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The Telegraph

Darjeeling, Aug. 30: The Gorkha Janmukti Morcha has decided to postpone its indefinite strike once again, keeping in mind the official-level tripartite meeting scheduled for September 7.

However, the party has decided to organise relay hunger strike from September 1 to demand that their party leader Nickole Tamang be produced in court alive.

The Morcha had earlier threatened to start an indefinite general strike across the hills if Nickole was not produced alive in court today. Nickole’s 14-day police remand ended today.

In fact, soon after Nickole escaped from the CID custody, the Morcha had called a strike from August 22 to 24. The party had given a two-day breather to the indefinite strike before postponing it on Friday till August 30.

Roshan Giri, general secretary of the Morcha, today said: “We have decided to postpone the general strike keeping in mind the scheduled tripartite talks. We will however start a 24-hour relay hunger strike from September 1 which we will carry on unless Nickole is produced alive in court. Seven Morcha supporters will sit for the hunger strike in shifts.”

The relay hunger strike will take place in Darjeeling, Kurseong and Kalimpong. Giri said preparations were on to stretch the fast till September 17. “We are ready till September 17 and if Nickole is not produced alive even by then we will stretch the hunger strike.”

The fast will be held in front of the district magistrate’s office in Darjeeling and on the subdivisional office premises in Kurseong and Kalimpong.

Binay Tamang, assistant secretary of the Morcha, said the party would form its own “investigating team” to find out the whereabouts of Nickole. The Morcha has not yet ruled out “foul play” by the CID.

The party had earlier alleged that the CID was staging the escape drama to cover up Nickole’s death in custody.

“We will not disclose the name of our investigating team and we are ready to go anywhere including Bhutan and Nepal to trace Nickole. We will inform the police about our movement but if we find that Nickole has been killed by the CID, the state government and the police must be held responsible,” said Binay Tamang.

The Morcha said it would not close down the Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council offices this time.

“We will keep them open but the DGHC authorities must start the regularisation process against the 3,472 sanctioned posts in the council,” said Binay Tamang.

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The Telegraph

Kalimpong, Aug. 30: Senior CPM leader from the hills Tara Sundas has demanded that the appointments of para-teachers and midwives in the hills should not be stalled, but completed at the earliest in a fair and transparent manner.

Taking on the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha, Sundas, a member of the CPM’s Darjeeling district secretariat, said the appointments should not be kept on hold till an interim administrative arrangement was put in place in the hills, as demanded by the hill party. The Morcha has called for a freeze on appointments, alleging malpractice in the recruitment process.

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The Telegraph
VIVEK CHHETRI

Darjeeling, Aug. 30: The CID today submitted a chargesheet before a Darjeeling court alleging that 30 Gorkha Janmukti Morcha activists were involved in the murder of Madan Tamang.

Senior Morcha leaders, who had earlier been named in an FIR after the murder of the ABGL chief, do not figure in the chargesheet.

Assistant public prosecutor Govind Chhetri said: “The CID has filed a 519-page chargesheet and has further maintained that they can file a supplementary chargesheet if other names figure in their investigations.”

This technically means that the senior Morcha leaders could figure in the supplementary chargesheet if further investigations point to their involvement. (more…)

The Telegraph

Siliguri, Aug. 27: Bengal urban development minister Asok Bhattacharya today accused the Centre of adopting double standards in hill matters.

“We have come to know that Prime Minister, while addressing a gathering of DGPs in New Delhi yesterday, expressed concern over the ongoing agitation in the hills and sought action against law breakers,” said the minister here this afternoon.

“It seems the Centre has realised that the hill issue cannot be resolved merely by negotiating with the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha.”

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had said: “The situation in Darjeeling hill area also needs a careful watch. The writ of the state should be firmly established in all these areas. The state police and the central paramilitary forces should take firm action against those who take the law into their own hands.” (more…)

The Telegraph

Siliguri, Aug. 27: The district hill Congress committee today said it would propose to the Centre to confer Union Territory status to the Darjeeling hills to end the ongoing agitation.

K.B Chhetri, president of the Darjeeling district Congress (hills), said he would meet the Union home minister P. Chidambaram and place the proposal before him.

“So far, the AICC had not sought any suggestion or opinion from the Darjeeling district Congress, be it the plains or the hills, on statehood. However, as the Congress-led central government is carrying out negotiations with the Morcha on the interim set-up, we will visit Delhi next month and propose conferring Union Territory status to the three hill sub-divisions of the district. This is the only way to meet the aspirations of the people and the final solution to the Darjeeling problem,” Chhetri said.

“Once formed, the Union Territory would be under the control of the Centre and will help in serving the purpose, as far as the lack of development and other grievances of the hill residents are concerned.”

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The Telegraph

Aug. 26: The hills are wary of another indefinite shutdown with the CID drawing a blank on the Nickole Tamang escape probe, and the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha setting August 30 as deadline to produce him in court.

The Morcha said it expected the accused, a central committee member of the party, to be produced in court before noon of August 30, when Nickole’s term in police remand ends.

“The police and the CID are expected to produce Nickole Tamang in court on August 30, when the police remand ends. If he is not produced before the court by noon, an indefinite strike will start,” said Binay Tamang, the assistant secretary of the Morcha at a media conference here today.

The Morcha had called the indefinite strike last Sunday after Nickole, who had been arrested by Darjeeling police on August 16, fled from a CID camp at Pintail Village near Siliguri. (more…)

The Telegraph

Darjeeling, Aug. 26: The Gorkha Janmukti Morcha today alleged malpractices in the ongoing recruitment of para teachers and midwives in the hills and demanded an immediate freeze on the processes till an interim set-up was put in place for the region.

Binay Tamang, assistant secretary of the Morcha, said: “It has come to our notice that there have been several anomalies in the recruitment of para-teachers and selection of ANM (Auxiliary Nursing Mid-wifery) candidates in the Darjeeling hills. Moreover, we had told the government that our party should also be consulted on all affairs, but this did not take place. We demand that the entire procedure be kept on hold until the interim set-up is put in place.”

He said applicants with only a couple of years’ teaching experience had been given preference over those with more than 10 years’ experience. (more…)

The Hindu
PTI

The Gorkha Janamukti Morcha (GJM) has deferred its indefinite bandh to August 30 from tomorrow to allow the administration more time to find Nicol Tamang, the main accused in the killing of Gorkha leader Madan Tamang, who escaped from CID custody last week.

The decision to defer the bandh was taken after a meeting with Darjeeling District Magistrate Surendra Gupta and Superintendent of Police Devendra Pratao Singh, GJM Assistant Secretary Benoy Tamang told newsmen here.

“They have been given time till 12:00 pm on August 30 to produce Nicol Tamang in court,” he said.

Nicole, a close aide of GJM president Bimal Gurung and a central committee member, escaped from CID custody on August 22 from the Pintail village, near Siliguri.
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The Telegraph

Siliguri, Aug. 25: The inspector-general of CID today ruled out that Nickole Tamang had escaped to Nepal, hinting that the prime accused in the Madan Tamang murder case might still be in the vicinity.

“We do not have any positive leads that he has fled to far-flung areas,” said P. Nirajnayan, IG, CID, when he was asked if Nickole had escaped to Nepal, Bhutan or Assam. “We are carrying out the investigation, some basic inputs are coming in and we are working on them.”

“Several theories and speculation about the escape are doing the rounds but we are waiting for a breakthrough. A reward was announced yesterday, and we expect some developments soon.” The CID has announced Rs 50,000 as reward for information on Nickole, a central committee member of the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha, leading to his arrest.

As far as the investigation is concerned, Nirajnayan said, more officers have been included in the probe team, and two suspended policemen replaced. The additional director-general of the CID, Raj Kanojia, too, will come here tomorrow to join the investigations. (more…)

The Telegraph

Siliguri, Aug. 25: The body of an aide to Sanjog Tamang, the son of slain ABGL leader Madan Tamang, was found in a room in the family’s house this morning.

Raju Tamang, 29, of Jorebungalow, used to stay with Sanjog in his house in a township near Matigara on the outskirts of Siliguri. He used to serve him tea every morning.

When Raju did not turn up to do the same today, Sanjog went to his room and knocked on the door only to find it locked from inside. He informed Matigara police who broke open the door and found Raju’s body on the bed.

“There were no external injury marks on the body. We have recovered a bottle of liquor and some sedative tablet strips from the room. The body has been sent for post-mortem and a case of unnatural death has been initiated,” said D.P. Singh, the superintendent of police, Darjeeling.

According to Singh, Sanjog had recently employed Raju. “So far we have not found any connection of this death with Madan Tamang’s,” he said.
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