www.kalimpong.info

The Telegraph

Kumani, Feb. 27: The Gorkha Janmukti Morcha today put on hold an embargo on the despatch of the first flush of Darjeeling tea till March 6 and overruled the decision of the party’s student wing to boycott classes from tomorrow.

The Morcha had earlier said the despatch of the first flush of tea would be stopped from today as part of the agitation for Gorkhaland.

But party chief Bimal Gurung today said the embargo had been announced for the welfare of tea workers and demanded a wage hike before the relief period ended.

“A few days ago, I had told the management of the tea industry in the Darjeeling hills that the wages must be hiked. The price of pork has now touched the Rs 100 mark but after eight hours of work, our labourers get Rs 67. We demand that the wages be made Rs 120-Rs 150 per day by March 6. If that doesn’t happen, we will stop the despatch from the next day,” said Gurung.

He was addressing party workers at Kumani, where they had arrived from different parts of the Dooars under cloak of darkness, defying the prohibitory order.

The Morcha leader sounded confident that the hike would be agreed upon by garden owners. “We only say things that we can achieve. I had asked managements to provide the annual bonus at the rate of 20 per cent and we got it.”

Gurung also said there was no need for the tea industry to refer the matter to the state government. “In any case, the code of conduct (for polls) is set to be enforced soon, after which the state government cannot announce anything. You (management) decide and finish this issue right away. You can come to Kumani or we can go to any place you want but it has to be decided by March 6,” he said.

The existing agreement on the wages expires on March 31, 2011, and talks between trade unions and managements for a review are expected to start soon. “Negotiations on the wage agreement have to start soon. The decision is collectively taken by all operating trade unions and garden managements in north Bengal,” said Sandeep Mukherjee, the secretary of the Darjeeling Tea Association.

Asked if such a meeting would be called immediately to take a decision by March 6, Mukherjee said he would have to “refer the matter to the principals (garden owners) of the industry”.

People involved with the industry said it would be difficult to agree to the Morcha demand. “Negotiations will have to start at some time but the parameters (almost a double hike) would be difficult for the industry to meet. But negotiations are held to iron out such differences,” said an industry insider.

The tea sector, however, breathed a sigh of relief as the Morcha had lifted the embargo. “The breather is definitely welcome though we want to solve the issue so that the first flush is not affected,” said the insider.

Gurung also said education must not be hampered and classes should be held normally at schools and colleges in the hills from tomorrow.

The Gorkha Janmukti Vidyarthi Morcha had called on students on Friday to boycott classes from Monday till the state government ordered a CBI probe into the police firing that had killed three persons at Sibchu on February 8. (more…)

The Telegraph

Kumani, Feb. 27: Bimal Gurung today said he was not going back to the hills from his camp in Kumani, an indication that Delhi has not been able to resolve the Darjeeling impasse, the brunt of which was borne even by Jaswant Singh.

“I will not leave this place until a decision on the inclusion of the Dooars and Terai is taken. The camp will, however, be shifted from the forest land to a private place (a kilometre away),” said the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha president.

Gurung made it clear that the party was dogged on the territory issue.

“I got a call from Delhi today. They were talking about some declaration so that the territory issue be taken up after the Assembly elections. I have said no to such a declaration,” he said.

The Morcha has demanded that a joint verification committee be formed to look into the demands for the inclusion of the Gorkha-dominated areas of the Dooars and the Terai before any administrative arrangement is worked out, a proposal unacceptable to the state government.

The party’s hardened stand could be gauged from the fact that Gurung did not even spare Darjeeling MP Singh in his criticism. “We have told our Darjeeling MP that we cannot compromise on our stand. He said he might have to vacate the Darjeeling seat. If this is the case, we can do nothing. It is also his job (to make the government agree to a JVC).”

A senior leader who was present when Gurung talked to Singh over the phone this morning denied there was any strain in the relation. “Jaswant Singh has repeatedly said he was committed to our cause and if he could not fulfil our wishes, he would resign. In fact, this is a habitual utterance of Singh…We are in fact, thankful to him. Nothing much should be read into our president’s statement.”

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MSN India

Kolkata, Feb 27 (PTI) As the tempo is gradually building in West Bengal for the assembly elections, trouble-torn Darjeeling hills are waiting for a final nod from the Election Commission over holding of polls, though political parties are divided over whether voting can be peaceful given the volatile situation.

The Gorkha Janmukti Morcha, the main votary for a separate state of Gorkhaland, insists that the polls can be held in the hills along with the rest of the state, but its participation is not yet decided.

“Gorkhaland is our top priority. We will take a call on participation when the election comes,” GJM general secretary Roshan Giri told PTI.

Giri claimed that besides the hill constituencies of Darjeeling, Kurseong and Kalimpong, the GJM could be a deciding factor in at least nine other seats in the plains which have a sizeable presence of Nepali speaking population like Rajganj and Kalchini.

In contrast to the GJM stand, the ruling CPI-M and Gorkha National Liberation Front of Subash Ghising said the situation was not ripe for a peaceful election.

“It is impossible to hold a peaceful election in the hills in view of terror unleashed by the GJM. It is only the GJM which can hold rallies and carry out activity there. Many of our political leaders have fled and are now living in Siliguri out of fear of GJM attacks,” Darjeeling district secretary of CPI(M) Jibesh Sarkar said.

Asked if his party wants postponement of the polls in the Hills, Sarkar said, “We are not saying that elections should not be held in the hills, but should the EC decide to conduct elections there, it should take the responsibility of organising a peaceful poll.”

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The Telegraph
VIVEK CHHETRI

Darjeeling, Feb. 25: The Gorkha Janmukti Vidyarthi Morcha has called upon all hill students to boycott classes from Monday until the government orders a CBI inquiry into the Sibchu police firing, an indication that Bimal Gurung’s outfit is determined to get its demands fulfilled before the election code of conduct comes into effect.

The announcement has made the hill institutions jittery at a time when many of them are trying to ensure that there is no major exodus of outstation students.

Around 2.5 lakh students attend the nearly 1,000 schools and colleges that dot the hills. These institutions, some of which have students from other countries as well, are major contributors to the region’s economy.

The class boycott call from the students’ wing of the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha comes close on the heels of the party’s decision to impose an embargo on the despatch of the first flush of Darjeeling tea. (more…)

The Telegraph

Feb. 25: Mamata Banerjee’s budget today sought to consolidate the position Trinamul Congress had gained in north Bengal by announcing a slew of projects that covers both the hills and plains.

Trinamul’s Darjeeling district leader Gautam Deb said Mamata had for the first time tried to connect remote areas of the region by train. “So far, we had to depend on road connectivity to get to many areas in the region,” Deb said. “But soon, trains will take us there. It is obvious that this move will pay dividends in the coming Assembly elections.” (more…)

www.business-standard.com
Probal Basak & Shine Jacob / Kolkata/ Darjeeling February 25, 2011, 0:22 IST

I will turn Darjeeling into Switzerland!This was one promise which the Railways’ minister Mamata Banerjee had made to the people of Darjeeling before the last Lok Sabha elections. Amid flooding poll sops for West Bengal in her Budget speech, if the Trinamool stalwart forgets the toy train, it might sound death knell for the iconic service of Darjeeling Himalayan Railway (DJR) — which is in the UNESCO’s world heritage list.

For the last eight months, the toy train service between New Jalpaiguri and Darjeeling is partially suspended following a landslide and the authorities have no clue when the narrow gauge route will be revived.

On Friday, when she delivers her Budget speech, people from North Bengal will be expecting magic which can only bring the toy train back on track. “We want the minister to include the development and expansion of toy train services in her Budget. All the tourists coming here want to have a ride on it. For the last eight months, nobody is asking for that package and with the pace at which Railways is working, it seems services may not even start this year,” said Samrat Sanyal, President, Eastern Himalayas Travel and Tour Operators’ Association (EHTTOA).Meanwhile, the Railways’ is passing the buck on to the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways blaming that they can start work on the track only after the National Highway-55 that runs alongside the track, which was also damaged during the landslides, is repaired.

“The track passes alongside the road only, even the road transport connectivity is disrupted here. Restoration of tracks will take place as soon as the road construction is complete. The department has already given tenders for the work and expect to complete the track repairing with in two months once the road is cleared,” said S Hajong, spokesperson of the North Eastern Frontier Railways.

The Darjeeling District Magistrate Mohan Gandhi, who chaired one of the meetings for renewal of the routes, said, “Work on the road has started and it will take another three months to be completed. Then it’s upon the Railways to restore the train service.”

The train, which covers an 88-kilometre stretch from New Jalpaiguri to Darjeeling passes through places like Siliguri, Sukna, Tindharia, Gayabari, Mahanadi, Kurseong, Tung, Sonada and Ghum. But since the landslide in June, the train covers only a 35-km area from Kurseong to Darjeeling only.

However, UNESCO officials are considering this just as an ‘operational issue’, which has to be sorted out by the railways itself. The DHR, which started in 1881, was included in the World Heritage Site list by UNESCO in 1999. Indian Railways had sanctioned Rs 1.2 crore for a Comprehensive Conservation and Management Plan for the DHR in 2009, which is yet to be implemented.

“It will take more than a year to start services again. Problem is, officials are not taking decisions faster. Ultimately, the region is suffering from it. I hope ‘Didi’ will do some magic,” said a distressed staff at the narrow guage shed in Siliguri.
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The Telegraph

Feb. 24: Five teams, each consisting of two ex-servicemen and three Gorkhaland Personnel cadres, have started fasts-unto-death at Darjeeling, Kalimpong, Kurseong, Gorubathan and Salugara in support of the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha’s statehood movement.

The hunger strike is also to demand a CBI inquiry into the February 8 Sibchu police firing that killed three Morcha supporters.

The former Gorkha soldiers have also planned an indefinite hunger strike in Delhi to be followed by the surrender of war medals if there is no response from the state government on the demands, said Lt. Col (retd) Ramesh Allay, the president of the Bharatiya Gorkha Bhutpurba Sainik Adra-Sainik Morcha.

Allay said the Gorkhas in India have till date received around 256 Sena Medals, 20 Visishta Sena Medals, 11 Maha Vir Chakras, one Ashoka and one Param Vir Chakra.

In Delhi, a meeting between Morcha leader Roshan Giri and Union home minister P. Chidambaram failed to break the deadlock on Darjeeling.

“It is the Bengal government which has disagreed to the territory issue. The Centre has been working to resolve it,” Giri told The Telegraph in Delhi after the meeting, hinting that the Morcha may listen to some requests from the North Block.

The Morcha wants the Gorkha dominated areas of the Dooars and the Terai in the new state that it is demanding. Giri conceded that the solution to the Darjeeling set-up imbroglio seemed likely only after the Assembly elections in May.

The party has threatened to impose an embargo on the despatch of Darjeeling tea from February 27 which Chidambaram is understood to have asked them to withdraw.

Allay seemed peeved that the state government had not yet disclosed the contents of the M.L. Meena Commission report on the lathicharge on the ex-servicemen’s rally in Siliguri on April 9, 2008.
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The Hindu

Having withdrawn its call for a bandh in the Darjeeling hills, the Gorkha Janamukti Morcha (GJM) is set for a fresh spell of agitation that includes a “fast-unto-death” by batches of volunteers across the region from Thursday and a relay hunger-strike by its supporters in New Delhi from February 27 in support of its various demands.

“The hunger-strike in the capital will continue till the end of the budget session of Parliament,” senior GJM leader and member of the party’s central committee, Harka Bahadur Chettri told The Hindu over phone from Kalimpong sub-division on Wednesday, a day after the decision was taken by the GJM leadership not to resume the bandh after relaxing it for four days. (The bandh had begun on February 9).

Tea industry circles in the hills are concerned over the GJM’s threat to prevent the despatch of tea – the valued first-flush crop – from tea-gardens in the region from February 27 as part of its agitation. Officials concerned are planning to approach the GJM leadership with a request to reconsider the move, it was learnt.

As for the agitation by the GJM from Thursday Dr. Chettri said that batches of five volunteers belonging to the Gorkaland Personnel (GLP) – an outfit of the GJM – and ex-servicemen will go on a “fast-unto-death” at various places across the three hill sub-divisions as well as in Siliguri.

Their demands include the bringing of Gorkha-dominated pockets in the Terai and the Dooars within the jurisdiction of any “interim” administrative body being considered for the Darjeeling hills that – one that the GJM maintains should lead to the creation of a separate “Gorkhaland” State.

This demand has been ruled out by the West Bengal government. “The GJM has also decided to take its agitation to New Delhi to give it wider nation-wide attention”, Dr Chettri said. “Nearly 300 GJM supporters are expected to participate in the relay hunger strike in New Delhi”, he added.

The ‘padayatra’ programme by GJM supporters through the Dooars to Kumani at the border of Darjeeling and Jalpaiguri districts where GJM president, Bimal Gurung is to address them on February 27 is continuing, Dr Chettri said.

The Jalpaiguri district authorities have imposed prohibitory orders under Section 144 Cr PC in certain parts of the Dooars to prevent any meeting or procession which, it is feared, could disturb peace in the region.
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The Telegraph
VIVEK CHHETRI

Darjeeling, Feb. 23: The Gorkha Janmukti Morcha’s decision to impose an embargo on the despatch of the first flush of Darjeeling tea could seriously affect the talks for the revision of wages, the three-year-old agreement on which expires on March 31.

The new wages are expected to come into effect from April 1 but if the gardens are unable to sell the first flush tea which commands the highest price in the global market, the wage negotiation for the 55,000 workers in the tea industry could take a beating. The daily wage of tea workers is now Rs 67.

In 2010, the first flush fetched at least Rs 5,000 a kg, according to figures from one garden that did not want to be named because of commercial reasons. A second-flush variety called Muscatel, the quantity of which is low, sold for as high as Rs 10,000 per kg. The autumnal flush drew prices in the range of Rs 700 a kg. The figures are indicative and can vary from garden to garden.

“The first flush is the oxygen for the Darjeeling tea industry. If tea cannot be sold, how can we plough back revenue into the garden? We are very disturbed and concerned after the (Morcha’s) announcement,” said Sanjay Bansal, the chairman of the Darjeeling Tea Association. Bansal has the largest number of tea gardens in the hills. (more…)

The Telegraph

Feb. 23: Calm returned to the hills today as shops opened and traffic was back on roads, but hunger strikes beginning tomorrow threaten to shatter the fragile peace.

The condition of five Gorkha Janmukti Morcha members fasting in Bagrakote in the Dooars for the past 10 days deteriorated and two of them were hospitalised today.

Harka Bahadur Chhetri, the spokesperson for the Morcha, today said the state government had not responded to the proposal to set up a joint verification committee to determine the geographical boundary of the proposed set-up.

“The state’s intention is to avoid any breakthrough on the settlement and instead push the issue till the Assembly elections and talk tough to garner the sympathy of the rest of the state,” said Chhetri.

“During the (eleven rounds of tripartite) talks, the Bengal representative would only say that they had to refer the matter (of setting up a JVC) to the government but they would always come back with no results.”

A Morcha leader said the state government had also turned down its demand for a CBI probe into the Sibchu firing.

“To press for all these demands, we are starting hunger strikes across the hills,” said a Morcha leader. “If something unpleasant happens, then the state would have to take the blame.”

From tomorrow, the Gorkhaland Personnel and ex-servicemen will sit on indefinite hunger strikes in Darjeeling, Kalimpong, Kurseong, Mirik and Gorubathan. (more…)

The Telegraph

Siliguri, Feb. 23: The principal chief conservator of forests is on a visit to north Bengal to make a detailed assessment of loss his department suffered during the violence that convulsed the region earlier this month.

Atanu Raha reached here yesterday and held talks with forest officers at Bengdubi near Bagdogra.

“The tentative loss is around Rs 5 crore or so, which we expect will go up when a detailed assessment is done. Yesterday, we could assess the damage caused to some properties and there will be another meeting (at Sulkapara in Nagrakata) today,” Raha said over the phone from Raiganj.

“We have to renovate and repair all these properties, which include bungalows, residences and offices. It has been decided that a list of the properties will be prepared and on the basis of priority and importance, repairs will be carried out. Our employees posted at field levels are finding it inconvenient to work as their quarters and offices have been torched. We are thinking of constructing these properties first, followed by others,” said Raha.

The forest properties were set on fire by mobs in the hills and the Dooars after a police firing at Sibchu on February 8.
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What’s important is that the strike has been called off.

What’s interesting is how the different media sources all cite different reasons for GJM calling off the strike…

e.g.,
IBNS :

GJM’s spokesman professor Rohit Sharma said Tuesday that the party leadership has suspended its bandh for an indefinite period to allow over 10,000 candidates to sit for the secondary examinations beginning Wednesday.
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Prof Sharma said the party would not sponsor any bandh for now as March and April are the months of exams from secondary to under graduate level under various boards.

The Hindu:

“Our decision to call off the bandh is in keeping with the assurance given by us recently to a team of observers from the Election Commission that we, as the largest party in the hills, will ensure normality in the region in the run-up to the coming Assembly polls in the State,” senior GJM leader and member of the party’s central committee Harka Bahadur Chettri told The Hindu over telephone from Kalimpong sub-division.

Republica:

According to GJM publicity department secretary Harka Bahadur Chhetri, the general strike was postponed due to the Tibetan festival of Lhosar.

DNA:

Responding to the appeal of the Election Commission and in view of the board examinations beginning in West Bengal from tomorrow, the Gorkha Janamukti Morcha (GJM) called off its indefinite bandh in the Darjeeling hills today after nearly a fortnight.

The Telegraph:

Raju Pradhan, the Morcha assistant general secretary who attended the party’s central committee meeting at Kumani, said: “The strike has been suspended… mainly for two reasons: the board exams that are about to start and the general inconvenience it was causing the people.”

Sources, however, said the real reason for the strike withdrawal was the adverse impact it was having on the Morcha’s image. The shutdown, among the many in four years, has caused a lot of hardship to the people.