SNS,SILIGURI, 13 JUNE 2012: A five member All India Gorkha League ( AIGL) delegation led by the party president, Bharati Tamang met the north Bengal development minister and the Darjeeling district Trinamul Congress president, Goutam Deb at the Circuit House in Siliguri today and reiterated their demand that the police must arrest senior GJMM leaders, including Bimal Gurung, Asha Gurung, Roshan Giri, Harka Bahadur Chhetri and the Gorkhaland Personnel chief, Col. ( Retd) Ramesh Allay. Their names figured in the FIR the AIGL lodged following the assassination of the party president, Madan Tamang on 21 May 2010.
Separate development council for Darjeeling Lepchas to come up
Arunima Ghosh, SNS, KOLKATA, 12 JUNE: In what seems to be a move move to mount pressure on the Gorkha Jan Mukti Morcha (GJMM), the state government is all set to form a separate development council for the Lepchas living in Darjeeling.
The council will, however, not have any territory assigned to it but will function as an independent body to protect the ethnic identity of the Lepchas. The move comes at a time when the GJMM has repeatedly claimed that it represents all communities residing in the Hills, the Terai and the Dooars.
The Lepchas have been holding agitations demanding an administrative mechanism to protect their identity, as they claim to be the aboriginal tribe of Darjeeling. They have claimed to be a marginalised community which has long been deprived by the previous state government.
The state backward classes welfare department has recently submitted a proposal to set up a Lepcha Development Council to chief secretary Samar Ghosh.The proposed council is aimed at protecting “the language, cultural traits and help in economic development of the Lepchas”.
The council will act as a coordinating agency to undertake various projects for the welfare of the Lepchas. It will approach the concerned departments, for example, about building new roads, providing drinking water, setting up schools, and improving the Lepcha-dominated areas.
According to the proposal, the council will be set up at Kalimpong and will include a chairman, a permanent member secretary of the rank of IAS or WBCS and some representatives of Lepcha community.
Lepcha Rights Movement leader NL Lepcha said: “Lepchas had submitted a demand to set up a Lepcha Development Board to the Darjeeling district magistrate last year but we are not aware of any progress that has occurred ever since then.”
Lepchas have complained that their identity and culture has always been dominated by the Nepalese community. Apart from the demands for the overall development of the community, the introduction of the Lepcha language in primary schools of Darjeeling is a central demand.
The Lepcha community is quite small. In Sikkim, its population is around 40,000. In Darjeeling many Lepchas have already merged with the larger Nepalese community.
Arunima Ghosh, SNS, KOLKATA, 12 JUNE: In what seems to be a move move to mount pressure on the Gorkha Jan Mukti Morcha (GJMM), the state government is all set to form a separate development council for the Lepchas living in Darjeeling.
The council will, however, not have any territory assigned to it but will function as an independent body to protect the ethnic identity of the Lepchas. The move comes at a time when the GJMM has repeatedly claimed that it represents all communities residing in the Hills, the Terai and the Dooars.
The Lepchas have been holding agitations demanding an administrative mechanism to protect their identity, as they claim to be the aboriginal tribe of Darjeeling. They have claimed to be a marginalised community which has long been deprived by the previous state government.
The state backward classes welfare department has recently submitted a proposal to set up a Lepcha Development Council to chief secretary Samar Ghosh.The proposed council is aimed at protecting “the language, cultural traits and help in economic development of the Lepchas”.
The council will act as a coordinating agency to undertake various projects for the welfare of the Lepchas. It will approach the concerned departments, for example, about building new roads, providing drinking water, setting up schools, and improving the Lepcha-dominated areas.
According to the proposal, the council will be set up at Kalimpong and will include a chairman, a permanent member secretary of the rank of IAS or WBCS and some representatives of Lepcha community.
Lepcha Rights Movement leader NL Lepcha said: “Lepchas had submitted a demand to set up a Lepcha Development Board to the Darjeeling district magistrate last year but we are not aware of any progress that has occurred ever since then.”
Lepchas have complained that their identity and culture has always been dominated by the Nepalese community. Apart from the demands for the overall development of the community, the introduction of the Lepcha language in primary schools of Darjeeling is a central demand.
The Lepcha community is quite small. In Sikkim, its population is around 40,000. In Darjeeling many Lepchas have already merged with the larger Nepalese community.
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