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AVIJIT SINHA

Siliguri, Nov. 18: A delegation of industrialists from north Bengal has proposed to twin Darjeeling hills with England’s only tea garden, Tregothnan, for free flow of tourists and exchange of tea.

The proposal came from the North Bengal zonal council of the Confederation of Indian Industry, when a team visited the Tregothnan estate in September. The estate in Cornwall in the south-west of England comprises tea plantation, dense woods and several tourist attractions.

“It was nice to visit the estate that is spread over two counties of Cornwall and Kent. Tea is cultivated on around 100 acres on the estate. We proposed that Tregothnan can be twinned with Darjeeling hills, especially with focus on Darjeeling tea. There can be exchange of information, different species of tea and other flora between the two places,” said Ramgopal Jajodia, the chairperson of the zonal council of the CII.

Jonathon Jones, a director of the Tregothnan estate, told the delegation that he would take a positive look at the proposal.

“He (Jones) seemed to be enthusiastic about the idea and said joint efforts need to be made to forge the tie-up by including the stakeholders of the Darjeeling tea industry and the governments of India and the UK,” said Jajodia. (more…)

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Calcutta: A division bench of Calcutta High Court on Friday granted conditional bail to Subhas Tamang, an accused in the Madan Tamang murder case. The court has directed Subhas not to go out of Darjeeling town till further orders. He has been asked to furnish a bail bond of Rs 20,000 with two sureties from two persons from Darjeeling and he would have to visit the CBI camp office in Darjeeling every Monday, Wednesday and Friday till further orders. The court, however, declined to grant bail to three other accused who had also applied for reprieve this time.
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VIVEK CHHETRI

Millie, the red panda that has returned in the logo and as the mascot of the fest. Pictures by Suman Tamang

Darjeeling, Nov. 17: Millie is back and the cuddly red panda whose new-found freedom was cut short by a leopard will be seen on all banners, posters, festoons and placards as the mascot of the tea festival next month.

Millie and Sweetie had got global attention when they became the first pair of red pandas born in captivity to be released in the wild.

Sweetie continues to roam the Singalila wildlife sanctuary and may be further but five-year-old Millie was mauled to death by a leopard in 2003, a few months after its release from the zoo in Darjeeling.

The organisers of the Darjeeling Tea and Tourism Festival, to be held from December 20 to January 5 next year, have decided to bring back Millie by making it the mascot of the festival.

Darjeeling deputy magistrate and co-coordinator of the festival, Sonam Bhutia, said: “During our research we found that Millie and Sweetie were the most celebrated red panda. The red panda could actually symbolise the pristine glory of Darjeeling and hence we decided to christen our mascot Millie—the Panda.”

The mascot and the logo for the fest were chosen from among 150 entries. “We had organised a competition and the mascot was made by Rabin Chhetri from Darjeeling and the logo by Bikash Pal from Siliguri. They have won a cash award of Rs 5,000 each. They will also be felicitated during the festival,” said Uday Mani Pradhan, the convener of the festival committee.

Wildlife experts recalled how Millie had worked hard to gain freedom. It was after carefully observing the 22 red pandas in captivity and their genetic analysis so that the offsprings are healthy that Millie and Sweetie were selected.

They were taught to be independent including fending for their own food so that there was very little human imprints for easy acceptance in the wild. Later the red pandas were sent to an enclosure at Gairibas within the Singalila sanctuary for six months so that they could acclimatise in a controlled environment.

Satisfied with their progress the authorities of the Padmaja Naidu Himalayan Zoological Park released them in the wild after tagging them with radio-collars. “Sweetie even gave birth to a cub and later we decided that it was no longer necessary to monitor her. Millie, however, was mauled by a clouded leopard,” said A.K. Jha, director of the zoo.

Under Project Red Panda, the Darjeeling zoo started releasing the animals in the wild in 1999. After the successful release of Millie and Sweetie, the zoo let out Neelam and Doma in 2004.

Sweetie and Millie’s story was documented as Cherub of the Mist by wildlife filmmakers Ajay and Vijay Bedi. The film created history of sorts by bagging 11 international awards, including the Green Oscar. The success of release continues to inspire the Darjeeling zoo which is doing its bit to conserve red pandas, one of the endangered species categorised in Schedule I of the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972.

“At the moment we have 10 male and five female red pandas. We are also in the process of exchanging a male panda for a female from Adelaide zoo in Australia in the next four to five months,” said Jha. He added that a survey was being carried out on the red pandas in the Singalila and the Neora Valley wildlife sanctuaries to look into the prospect of releasing more animals in the wild.

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RAJEEV RAVIDAS

Kalimpong, Nov. 16: Vehicle owners in Kalimpong are unable to pay taxes as the administration is yet to make alternative arrangements after an arson destroyed all documents in the motor vehicle office here.

A mob had set on fire a single-storied building that used to house the motor vehicle department office in Kalimpong following the February 8 police firing at Sibchu. Although the entire building was not gutted in the fire, the motor office bore the brunt of the attack.

People in the Darjeeling hills had been refusing to pay all kinds of taxes and bills for over three years as part of the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha’s non-co-operation movement for statehood. The party had asked the people to resume paying taxes from August following the signing of the GTA agreement.

However, vehicle owners in Kalimpong can’t pay the taxes as the local motor vehicle office lost all documents in the fire and officials haven’t yet received any directive from the higher-ups on how to go about collecting the money.

“An owner has to pay the tax in the office where his vehicle is registered. If he wants to make the payment in another place, he has to close his account in the office where the vehicle is registered and obtain a no-objection certificate,” said an official of the motor department.

The motor vehicle office in Kalimpong now operates from a temporary tin structure behind the building that was torched by the mob.

“People keep visiting the makeshift office to pay the tax, but we are helpless. However, we are making new records and case files if the vehicle owners come to us with documents like the blue book,” said an official.

Darjeeling district magistrate Saumitra Mohan also said creating new records with the documents the vehicle owners had was the only way out.

“I have told the RTO (road transport officer in Darjeeling) to start collecting taxes there (read Kalimpong). We have to re-enter the records, there is no other alternative,” he said over the phone.

The Kalimpong motor office is waiting for the order from the RTO to start the tax collection. The owners will have to pay huge fine if they take their vehicles to road without paying the tax.

Janmukti Chalak Mahasangh, a drivers’ association, has urged the administration to make necessary arrangements to enable people to pay their motor vehicle tax.

“We have written to the subdivisional officer in this regard. Some kind of arrangement must be made at the earliest,” said T.D. Bhutia, the president of the Mahasangh.

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VIVEK CHHETRI

Darjeeling, Nov. 16: The Gorkha Janmukti Morcha today threatened to expel eight dissidents who had filed nominations against the official party candidates for the municipality elections in Mirik.

In two wards, the Morcha candidates have to fight two Independents each if they don’t withdraw the nominations by November 18, the last date for doing so.

Just when the Morcha was looking to take control of all four hill municipalities of Darjeeling, Kalimpong, Kurseong and Mirik uncontested since the other parties have boycotted the elections, the dissidents’ move has come as an embarrassment.

Morcha general secretary Roshan Giri was in Mirik today to ask the dissidents to withdraw their nominations. “We have told them to withdraw their nominations against the official party candidates by November 18, failing which they will be expelled,” Giri said over the phone from Mirik.

Last week, Morcha president Bimal Gurung had said in a warning that those who had not been given party tickets as official candidates should not file nominations as Independents. He had said rebels would be expelled and would not be taken back in the party even if they won the election. None of the dissidents spoke to the media.

In the nine-seat municipality, Pema Tshering Bhutia has decided to take on the vice-president of the Morcha’s Mirik Mahakuma Committee, Arun Ghisingh, in ward 2. Two Independents Roshan Tamang and Sunil Bomzom are contesting against L.B. Rai, a central committee member and a former chairperson of the Mirik municipality, in ward 7.

This time, too, Rai is tipped to be the Morcha candidate for the chairperson’s post. The other Independents include Saraswati Tamang (ward 3), Krishna Sarki (ward and Bijay Tamang (ward 9). Bijay Tamang and Nima Singh Tamang have both filed nominations as Independents in ward 6.

None has filed nominations against the Morcha candidates in wards 1, 4 and 5 in Mirik. The Morcha’s candidates who are likely to win uncontested from these three wards are Manikala Ghalay, Mala Subba and Barun Subba.

This development in Mirik also means that the formation of the municipal boards in Darjeeling, Kalimpong and Kurseong — where none has filed nominations against the Morcha — could be delayed by almost a month.

District magistrate Saumitra Mohan said if there was scope of contest even in a single ward in any of the four hill municipalities, no board will be formed till the December 11 elections are over.

“In such a scenario, the boards will be formed only after the election process is complete,” said Mohan.

Officially, the administration can declare the Morcha candidates winners in seats where there are no other contestants only after the last day of withdrawal of nominations.
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VIVEK CHHETRI

Darjeeling, Nov. 15: Efforts to address three major issues in the hill town — traffic, solid waste management and generation of civic revenue — today ended in disarray with many refusing to accept the changes introduced by the Darjeeling municipality.

The initiatives include shifting of taxi stands and imposition of parking fees, door to door garbage collection and levying tourist tax.

Almost all the initiatives hit the roadblock. Taxi and tour operators alleged that too many changes were being attempted by the municipality in one go, instead of taking one issue at a time. The administration refused to read much into the resistance and said it was expected.

The municipality had ordered all buses, parked at the Darjeeling motor stand, to be shifted near Tenzing Rock today. But the drivers refused to budge, saying the new parking space 3km away was an impractical choice.

Nearly 30 buses ply to and from Darjeeling daily but only 7-8 of them can be parked at a time at the Motor Stand. The area near Tenzing Rock has space for almost all the buses.

The municipality also said two buses at a time will be allowed to enter the town, halt for a short while at the Motor Stand before going to the next stop near the railway station.

Narbu Lama, the president of the All Transport Joint Action Committee, said: “Such proposals had not been placed at the meeting which we had with the authorities. We had been told to shift the buses from a portion of the parking lot at Motor Stand, which we had done. For the past 10 days, we had not been parking the buses there. But sending all buses outside town will only cause inconvenience.”

Lama said the buses travel to different destinations and some of them have the same timings. “So it is not possible to have only two buses entering town at a time.”

Drivers of the Ghoom taxi syndicate refused to operate their vehicles as their depot was changed from Judge Bazar on the national highway to near the Darjeeling railway station, which is outside the town. The Ghoom taxis are the most availed of and often cause traffic jam.

Sanjiv Tamang, a driver who plies a taxi on the Ghoom route, said: “The new location will cause a lot of inconvenience. Besides, only taxis of our syndicate are being asked to move out. The other syndicates are still there. The new parking for our taxis will only increase traffic snarls.”

Civic sources said the taxis on the other routes were not being told to shift, as their frequency was not much.

The municipality has also decided to collect parking fees from nine spots across town and allot parking space exclusively for private vehicles. “We are trying to collect Rs 10 per vehicle per day for syndicate taxis and Rs 10 per hour for private cars. Motorcycles will be charged Rs 5 per day,” said Tamal Das, the chairperson of the board of administrators of the Darjeeling municipality.

The municipality has also decided to start a door-to-door collection of garbage against a daily charge of Rs 2. “We have started the initiative in 12 of the 32 Darjeeling wards and have tied up with various agencies,” said Das, who is also the subdivisional officer of Darjeeling.

Visitors entering Darjeeling were charged Rs 5 per head at a point near Ghoom today, the first day of the tourist tax. Vehicles carrying tourists were told to pay Rs 20 while buses were charged Rs 50. But many tourist vehicles bypassed the collection centre probably unaware of the new system. Plans are afoot to set up a permanent counter.

As around 3 lakh tourists come to the hills every year, the cash-strapped municipality is expected to generate around Rs 14 lakh through taxes on tourists and their vehicles.

Tour operators are, however, not happy about the tourist tax.

Pradip Tamang, secretary of the Darjeeling Association of Travel Agents, said: “The municipality is attempting too much at a time. They imposed parking fees, shifted taxis stands, started garbage collection for a fee and charged tourists — all in a single day.”

Tamang said tourist taxes would not be welcomed by the visitors. “The streets have not been properly lighted. There is no parking infrastructure and the beautification of the town, too, has not started. Fees and taxes should be imposed only when the town is beautified and an infrastructure is in place. Then tourists would not mind paying,” said Tamang.

Civic administrator Das admitted that a permanent solution to the traffic woes can be expected only after the parking lots at Singamari and near the railway station come up.

“The question is if we should wait till the construction is over or try and bring about some changes to improve the overall look. We had expected resistance but we are confident that it would be solved amicably in the days to come,” said Das.
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Nov. 14: The CPM will not contest the civic polls to be held in the Darjeeling hills after seven years for fear that it will be attacked as “police and administration are no longer with the Left party”.

The CPM’s admission — that shorn of the power to control the administration it has become vulnerable — comes barely six months after the party had fielded candidates in the Assembly elections in Darjeeling though it was aware even then that it had little chance against the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha.

Earlier this month, the other Morcha rivals — the CPRM, Congress, and the GNLF — had said they would not contest the December 11 civic elections. At that time, the CPM had tried to coax the Opposition parties into putting up consensus candidates, a proposal shot down by all outfits except the ABGL.

Today, along with the CPM, the ABGL, too, said it would not contest the polls.

The last day for filing nominations is tomorrow. The Morcha might win uncontested if nobody else files nominations for the seats in Darjeeling, Kalimpong, Kurseong and the Mirik municipalities.

Former hill affairs minister and the CPM Siliguri strongman Asok Bhattacharya today said the status of his party was different during the Assembly polls. “Then the Election Commission was there as the watchdog. Besides, the state police and the administration were with us. They had the power to control law and order in the hills. But now, under Trinamul government, even the police are in cahoots with the Morcha. So, who will protect us? There is no democratic atmosphere for participating in the municipal elections,” Bhattacharya said.

CPM Rajya Sabha member Saman Pathak said the Morcha had been intimidating his party members.

“We had serious apprehensions that the Morcha would try to foment trouble and it has turned out to be true. Till sometime ago, we were confident that we, along with the other Opposition parties in the hills, would be able to put up some consensus candidates. But the Morcha threat forced the others to back out. We were left alone and given the current state of affair, we decided not to participate in the election,” he said.

Pathak alleged that numerous pleas to the administration — including the district magistrate — to see to it that non-Morcha parties could carry on with their political activities in the hills had gone unheeded.

In Darjeeling, ABGL president Bharati Tamang said: “We had thought that with the change in guard, democracy would be back in the hills. But the new government is working like the previous one.”

Tamang also added that the election was just a ploy to derail the Gorkhaland demand. “The state has forced the municipality elections without consulting the other political parties,” she said. “The people in the hills cannot come forward openly and so, the elections cannot be fair. Even the last Assembly elections were not held in a free and fair atmosphere.”

The Morcha said that in all probability it would win all seats uncontested. The Bimal Gurung-led outfit said while it was glad that it would be a fight-less win, the rivals themselves were to blame for this situation.

“As far as democracy is concerned, it is not good that there will be no contest. But this only indicates the lack of credibility of the Opposition parties among the hill people,” Morcha spokesperson Harka Bahadur Chhetri said. “The allegations made by these parties are baseless. They bit the dust in the last polls. This time, realising that the results would be similar, they have walked out of the contest. It is better that they act like responsible Opposition parties.”
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RAJEEV RAVIDAS

Kalimpong, Nov. 14: A portion of the ashes of music legend Bhupen Hazarika was immersed in the Teesta at Tribeni today, hours after an urn containing the mortal remains of the singer was brought from Guwahati.

The urn was brought here after Assam-based Gorkha organisations like Assam Gorkha Parisangh, Akhil Assam Gorkha Students Union (AAGSU) and Assam Nepali Sahitya Sabha took an initiative along with the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha to immerse part of the remains in the river.

Tribeni, the confluence of the Teesta and the Rangeet, is 18km from Kalimpong town.

Today, 100-odd people gathered to pay their last respects to a man whose love for the Gorkhas was evident by the “vadgawley” Nepali topi with crossed khukuris pinned to it that the balladeer always wore.

The Gorkhas find mention in at least one of his songs, Kopili noir parat Gorkha gabhoru joni (that Gorkha girl on the banks of the Kopili river).

Cries of “Bhupen Hazarika amar raho” broke the afternoon quiet today as the urn was put on a raft and taken to the middle of the river.

“The essence of Bhupenda was his humanism. He does not belong only to Assam but to the entire world. His songs do not talk about his community alone but of others as well. We felt it was only fitting to immerse his ashes in the Teesta as a way of paying our respects since rivers figure so prominently in his songs,” said Keshab Sharma, the secretary of AAGSU.

One of Hazarika’s immortal songs is “Bishtirna nadi pare” that has been translated in many languages.

“That song is the one that comes to my mind immediately when I think of Bhupen Hazarika. I had first heard the great man sing it during the joint centenary celebrations of Dow Hill and Victoria schools (both in Kurseong) way back in 1979. I was in Class V then,” Rajesh Subba, the principal of Green Shields School in Takdah, told The Telegraph over the phone.

Dilip Rasaily, who had accompanied Hazarika on the violin on some of his performances, said: “He had great respect for Nepali culture and literature. I consider him to be the temple of Assamese literature, music and culture. I am so glad that his ashes are being immersed in the Teesta.”

The balladeer was cremated on the Gauhati University campus on November 9. Portion of the remains were immersed in rivers in Assam, Meghalaya and Arunachal Pradesh.

Part of the ashes would be immersed in different rivers across the world that are mentioned in his songs.
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Kalimpong, Nov. 11: The Gorkha Janmukti Morcha today warned that aspiring contestants who had not made it to the candidate list for the civic polls should not contest as Independents as they would not be taken back into the party fold even if they won.

The party today announced the candidates for all the 23 wards of the Kalimpong municipality. Candidates in 10 wards were selected unanimously but there were multiple claimants to tickets for the remaining 13 seats.

Senior Morcha leaders, including president Bimal Gurung and general secretary Roshan Giri, were present during the entire selection process that ended after seven hours with the announcement of the names.

In fact, the Town Hall, was a beehive of activity as ticket seekers and supporters thronged the venue of the selection committee meeting.

While the selection went on inside the hall under the watchful eyes of senior party leaders, the supporters of ticket aspirants waited outside.

“I have come here to lend my support to Prashant Singh. I am glad that he has got the ticket. I am certain he will not disappoint the residents of our ward or the party,” said N.K. Sherpa, a resident of Ward 21.

Yesterday, the Morcha had brought out the list of candidates for the Darjeeling, Mirik and Kurseong municipalities for the December 11 polls.

In wards, where there were more than one aspirant, Gurung asked the supporters of the prospective candidates to select a consensus candidate and then come back to him. It was then, in an attempt to discourage dissidence that he warned those who had been rejected. He said they should not contest as Independents.

“The party will have nothing to do with such a candidate. They will not be taken into the party fold even if they win,” he said.

Gurung also said the elected councillors must work in consultation with a board to be formed in each ward and made up of two members each from every unit of the party.

“Those (councillors) who work without consulting the board will be asked to resign,” he warned.

The Morcha had formed four groups of six members each in Kalimpong to zero in on the party candidates. The groups had over the past three days visited the wards and short-listed prospective contestants after interacting with a cross-section of local people. It had identified 10 wards, which had only one claimant to the ticket. Ward 22 was one of them. The party had already announced the candidature of L.B. Parihar from this seat.

In fact, the party has also made it known that Parihar, the former principal secretary of the DGHC, will be the chairperson of the municipality if the party wins the election.

As in the case of the other hill municipalities, the Morcha has given almost half the seats to women in Kalimpong too. Although only 8 of the 23 wards are reserved for women under the Election Commission norms, the party has given as many as 12 seats to the Nari Morcha for its contribution to the intensive statehood movement.

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Kalimpong, Nov. 10: The Gorkha Janmukti Morcha has given tickets to five non-Gorkhas in the elections to four municipalities “to acknowledge the contribution” made by the other communities to the party’s movement.

Morcha general secretary Roshan Giri said representatives of these communities would be fielded in three wards of the 32-member Darjeeling civic body and one ward each in Kalimpong and Kurseong.

The Kalimpong municipality has 23 wards, while the Kurseong civic board has a strength of 20 members.

“This is to acknowledge the contribution made by the non-Gorkha communities to our struggle. It is not the Gorkhas alone who have participated in our movement. Other communities in the hills, too, have lent their wholehearted support,” said Giri.

The Morcha has decided to field Zahid Khan in ward 18, Subhomoy Chatterjee in ward 25 and Binod Rakhecha in ward 24 in Darjeeling, and Soni Raut in ward 1 in Kurseong. Although the party is yet to announce the list of candidates for Kalimpong, Subash Gupta is tipped to contest from ward 3. His name was proposed by the Janmukti Minorities’ Front, which had been asked by the parent organisation to pick a candidate from among non-Gorkhas for a ward in Kalimpong.

All the five candidates are members of the Minorities’ Front, a frontal organisation of the Morcha. However, no ticket has been given to non-Gorkhas in the elections to the nine-member Mirik civic body.

Gupta said he was obliged both to the Morcha and the Minorities’ Front. “I am happy that they have given me such a platform. I will work honestly and with dedication both for the front and the party.”

Gupta is a businessman, but people here know him as a footballer, having played for various clubs in the Darjeeling hills and Sikkim from the late seventies to the mid-nineties.

Observers said the decision of the Morcha to award tickets to the non-Gorkhas in the hills would go down well with the people. “By giving tickets to the minority communities, the Morcha is sending out a message that it is an inclusive party. The decision shows that the party wants to take everyone on board the development cart,” said an observer.

The Morcha’s decision to give the chairmanship of the Darjeeling and Kalimpong municipalities to its study forum members Amar Rai and L. B. Parihar respectively in the event of the party’s victory, too, has drawn praise.

“Both Parihar and Rai are of great stature and by projecting them as the heads of the civic body, the Morcha is telling people that it is serious about providing effective governance. Both are men of integrity and experience,” said another observer.

While Parihar is the former principal secretary of the DGHC, Rai was the vice-principal of Loreto College in Darjeeling.

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VIVEK CHHETRI

Darjeeling, Nov. 10: The Gorkha Janmukti Morcha has allotted almost half the seats in three hill municipalities to women who had proved their mettle in the party’s intensive agitation for statehood.

The Morcha today announced the candidate list for Darjeeling, Kurseong and Mirik municipalities which will go to polls on December 11.

Although 11 seats are reserved for women in the Darjeeling civic board, members of the Gorkha Janmukti Nari Morcha will be fielded in 15 of the 32 wards. The Nari Morcha was allocated so many seats by the parent organisation as a large number of women were at the forefront of strikes and demonstrations in the movement for Gorkhaland in the past three years.

In the civic polls, one-third of wards are reserved for women.

The dominant party in the Darjeeling hills has ensured a fair deal for women in Mirik too. “Of the nine wards in Mirik, three are reserved for women according to the Election Commission roster. But we have nominated women to contest polls in four wards,” said Morcha general secretary Roshan Giri.

It is only in Kurseong that the Morcha did not nominate more women than what is reserved for them by the Election Commission. The Morcha today nominated women to seven seats in the Kurseong municipality. The civic body has a 20-member board.

The Morcha has not yet finalised the candidate list for the 23 wards of the Kalimpong municipality although it has decided to make L.B. Pariyar, a retired IAS officer and a member of the party’s study forum, the chairperson in case of a victory.

Giri said the party had given preference to women keeping in mind their contribution to the movement. “We had announced earlier that the party would acknowledge the contribution made by the Nari Morcha to the statehood movement,” said Giri.

Three women had shed blood in the Gorkhaland agitation spearheaded by the Morcha since 2007. While two women died in police firing at Sibchu earlier this year, a bullet fired allegedly from a GNLF leader’s house killed another activist, Pramila Sharma, in Darjeeling in June 2008.

The Morcha has chosen candidates, party sources say, after hearing the public opinion.

“We assembled all our supporters and asked them to choose candidates for the respective wards. It was only in some wards where nobody had a clear mandate and we had to draw lots to choose the nominees. In few cases, we directly picked up the candidates. Our selections were made keeping in mind various criteria and one was definitely the candidate’s involvement in the movement,” said a Morcha leader.

Party insiders said the number of women vying for party tickets was also huge. “Most of the wards in Darjeeling had at least one woman interested in getting a party ticket,” said a source.

Observers believe that the active participation of the Nari Morcha in the agitation has propelled a lot of women into active politics.

The filing of nominations started on November 8 and will close on November 15. The Morcha candidates will start filing papers from tomorrow.

Urmila Rumba, a Nari Morcha core committee member, said she was happy that the leadership had selected women candidates far more than expected.

“However, I want to say, not as a party member, but as a feminist that at least one post of the chairperson in any of the four municipalities should be given to a woman so that we get more responsibilities to discharge,” she said.

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Indian Express
Express News Service
Thu Nov 10 2011, 02:56 hrs

In a change of stand, the Gorkha Mukti Morcha (GJM) has agreed to allow local elections to be held in Darjeeling district.

The GJM was earlier adamant on not allowing local polls till the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration’s (GTA) territory was determined.

The dates for the municipal elections were declared on Tuesday with the State Election Commission issuing a notification to ths effect. Civic polls to the four Hill municipalities — Darjeeling, Kalimpong, Kurseong and Mirik — are slated for December 11.

But the joint verification committee is not likely to submit its report on the inclusion of 400 mouzas from Terai and the Dooars region into the GTA till the end of January.

“We had some political compulsion because of which we changed our stand and allowed the elections to be held. But we have made it clear that we will never allow the elections to the GTA until its territory is determined and the high-power committee submits its report,” said a senior member of the GJM central committee.

The member said the GJM is disappointed with the pace of the joint verification committee.

“It was formed in July. More than three months have passed and the committee has met just once. We are not aware when the next meeting of the joint verification committee will be held and it is sitting on the survey,” he added.

GJM general secretary Roshan Giri said the government requested them to allow the civic elections in Darjeeling.

“For the sake of the development in Darjeeling, we have agreed to allow the elections here. We will also take part in the elections.”

But though Giri declared that the GJM will take part, the other parties are still indecisive. The GJM and other Hill parties met the district magistrate to discuss the elections.
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