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DARJEELING, 27 NOV: The Darjeeling board of administration, in conjunction with the concerned citizen, took a resolution yesterday to stop the construction of high-rise building in the main areas of Darjeeling town claiming that it would tarnish the scenic beauty of the Hills.

The construction of high-rise buildings will not be allowed in the main areas of Darjeeling Mall road, Chowrasta, CR Das Road, Dhirdham, SK Paul Road, railway station and Ghoom.

Following yesterday’s development the civic administration today also stopped the construction of Hotel New Dish in Darjeeling on CR Das Road claiming that they had been adding up another storey to its building.

“The administration had given the permission to cover only a tin sheet over their attic. They claimed that there had been some leakage. But observing their work, they seem to append a pillar for a storey, so the construction work was immediately stopped” said Mr Vijay Tamang, Darjeeling Municipality engineer. Mr Bharat Prakash Rai, secretary of Federation Of Societies for Environmental Protection (FOSEP) “In April this year there was a meeting of the municipality in which we were also present. It was decided that no high-rise buildings would be allowed to be constructed but no such thing was done. It is very important that serious methods be applied in stopping the construction of high-rise buildings in Darjeeling.”

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Darjeeling, Nov. 25: The Gorkha Janmukti Yuwa Morcha has started the groundwork for the revival of the agitation for a separate state by reorganising its units and appealing to people to write the slogan “we want Gorkhaland” on walls.

The youth wing of the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha had recently announced that it would renew the demand for Gorkhaland by holding a meeting at Mungpoo on December 18.

“We have already started reorganising Yuwa Morcha units in different place. Our supporters are visiting various municipalities and villages to bring together youths for the movement. We are giving thrust to the consolidation of our position in Teesta Valley and areas along NH31A,” said Sidhant Rai, the organising secretary of the Yuwa Morcha.

Sources said office-bearers of the Yuwa Morcha had been removed at different units and new faces brought in to give a fillip to the Gorkhaland stir.

The most notable part of the shuffle was the appointment of Sanjay Thulung as the vice-president of the outfit’s central committee. The post had been lying vacant for long.

The organisation is seeking to involve the common people also in the agitation.

“We appeal to all people to start rewriting the slogan ‘we want Gorkhaland’ on walls and any every other available space, especially along roads from tomorrow onwards,” he added.

The Morcha had initiated a similar campaign when it had started the agitation for the statehood in 2007. The party had asked all shopkeepers to use the word “Gorkhaland” on their sign boards.

The Yuwa Morcha today said the Mungpoo meeting might be advanced depending on the situation (with regard to the formation of small states) in the country.

“We might bring forward the date of the meeting if a situation favourable for the formation of small states emerges in any other part of the country. The Mungpoo event has been planed to announce our agitation programmes,” said Rai.

The decision to restart the agitation was taken after Uttar Pradesh Assembly had passed a resolution on November 21 to divide the state into four.

The youth wing today sent a letter to the President, Prime Minister, home minister, BJP president and also to the Morcha president Bimal Gurung, saying Gorkhaland deserved to be given preference if the government had plans to form new states.

Salary hike demand

The Morcha-affiliated Darjeeling Terai Dooars Plantation Labour Union has demanded a 33 per cent hike in the salaries of tea garden staff. A three-year agreement had been reached between planters and trade unions earlier to increase the wages of workers and the sub-staff.

“The wage hike for the staff is still due. We demand a flat 33 per cent increase in the salaries,” said P.T. Sherpa, the president of the Morcha union. The hike is due from April 1. The Darjeeling Tea Association will hold a meeting of the unions and the planters on November 28 to discuss the issue.

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VIVEK CHHETRI AND AVIJIT SINHA

Nov. 24: The Gorkha Janmukti Morcha will ask for “corporation” status for the Darjeeling municipality, a request that the government is likely to grant as a law related to the civic status upgrade had been amended during the Left regime.

Prospective chairperson of the Darjeeling municipality, the Morcha’s Amar Singh Rai, today said: “We will look into the issue of upgrading the municipality into a corporation. I have been going through the Kolkata Municipal Corporation Act and there should not be much problem in upgrading our municipality.”

A senior cabinet minister said the Mamata Banerjee-government was not against upgrading the civic status of Darjeeling. “We are not opposed to the idea of granting such status to the Darjeeling municipality. Let us receive a formal proposal and we will consider it in due course,” the minister said.

The Morcha has won uncontested the elections to Darjeeling, Kalimpong and Kurseong municipalities. Elections to the Mirik municipality will be held on December 11 after which the boards of all four civic bodies will be formed.

The corporation status for the Darjeeling was first proposed a decade ago by the earlier CPM government. But the proposal had been shot down by then DGHC chairperson Subash Ghisingh and his resistance had sparked a rebellion in his party, the GNLF, in 2001.

A corporation status would mean more funds for the civic body. “There is not much of a difference in the laws under which municipalities and corporations are governed. In case a municipality is upgraded, it increases the status of the town that it is in charge of and creates more funds options. It also gains some administrative powers and the right to make laws required to provide services to the area concerned,” said former municipal affairs minister Asok Bhattacharya.

The corporation issue had taken the hills by storm in 2001. D.K. Pradhan, who was then the GNLF chairperson of Darjeeling municipality and the brain behind the initiative to upgrade the municipality, was forced to resign from his civic post and ultimately from the party because of the corporation issue. One of the speculation doing the rounds then was that Ghisingh was scared of the power that the corporation and its mayor might yield.

“In Bengal, municipalities are graded on the basis of the population. But I had made several requests to the government then that an exception should be made for the hills where the population is scattered. Ultimately in 1998, the Darjeeling municipality was upgraded from Group D grade to Group A,” said Pradhan, who is now with the Morcha.

“On February 2, 2000, A.K. Dutta, the secretary of the municipal affairs department wrote (Memo No 87/MA/O/C-4/1A-1/2000) that the state government was considering upgrading the Darjeeling municipality into a corporation. He said a bill would be introduced soon,” said Pradhan.

But Ghisingh refused to accept the new status.

Former CPM minister Bhattacharya recalled that the State Municipal Corporation Act was finally amended in 2006 to create provisions for the formation of corporations in the hills.

“There was a demand from the hills to upgrade Darjeeling municipality to a corporation. On that basis, our government amended the West Bengal Municipal Corporation Act 2006 making certain exceptions to the general criteria for forming corporations in other parts of the state,” Bhattacharya said.

“The law was made, but it was not implemented. The GNLF refused to relent,” he added.

The corporation issue sparked a controversy within the GNLF. The party announced a one-person-one-post policy and asked Pradhan to resign as the chairman of the civic body. Pradhan was then the MLA of Darjeeling too. Pradhan rebelled and had got the majority of the GNLF ward commissioners on his side only to be betrayed at the last moment.

The new municipality board passed a resolution in 2003, stating that it did not want corporation status.

Bhattacharya said since the amendment had been already made, the new board only needed to pass a resolution and submit it to the state government.

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The Gorkha Janmukti Morcha leader said the hills had received only Rs 40 crore from the state, and nothing from the Centre, against a demand of Rs 1,000 crore.

“Chief minister Mamata Banerjee had promised many things when she visited the affected areas. But nothing has been done yet. All we got was Rs 40 crore. No repair can be started with such meagre amount,” Chhetri said at Writers’ Buildings today.

Chhetri said the Morcha had demanded Rs 1,000 crore for Darjeeling after an earthquake registering 6.8 on the Richter hit on September 18.

“A few thousand people from 67 villages in Kalimpong alone lost their homes. They are still living in camps. But they need to shift before winter,” said Chhetri. “These people will not have other options but to launch an agitation if the promises are not kept.”

Chief secretary Samar Ghosh said neither the state nor the Centre had promised a rehabilitation package of Rs 1,000 crore as claimed by the MLA. He added that the state government had spent Rs 55 crore for earthquake relief and rehabilitation in north Bengal and plans to send more as and when possible.

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Siliguri, Nov. 23: Akhil Bharatiya Adivasi Vikas Parishad leaders in the plains today said they would back out of the agreement with the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha if the hill outfit revived its movement for a separate state.

The tribal and Gorkha outfits had agreed last month to work together for the formation of an administrative body that would comprise the Darjeeling hills, and the Dooars and the Terai.

But the Morcha youth wing’s decision yesterday to renew the statehood agitation forced the Parishad leaders to take a relook at the deal.

“We are aware of the announcement by the Yuwa Morcha yesterday that a public meeting would be held at Mungpoo on December 18 to resume the Gorkhaland agitation. This has made us rethink the proposal to form Gorkhaland and Adivasi Territorial Administration,” Tezkumar Toppo, the state general secretary of the Parishad, said today.

He was one of the five Parishad leaders from the Dooars and the Terai who were instrumental in forging the tie-up with the Morcha.

“We are clear on our stand that if the demand for the statehood is raised by the Morcha again, we will withdraw from the deal. We cannot agree to the inclusion of the Adivasi-populated areas in a separate state. We are only interested in an autonomous body whose jurisdiction stretches to the the tribal-dominated areas also,” said Toppo.<!–more–>

The tribal outfit said it would wait till December 18 to decide if the relationship with the Morcha should continue. “If the Yuwa Morcha rakes up the old demand of the separate state at the December 18 meeting, we will have no other option but to scrap the agreement and seek autonomy for the Adivasi populated areas under the Sixth Schedule,” said Toppo.

Observers said “Gorkhaland” had given breathing space to the Parishad dissidents, who had joined hands with the Morcha without the consent of the state leadership.

“The Parishad state committee had accused the leaders in the plains of breach of discipline for signing the agreement with the Morcha. The dissidents have an opportunity now to prove that they are with the tribal population,” said an observer.

The Morcha announcement didn’t go down well with Adivasi trade union leader Sukra Munda either. He was among the five Parishad leaders showcaused by the state committee for the tie-up with the Morcha.

“We took the decision to join hands with the Morcha only after the Centre and the state had endorsed the formation of the GTA. If the Morcha takes a decision that is against the spirit of the autonomy, we will reconsider our stand,” said Munda, a state committee member and the chairman of the Parishad-backed Progressive Tea Workers’ Union.

John Barla, the ousted president of the Dooars Terai regional unit of the Parishad, said he couldn’t comment on “media reports”.

Birsa Tirkey, the state president of the Parishad state committee which had show-caused the five, said: “We have alerted the regional leaders several times and have expressed our apprehensions. It is time that they clarify their stand.”

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VIVEK CHHETRI

Darjeeling, Nov. 22: The Gorkha Janmukti Yuwa Morcha has decided to renew the agitation for a separate Gorkhaland state with a public meeting next month. The decision comes a day after chief minister Mayawati got an Assembly resolution passed to divide Uttar Pradesh into four states.

The agitation, the nature of which is not yet known, will start on December 18 with a rally in Kurseong’s Mungpoo.

The announcement is the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha’s way of reminding the people of the hills that the Gorkhaland demand has not been diluted, specially when efforts are on to create smaller states in other parts of the country, a leader of the outfit said.

He said having emerged as the strongest political force in the hills riding on the back of the statehood issue, the party did not want to be seen as putting the demand on the backburner.

“The Morcha is the strongest party in the hills today because of the statehood issue,” he said.

“So, we want to keep the statehood flame alive. At the same time, we will go ahead with the formation of the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration. We don’t want to convey the impression that we have shifted from our original demand of a separate state at a time when Mayawati has initiated steps to carve four states out of UP.”

The Morcha will concern itself with the creation of the GTA (the new administrative set-up for the hills), while its frontal organisation, the Yuwa Morcha, will carry on with the agitation for the separate state, the leader said.

Keeping in line with the party policy, Yuwa Morcha general secretary Priyabardan Rai said: “The youths have decided to renew the Gorkhaland agitation and we will hold a huge public meeting on December 18 at Mungpoo where the details of the agitation will be announced.

“Mayawati has shown courage by passing the resolution and we congratulate her spirit. The Morcha has been formed to pursue a separate Gorkhaland state and the Yuwa Morcha has nothing to do with the GTA. The GTA was accepted by our party because of the compulsion of the state government.”

He, however, did not spell out what these compulsions were.

But the Yuwa Morcha made it clear that the statehood agitation would be led by party president Bimal Gurung. The youth wing has also asked all other frontal organisations of the Morcha like the Gorkha Janmukti Nari Morcha, Bhutpurba Sainik Morcha and the labour affiliates to get ready for the agitation.

“In the next couple of days, we will write to the President of India and will also fax copies to the Prime Minister, Union home minister and the chief minister, apprising them of our stand,” said Rai.

“If the Centre decides to create any new state in India, Gorkhaland must be given priority as this is a more than 100-year-old demand. The demand is from our heart and the mind,” said Rai.

The Yuwa Morcha’s announcement is also a reflection that despite the mother outfit agreeing to form the GTA, the demand for a separate state would continue to resonate in the hills.

“If the Centre fails to give us justice, the situation in the region could take a turn and the government will be responsible for that,” said Rai.

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VIVEK CHHETRI

Darjeeling, Nov. 21: The death of a young Panthabari woman in Saudi Arabia has brought to fore the existence of a racket that sends people from the Darjeeling hills to Arab countries on fake Nepali passports.

Anu Darzi, a mother of three in her late twenties, had died in the oil-rich Kingdom eight months ago. But her body couldn’t be brought home as she had gone to Saudi Arabia on a fake Nepali passport.

In Saudi Arabia, Darzi was known by the name Ratna Kumari Chand, a resident of Dailekh in Nepal. “She was sent to Saudi Arabia on a Nepal passport. The photograph on the passport was hers, but the name and the address were those of Ratna Kumari Chand. There is a spurt in the use of fake passports by agents who send people abroad,” said Rangu Shouria, the chairperson of the Siliguri-based Kanchenjungha Uddhar Kendra.

Shouria was speaking at a seminar on human trafficking here on Friday. The conference was organised by Mankind in Action for Rural Growth (MARG) and the Goa-based Anyay Rahit Zindagi.

“Darzi was from Panthabari near Mirik. Her husband Bijay Mazumdar, who breaks stone on the riverbed in the Tarabari-Panthabari belt, was told in March this year by an unknown person that his wife had died in Saudi Arabia. However, we have not been able to get her body till date. We got to hear that she had probably been murdered on the night of February 28,” said Milan Chhetri with the Kendra.

The Siliguri-based organisation has not been able to help much as officially Darzi was not an Indian citizen in the eyes of the Saudi officials.

“We even went to Nepal and with the help of an NGO, Maiti Nepal, met government officials there. The problem lies in the fact that one Ratna Kumari Chand is alive in Dailekh. Her husband Bhim Bahadur Chand is also alive. Darzi’s husband had been mentioned as Bhim Bahadur Chand in the passport. For obvious reasons, the Saudi authorities wouldn’t send the body to India,” said Chhetri.

Darzi’s family in India hasn’t been able to do much. “The husband has lodged an FIR with Darjeeling police but Darzi’s agent Vikram Rai, who stays at Panitanki (a border town along the Indo-Nepal border near Kakarivitta ) is untraceable,” said Chhetri. (more…)

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RAJEEV RAVIDAS

Kalimpong, Nov. 21: More than 300 people eking out a living by operating rafts on the Teesta fear they will lose their income once dam projects on the river are completed next year.

The owners and workers of rafting units in Teesta Bazar and Melli said the river would become staid and rapids would disappear upon the completion of the dams.

“The NHPC is slated to commission one dam at Rambi in March. The thrill of rafting lies in riding the rapids. Once the rapids are gone, the water will be as staid as that of a lake. People will not be able to experience the thrill any more,” said Roshan Bhujel, the vice-president of the Teesta-Rangeet Raft Owners’ Association.

A 10km-long stretch of the Teesta between Labarbote near Melli and 29th Mile is used for the rafting. Apart from the dam at Rambi, another one will come up at Kalijhora, 12km downstream. Rambi is 3km downstream 29th Mile.

“Many more dams are being constructed upstream in Sikkim. The entire length of the Teesta will become unsuitable for rafting. We have been voicing our concerns regarding rafting ever since power projects were conceptualised. However, our concerns fell on deaf ears then and even now our pleas are not being heard,” lamented Bhujel.

Given the fact that the dams are now a fait accompli, Bhujel said the least the authorities could do was provide them with an alternative source of livelihood. “Although we have taken up the matter with the NHPC and the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha, no satisfactory response has come from either of them. We are open to the idea of any kind of compensation. That could be in the form of jobs to the educated amongst us or monetary compensation for the loss of business we are certain to suffer from,” he said.

Teesta Bazaar and Melli together have 45 to 50 rafts. According to Bhujel, the rafts provide direct employment to about150 people and over 200 villagers benefit indirectly. The rafting season lasts for about nine months from mid-September to May.

While NHPC officials could not be reached for their comment, Morcha secretary Roshan Giri said his party was aware of the issue and the future of the villagers would have to be taken care of.

“When we first took up the matter, the then NHPC official (at Rambi) had spoken about introducing boating in lieu of rafting. An alternative source of livelihood must be found for the people living off rafting,” he said.
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VIVEK CHHETRI

Darjeeling, Nov. 21: The Darjeeling tea growers have appealed to the Centre to extend the moratorium on the repayment of loan to replant bushes from five to 10 years.

According to the Special Purpose Tea Fund scheme launched by the Union commerce and industry ministry in 2007, growers who want to replant their gardens can get 50 per cent of the total cost as loan. The government gives 25 per cent of the cost as subsidy.

The scheme has provision for a moratorium of five years on the payment of the loans. The planters have to start repaying the loan from the sixth year onwards in eight equal instalments annually.

The planters have said the scheme has very few takers in the hills as the bushes become viable only after 10 to 12 years of replanting. (more…)

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MRINALINI SHARMA

Siliguri, Nov. 21: Coaches and engines of the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway are being repaired at the ill-equipped small sheds at Kurseong and Siliguri Junction as the rail link to the main loco workshop at Tindharia has been cut off since June last year after a landslide near Paglajhora.

“For the past 16 months, we have no alternative but to carry out repair at the Kurseong loco shed. We send our personnel with tools to carry out the work. Even trains from Darjeeling are brought down to Kurseong because the shed in Darjeeling is smaller,” an official at Tindharia said.

While only one coach can be repaired in Kurseong at a time, around three to four locos can be repaired at the workshop in Tindharia.

The rail line to Tindharia that runs parallel to NH55 was damaged when a 500-metre stretch of the road collapsed after a landslide at 14th Mile near Paglajhora on June 16 last year. Toy train service between Siliguri and Kurseong have remained suspended since.

Currently, the DHR fleet comprises 13 steam locos, four diesel locos and 53 coaches. (more…)

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VIVEK CHHETRI

Darjeeling, Nov. 20: Bimal Gurung today publicly hit out at the central committee members of the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha from Mirik for the presence of rebels in the civic polls and told the leaders that they should be “ashamed of themselves”.

The Morcha has won all wards in Darjeeling, Kalimpong and Kurseong municipalities uncontested, but five of the nine seats in Mirik will go to polls as Independents have filed nominations against party candidates. Three of the Independents belonged to the Morcha and were expelled from the party.

“The central committee members from Mirik are to blame for the fiasco. They were the ones who said that they would handle everything themselves. They should be ashamed of themselves. I am happy with the way things went about in other places, especially in Kurseong,” said Gurung.

The Morcha president was addressing a meeting organised by the party to felicitate all candidates who had emerged winners in the four municipalities uncontested.

“I had earlier told the central committee members that they should not contest the elections and give an opportunity to committed party workers. So, the leaders pushed their own candidates and at the end, they could not be forced to withdraw from the fray,” said Gurung.

L.B. Rai, a central committee member and a former chairperson of Mirik municipality, and Arun Ghisingh, the vice-president of the Mirik Mahakuma Samiti, are two prominent leaders who are in the fray.

Gurung said even if the Morcha candidates won the polls, he would be very careful while allocating posts in the civic board.

“It is the party leaders, and not the public, who should be blamed in Mirik. All must consider themselves to be Gorkhas but in Mirik, leaders of the two communities, Tamang and Rai, are fighting. In this fight, Mirik has lost out in development works in the past too,” said Gurung.

He also announced the names of the chairpersons and vice-chairpersons for Darjeeling, Kalimpong and Kurseong. The Morcha’s chairman candidate for Darjeeling is Amar Singh Rai and the vice-chairman nominee is Sukh Bahadur Biswakarma.

The Kurseong municipality will be headed by Sameerdeep Blone, while Kalpana Pradhan has been nominated for the post of the vice-chairperson. L.B. Pariyar and Ganga Maya Gurung have been named to hold the offices of the chairperson and the vice-chairperson in Kalimpong.

Gurung told the future councillors that committees would be formed in each ward to keep a check on corruption in the civic administration.

“People say Morcha leaders indulged in corrupt practices during the rehabilitation of Cyclone Aila victims. These things have to stop. The commissioners will not be given a free hand and to check corruption, committees must be formed in all wards.”

The Morcha president said those who had wanted to contest elections but were denied official party tickets should be made members of the ward committee, along with representatives of culture clan and social workers.

“The councillors will not be allowed to function independently and everything has to be endorsed by the respective ward committees,” said Gurung.

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VIVEK CHHETRI

Darjeeling, Nov. 18: The Gorkha Janmukti Morcha’s dream of winning elections to all four hill municipalities uncontested received a jolt with Independents remaining in the fray in five wards of the Mirik civic body.

When the withdrawal of the nominations closed today, the Morcha acted swiftly and announced the expulsion of three Independents.

“Of the five candidates who did not withdraw the nominations, three were our party members. We have expelled them for going against the party decision. The other two candidates don’t belong to the Morcha and are probably backed by the GNLF,” said Morcha general secretary Roshan Giri.

Eight persons had filed papers as Independents in six of the nine seats in Mirik. While Saraswati Tamang (ward 3), Nima Singh Tamang (ward 6) and Sunil Bomzom (ward 7) withdrew their nominations this afternoon, the other Independents decided to stay in the fray. The five are Bijay Tamang (ward 6), Roshan Tamang (ward 7), Krishna Sarkri (ward 8), Bijay Tamang (ward 9) and Pemba Tshering Bhutia (ward 2).

The candidates expelled from the Morcha are Bijay Tamang, Roshan Tamang and Krishna Sarki. “Bijay Tamang was a member of the party’s town committee, while Roshan Tamang was with the Yuva Morcha. Krishna Sarki belonged to the Nari Morcha,” said Giri.

The municipal elections will be held on December 11 and Morcha candidates will take on the Independents in five seats. The rest of the wards have been won by M.K. Zimba (ward 3), Manikala Ghalay (ward 1), Mala Subba (ward 4) and Barun Subba (ward 5). This essentially means that the Morcha needs to win one more seat to take control of the municipality.

If the Morcha loses all the five seats, it will have to sit in the Opposition and this could come as a major blow to the party in Mirik. Notable leaders who have to fight the elections are Arun Ghisingh (ward 2), the vice-president of the Morcha’s Mirik Mahakuma Parishad, and L.B. Rai (ward 7), a central committee member of the party and a former chairperson of the Mirik municipality.

The Morcha has declared that Rai will be the chairperson of the Mirik municipality if the party wins the polls.

After retreating from the contest, Saraswati Tamang said she had filed the papers to drive home the point that no leader could carry on without taking others on board.

“Even though I was an ex-commissioner of the Mirik municipality and a member of the Morcha, certain leaders of the branch committee used to domineer over me. I was never against the party but wanted to prove a point. As I am convinced with the assurances of the central committee members, I decided to withdraw the nomination in the interest of the party,” she said.

Bijay Tamang, one of the expelled Morcha members, said: “We do not have any negative attitude towards the party but since this is a democratic country, we have decided to contest the elections.”

Although the Morcha has won all the seats uncontested in Darjeeling, Kalimpong and Kurseong, the boards there can be formed only after the election process in Mirik is over. Counting of votes in Mirik will take place on December 13.
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