www.kalimpong.info

The Telegraph

Darjeeling, April 29: The next round of political-level talks between the Centre, state and the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha has been postponed to the end of May because of “important issues” presently under discussion in Parliament.

If the Union home ministry had stuck to the earlier deadline of May 14 — that had been set for the second round of political talks — there would have been no time for official-level discussion necessary as a precursor to the tripartite talks.

The last tripartite talks was held in Delhi on March 18. (more…)

The Telegraph

Gangtok, April 28: Gorkhaland is a must for Indian Gorkhas, Prashant Tamang said, although he thinks that the renewed statehood movement in the Darjeeling hills should not be credited to him.

At a time when his co-finalist and close friend Meiyang Chang is ready to hit the silver screen with the Sahid Kapoor starrer Badmaash Company next month, the Indian Idol 3 winner is about to complete his second Nepali feature film, though of a much lesser budget and reach.

But as Tamang, a Calcutta Police constable, puts it, he is taking life step by step.

“I am taking life step by step and everything will happen in a gradual manner. Opportunities and good results will come with patience and hard work,” Tamang told The Telegraph during a shoot at MG Marg here a few days back. (more…)

The Telegraph

Siliguri, April 26: ABGL chief Madan Tamang today demanded the immediate suspension of Darjeeling district magistrate Surendra Gupta and a CBI inquiry into properties owned by Gorkha Janmukti Morcha leaders.

A Siliguri-based anti-Gorkhaland forum, the Bangla O Bangla Bhasha Banchao Committee, announced a statewide bandh on May 14 over the alleged misappropriation of DGHC funds.

“The district magistrate is also the secretary of the DGHC and the drawing and disbursing authority. When B.L Meena, the administrator himself, is alleging misappropriation of 60-70 per cent of funds, how can the DM issue cheques and make payments?” Tamang told a media conference at the Siliguri Journalists’ Club here. “We demand his immediate suspension. The administrator, who has failed to run the DGHC in a proper manner, should be removed also.”

The ABGL leader trained his guns on the state government as well as the Trinamul Congress. “The charges of misappropriation of crores of public money have exposed the tacit understanding between the state and the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha… The silence of the Trinamul leadership is conspicuous as well. We apprehend that if Trinamul comes to power, it will adopt the same (hands-off) policy like the CPM-led government as far as the hills are concerned.”

Tamang also demanded a CBI inquiry into the alleged defalcation of DGHC funds. “Many Morcha leaders, who were middle-class people, now own luxury cars and properties in different parts of India. We want a thorough CBI probe to find out their sources of income and how they managed to amass so much wealth,” he said. (more…)

The Telegraph

Darjeeling, April 26: Two persons have been arrested for the murder of a GNLF sympathiser last week, the killing that had prompted about 250 Gorkha Janmukti Morcha supporters in a tea garden to announce their resignations from the party and remove the outfit’s flags from their rooftops.

Kunal Aggrawal, the additional superintendent of police of Darjeeling, today said: “Binod Rai, 42, and Dev Prakash, 43, were caught in Liza hill last evening.” (more…)

The Telegraph

Gangtok, April 25: The double-laning of NH31A, the lifeline of Sikkim, has hit a hurdle as the Bengal forest department has not yet granted permission to the Border Roads Organisation to work on the stretch that runs through Darjeeling district.

The chief engineer of BRO’s Project Swastik, Brigadier R.K. Patyal, will meet Bengal chief secretary Asok Mohan Chakrabarti in Calcutta tomorrow to discuss the NH31A project and the improvement works along the 92km stretch from Gangtok in East Sikkim to Sevoke in north Bengal.

“We are having forest clearance problems on the Bengal side and the meeting on Monday seeks to resolve this issue,” said the brigadier. (more…)

The Telegraph

Darjeeling, April 23: Around 250 members of the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha, all residents of a tea garden here, announced their resignations from the party today to protest the murder of a GNLF sympathiser last evening.

The angry residents of the Chungtung tea garden, about 30km from here, also removed the Morcha flags from their rooftops in protest.

Pushpa Jung Thapa, 55, was on his way home in the garden when he was accosted by a group of five to six youths at the Sallabari division of the estate around 6pm yesterday. The gang dragged Pushpa out of the jeep and stabbed him to death. (more…)

The Telegraph

Siliguri, April 23: DGHC administrator B.L. Meena today accused the leaders of the frontal organisations of the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha of usurping DGHC tenders in connivance with contractors and doing substandard work across the hills.

Meena said only 30-35 per cent of the funds disbursed for the projects was being utilised for their execution. “I better not comment on the remaining portion (65-70 per cent) of the disbursed funds because everybody is aware of what is happening in the hills,” the administrator said.

He said he was not satisfied with the progress and the quality of work executed by the contractors in the DGHC area. (more…)

The Telegraph

Darjeeling, April 23: Educational institutions and government offices remained closed in Kalimpong subdivision today to protest the decision of the directorate of library services to shift a library science course from Kalimpong Peoples’ (Janta) College to Siliguri “due to the present administrative turmoil in Darjeeling”.

The bandh had been called by the Janmukti Secondary Teachers’ Organisation (JSTO), the Gorkha Primary Teachers’ Organisation and the Janmukti Karmachari Sangatan — all affiliated to the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha. (more…)

The Telegraph

Darjeeling, April 22: A 30-year-old GNLF supporter was pulled out of a jeep and hacked to death near the Sallabari division of the Chungtung tea garden this evening.

Pushpa Jung Thapa, a resident of Chungtung, about 30km from here, was returning from Siliguri when he was murdered by a group of five to six youths around 6pm, said police sources.

Thapa had been arrested, along with 13 other GNLF supporters, after Pramila Sharma, a Gorkha Janmukti Morcha activist, had been shot dead here on July 25, 2008.

Those arrested in connection with Pramila’s death are out on bail.

Kunal Agrawal, additional superintendent of police, Darjeeling, said: “Two police officers have already reached the garden. It is too early to say if the murder was politically motivated.”

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www.kalimpong.info

The Telegraph
VIVEK CHHETRI

Darjeeling, April 22: The Gorkha Janmukti Morcha has told the Centre that it will not discuss any other subject in the tripartite talks, either at the bureaucratic or at the political level, till the tangle over the territorial jurisdiction of the interim set-up for the hills is sorted out.

The party’s stand was conveyed to Lt Gen. (retd) Vijay Madan, the Centre-appointed interlocutor for the talks on Gorkhaland, during a meeting yesterday. (more…)