook.
It is not as if the CM was unwilling to bring anything to the table. He offered more administrative and financial powers to the Darjeeling Gorkha Hills Council (DGHC). A senior aide to the CM told Outlook, “We are willing to discuss ways to accelerate development of the hills and give more powers to the DGHC. We’re looking at autonomous development council models of Tripura and Jammu & Kashmir. We can even provide reservation for the hills people in government service and educational institutions. But we won’t accept any bifurcation of our state. Gorkhaland is a subject that can’t be on the table.”
But even the best that the state government can offer is simply not good enough, say Gorkha leaders. “Gorkhas can never advance under Bengal,” says GJM general secretary Roshan Giri. “For so many decades since Independence, we’ve been discriminated against. We’ve lost faith in the Bengal government totally. If it was concerned about our development, it would have taken steps long ago. It’s too late now and whatever is being offered is too little.”
Anyone driving down National Highway 55 can be forgiven for assuming it leads to the back of beyond. In fact, it takes one to Darjeeling, West Bengal’s prime tourist destination and a top revenue earner. The narrow, potholed road in a state of perennial disrepair is illustrative of the neglect that Gorkha-dominated areas in the Shivalik Hills of the lower Himalayan range have been subjected to for the past six decades. Healthcare, even in Darjeeling, is at best rudimentary. Unemployment, at over twice of that in the rest of the state, is rife. Add to this the alleged discrimination, even hostility, that Gorkhas from the Darjeeling Hills face in the plains.
This neglect is at the core of the demand for a separate state. And unlike two decades ago, when a similar agitation culminated in the formation of a separate development body—the DGHC—for the hills, nothing short of a complete and clean break from West Bengal will do this time, say Gorkha leaders. But given the state government’s refusal to even discuss the Gorkhaland demand, they say they are bracing for a long struggle.
A major reason for the lack of trust in the state government is the failed DGHC experiment. The three-year Gorkhaland agitation from 1986, led by Gorkha National Liberation Front (GNLF) chief Subhas Ghising, culminated in the formation of the DGHC in August 1988.The West Bengal government is now being blamed for Ghising’s failure to run the hills council. Says Giri: “We hoped the DGHC would lead to quick development. But the state government allowed Ghising to lord over the DGHC and keep a lid on the demand for a separate state. It overlooked the corruption, sloth and inefficiency in the GNLF-run DGHC. Ghising was whimsical; huge sums allocated were looted or unutilised. The Bengal government knew all this, but didn’t do a thing. It thus proved it wasn’t bothered at all about the development of the hills.”
The distrust deepened after the state government backed Ghising’s bid to bring the hills under the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution—applicable only to the country’s tribal areas. Barely 20 per cent of the Gorkhas—the Limbus and Tamangs (Ghising’s community)—are tribals, and the non-tribals were suspicious of Ghising’s bid, which they viewed as an attempt to divide the Gorkhas.
Morcha leaders also justify the Gorkhaland demand on financial grounds. GJM leader Harka Bahadur Chettri says the proposed Gorkhaland state would be revenue-surplus. He offers figures: the tourism industry generates an estimated Rs 3,000 crore a year, while the 11 million kilos of Darjeeling tea produced annually fetch over Rs 700 crore. “Add to these the revenues from cinchona and other agricultural and forest produce, and the sum is huge. Only a small fraction of what the hills generate is ploughed back for the development of the hills and its people,” laments Giri.
A study by Sikkim University vice-chancellor Mahendra P. Lama proves that with tea, tourism and the yet-untapped hydel power potential, a separate state comprising the hills and adjoining areas in the plains and the Dooars would not only be self-sufficient, but would also contribute substantially to the nation’s coffers. And it is to enhance the viability of Gorkhaland that the GJM leadership has included areas in the plains and the Dooars in the map of the proposed state. Leaders say Nepali-speaking people were in a majority there till the mid-1960s, when large-scale and illegal migration from Bangladesh changed the area’s demographic profile.
The GJM claims it won’t back down from its Gorkhaland demand. “We’ll achieve our objective by 2010,” declares Bimal Gurung, a close lieutenant of Ghising during the 1986-88 stir. He predicts a prolonged struggle. One has to wait and see how the Centre can cool tempers down and find an amicable solution.
27 Jun 2008 06:49 pm
From: Visions of Hell
http://savethehills.blogspot.com/2008/06/lest-we-forget-oct-1968-in-pictures.html
By: Praful Rao
Pictures from Das Studio
These amazing photos of the Oct 1968 Disaster in Darjeeling district are reproduced here kind courtesy Das Studio, Nehru Road, Darjeeling.
Having lived through the nightmare 4 decades ago as a young college student, these photographs bring back vivid memories.
To whose who don’t know about the 1968 disaster in this part of the world, here is a brief on it:-
“In 1968, floods in the Darjeeling area destroyed vast areas of W. Bengal and neighboring state of Sikkim by unleashing about 20,000 landslides and killing thousands of people, report Sankar et al. These slides were caused by a heavy downpour ranging from 500-1000 mm in three days. Such incidents have a return period of 100 years claim the meteorologists. The impact of the rains was such that the Darjeeling-Sikkim road was breached at 92 places and the road transport was totally disrupted.”
- Excerpt from “West Bengal Needs Better Disaster Management” by VK Joshi
27 Jun 2008 06:26 pm
www.telegraphindia.com
Darjeeling, June 27: The president of the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha, Bimal Gurung, wants the “intellect” of hill teachers to be one of the engines that will drive forward the movement for a separate state.
During his first ever interaction with teachers from across the hills at Gymkhana Club here today, Gurung said it was time for “intellectuals” to “contribute in every possible way”.
“There are many who are learned and well educated, but intellectuals are those people who can understand the feelings of the common people and help them achieve their goals,” the Morcha chief said, before reiterating that he was “101 per cent confident of attaining statehood”. (more…)
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