Binay’s jail fast

TT; Jalpaiguri, Oct. 30: Arrested Gorkha Janmukti Morcha leader Binay Tamang began an indefinite hunger strike in a Jalpaiguri jail today to protest his imprisonment on alleged trumped up charges. Darjeeling Morcha MLA Trilok Dewan, who called on Tamang in his cell 1/8, said the fast was the GTA member’s “personal decision”. Tamang was arrested by Kalimpong police in Gangtok on August 22 for allegedly burning down a forest bungalow in Darjeeling’s Takdah.

 The bungalow was torched on the night of August 1 during the Morcha’s renewed agitation for statehood. Seshamani Gurung, one of the lawyers appearing for Tamang, said the GTA leader had 18 cases against him and was granted bail in 15 of them. Another counsel for Tamang, Swarup Mondal, said: “My client has been implicated in false cases. The cases are not being disposed of speedily. He has begun an indefinite hunger strike demanding speedy decision on the cases.” Dewan said he was visiting different prisons to enquire about the well-being of arrested Morcha leaders and supporters. 

 “Ten GTA Sabha members and over 1,800 workers of the Morcha are languishing in jails in Darjeeling, Siliguri, Kurseong and Jalpaiguri. I am visiting jails to inquire about their health. I spoke to Binay Tamang today. His decision to sit on an indefinite hunger strike is entirely personal and has nothing to do with our party,” he said. GTA Sabha member Kalyan Dewan and a Morcha central committee member, Ashok Lama, are also lodged in the Jalpaiguri correctional home.

 Madhusudhan Karmakar, the superintendent of the jail, confirmed that Tamang had started an indefinite fast. “Binay Tamang was brought here on August 26 and he has declared an indefinite hunger-strike, that is all I can say,” he said. Lawyer Gurung said Tamang was yet to get bail in three cases, handled by Darjeeling, Kalimpong and Jalpaiguri courts. “In Darjeeling, he faces an attempt to murder case filed in 2010 by a guard of slain ABGL leader Madan Tamang.

 Apart from that, the GTA member hasn’t received bail in connection with a case of arson in Gorubathan (Kalimpong subdivision). The third case is related to the obstruction of officials on duty at Sibchu, a day before three Morcha members were killed in a police firing there,” the lawyer said.

Rs 198cr to GTA for rural power - Central funds flow, hill body to develop Tiger Hill

TT; VIVEK CHHETRI  Darjeeling, Oct. 30: The Centre has sanctioned Rs 198.98 crore to the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration for rural electrification in over 50,000 homes in the hills. Sources said the GTA had approached the Centre in February this year seeking Rs 200 crore.

 The fund, given under the Rajiv Gandhi Grameen Vidyutikaran Yojana, has come days after the GTA started functioning normally after several months of strikes. Recently, the hill body received a letter from Jyotiraditya Scindia, the Union minister of state for power with independent charge, stating that out of the Rs 200 crore, Rs 198.98 crore had been sanctioned. Sources in the GTA said the money would be routed through the state government.

 “We will start the process of rural electrification from next week,” said R.D. Meena, the principal secretary of GTA. Sonam Bhutia, the executive director, GTA (power), said: “Through this project 50,746 households would get electricity across the hills. Out of these, 24,423 beneficiaries are below the poverty line.” Recently, the GTA released Rs 2.10 crore for repairing the Tiger Hill road and creating infrastructure for setting up a nine-hole golf course at the tourist spot. 

 The fund was sanctioned by the state tourism department. “The golf course will be set up on a private-public partnership model,” said Lt. Col (retd) Ramesh Allay, the acting chief executive of the GTA. It would be spread over 31.85 acres and would need approximately Rs 46 crore. The golf course in Darjeeling was built around 1900 and in 1907, the then district commissioner had leased it out for 99 years.

 After the British left the country in 1947, Golf Links, the company it was leased out to, became virtually defunct. The army used the turf till the late 1980s but left after that as documents showed the land belonged to the Darjeeling Improvement Fund (district administration), which has now been transferred to the GTA. Water and tourism The West Bengal State Electricity Distribution Company Limited (WBSEDCL), which looks after the Ramman Hydel Project, handed over Rs 75 lakh to the GTA on Wednesday for drinking water projects and tourism infrastructure in the region.

 S. Roy, chief engineer of the 51MW project, said: “This is the first phase amount being handed over to the GTA. Once they (the GTA) provide us with the fund utilisation report, we will sanction the remaining amount in phases.” Sonam Bhutia, executive director, GTA (power) said the WBSEDCL promised to provide Rs 3 crore to the hill body for developing a trek route to Tiger Hill and setting up tourist huts and watchtowers.

New signs for hill rail

The DHR station at Sukna with new signboards.
Picture by Kundan Yolmo

TT;Siliguri, Oct. 29: The Darjeeling Himalayan Railway is getting a makeover with the addition of signage in bright colours at all 14 stations of the Unesco heritage site, most of which will be given fresh paint also. The refurbishment of the hill railway has started with Sukna station, 10km from here, where signboards have been put up in blue and yellow. 

 The boards show the name of the station, distance to other stations and direction, besides informing passengers about the Unesco world heritage status of the toy train. “We are putting in all efforts to highlight the DHR as a prime tourism destination. In the process, we have started the revamp of all 14 stations that fall along the 80km route of the hill railway from New Jalpaiguri to Darjeeling. The first station to get a revamp is at Sukna and the outcome is quite satisfying. 

The station looks quite pretty with new signage and display boards. We have decided to give other stations also the same look,” said Arun Kumar Sharma, the divisional railway manager, Katihar division. The 14 stations of the DHR still retain the old-world charm with cottage-style structures and tin roofs, wooden chairs for the passengers and small flower gardens fenced with wooden railings which usually have the model of a toy train on display. 

 “Tourists come to experience all that is antique and the old-world ambience of the hill railway that comprises engines, coaches and stations. Tourists like to halt at stations, sit on wooden chairs and take pictures of the cottage-styled structures as much as they want to enjoy the beautiful scenery along the route,” said a DHR official.  

“Since the hill railway is 132 years old, refurbishing the stations from time to time is essential so that they do not look worn out. Apart from installing new signboards and signage, we will also give the cottage-styled structures, wooden chairs and railings a fresh coat of paint wherever it is required,” a DHR source said. OUR CORRESPONDENT

Tamang threat

TT;Morcha leader Binay Tamang, who was elected the GTA chief executive but is in jail, said he would start an indefinite hunger strike on October 30 at the Jalpaiguri correctional home which would go on till all the Morcha leaders and the 170-odd party activists are released. “I will start an indefinite hunger strike at the correctional home from October 30. Even though the correctional home authorities have not given permission to start the hunger strike, I will not have any food from October 30 until all our supporters are released,” Tamang, who was brought to Darjeeling court today, said. Pankaj Prasad, assistant public prosecutor, said the court of the chief judicial magistrate today denied bail to nine people who allegedly torched the house of a TMC supporter at Glenburn on Saturday night. “Their bail application has been rejected and they will be produced on November 8,” said Prasad.

GNLF loses office in Darjeeling

TT VIVEK CHHETRI Darjeeling, Oct. 28: The Gorkha National Liberation Front (GNLF), which had on Saturday opened its first office in Darjeeling after five years, lost the address today after the lease holder of the building removed the party’s festoons. GNLF leaders could not be contacted for comment. Lease holder Basant Rai’s family said the building was a low-cost hotel run by Rai. 

They claimed that Rai was under the impression that the people who had taken one of the rooms on rent wanted to run a business from there. He was upset when he came to know the room would be the GNLF’s office. The GNLF has tried to recoup in the hills, which has brought it in the cross hairs of the Morcha. 

Nothing so far links the Morcha to the ousting of the GNLF from its office, the party’s first in Darjeeling town after Subash Ghisingh was driven out of the hills in 2008. On Saturday, GNLF leaders had inaugurated the office in room number 307 of the hotel building in Judge Bazar. GNLF supporters pasted party banners and put up a photograph of party president Ghisingh. 

 Manjit Subba, the chief convener of the GNLF’s Darjeeling branch committee who had inaugurated the office, said the opening of the party office was a precursor to the revival of the party’s activities in Darjeeling. “From this office, we will oversee the functioning of our party activities right from Jorebunglow to Tukvar and Lebong areas,” Subba said. 

 “We are also planning to hold a public meeting at Dhooteriya (about 25km from Darjeeling) and soon our party president Subash Ghisingh would be coming to Darjeeling,” he said. However, early this morning, family members of Rai and hotel staff removed the GNLF festoons and put beds in the hotel room. Rai himself declined to speak but a member of his family said: “A group of people used to hold meetings in one of the rooms. They said they wanted to plans of a poultry business. 

We had rented out the place for Rs 250.” The relative said: “We, however, came to know that the party (GNLF) had opened an office. We had absolutely no knowledge that the office would be set up here. This is why we immediately put in our beds so that we can run the hotel.” Asked if Gorkha Janmukti Morcha supporters had pressured them to shut the office, Rai’s relative said: 

“We are apolitical businessmen and we are not involved in party activities.” Sources said the Morcha leadership was unhappy with the opening of the office at the hotel and the businessman did not want to get involved in any controversy. GNLF leaders were not seen on the hotel’s premises. Of late, the party, whose leader Ghisingh’s writ ran in the hills, has started stirring back to life. It has held public meetings in Kurseong.

 The Morcha has become wary of rival forces in the hills such as the GNLF and Trinamul, which is trying to occupy a vacuum Darjeeling where there is no credible Opposition party to take on the Morcha. After the GNLF, Trinamul has started its activities in Kurseong from where most of the senior Morcha leaders have been arrested. Morcha sources said Gurung today left for Kurseong to oversee party activities. 

 “Bimal Gurung will be staying in Kurseong sub-division for some days. This is largely because rival parties have started activities in the area as most of the Morcha leaders from the sub-division are behind bars,” said a Morcha leader.

Gurung adheres to CM’s no-strike line Statehood demand ‘when needed’

TT;;VIVEK CHHETRIDarjeeling, Oct. 27: Bimal Gurung today said he would continue to raise the demand for a separate state “as and when needed” but there would be no strikes. “I will continue to raise the Gorkhaland demand as and when needed as I have come forward for Gorkhaland and we will never drop the demand. The agitation would be peaceful, without strikes, as I do not believe in the politics of violence,” the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha chief said. 

Today’s meeting, a show of strength by the Morcha, was held three days after the October 24 Mamata Banerjee political meeting, the first by her after she became the chief minister. Gurung drew a parallel with Telangana. The hill agitation started in July-end after the Congress agreed to carving Telangana out of Andhra Pradesh. “If Telangana can be formed without the consent of the (Andhra Pradesh) state Assembly then I also have the right to raise the issue and bring it to the notice of the Centre,” Gurung told the nearly 15,000-strong presence at the Darjeeling Motor Stand.

 “I have already told a section of my leaders to run the GTA for development. For me, being the chief of the GTA is not as important as agitating for Gorkhaland,” he added. Some Morcha supporters at the meeting were seen waving placards saying they wanted Gurung to be the chief executive of the hill body again. Gurung had resigned from the post on July 30. The party chief said a three-day dharna would be organised in Delhi from December 20. Gurung accused Mamata of trying to divide the hill community. 

“Whenever Mamata Banerjee comes to Darjeeling, there is unrest in the area. This is because she does not come with a development package but with a package to divide the hill community,” he said referring to her decision to form the Lepcha Development Board. “Let the state government create boards for other communities like Tamangs, Rais, Limbus, Chhetris, Bahuns and Bhutias and for all the possible communities residing in the hills. On one hand, she (Mamata) talks of the need to make the GTA functional and on the other hand, she wants to form different boards,” he said. 

 The Morcha has decided to hold a public meeting in Kalimpong on November 9 followed by a dharna in Delhi on December 20, 21, 22. “Everyone talks of a Delhi-centric movement and this time, we will go to Delhi with thousands of people not just from the Darjeeling hills but also from the rest of India,” Gurung said. He criticised the local Trinamul leaders and urged Mamata Banerjee to conduct “a political class” for them. “Look at the people who have joined the party (Trinamul). 

Some are woodcutters who came from Nepal and others are liars. Mamata Banerjee should conduct a political class for them,” the Morcha chief said. Roshan Giri, general secretary of the Morcha, said the Subordinate Selection Board, School Service Commission and College Service Commission would be revived.

 “Through the selection board we can recruit people to Groups B, C and D. At the moment, there are 4,800 vacancies in these three groups,” he said. Terming the GNLF as a wasted political entity Giri said those joining Trinamul should understand that the party would never give Gorkhaland to the hill people.

 House burnt down 

 Binny Sharma, spokesperson for Trinamul (hills), today said some Morcha supporters allegedly burnt down the house of Trinamul supporter Rajik Sundas in Glenburn tea garden, 25km from Darjeeling. “His house was torched around 12.30am by Morcha supporters. We have lodged an FIR against 29 Morcha activists,” Sharma said. Police sources said they had started an investigation and raids were being conducted to arrest the culprits.

Bomb blast on an Indian train,

source :IBTimes Bomb blast on an Indian train, Indian Railways A series of five explosions took place in Patna, Bihar on Sunday. The first crude bomb exploded at Patna Railway Station and the rest near at Gandhi Maidan, where Gujarat Chief Minsiter Narendra Modi was scheduled to address a rally. Police officials detained a person from NDA prime ministerial candidate Modi's rally. As per ANI report, there have five low-intensity bomb explosions, most of them at Gandhi Maidan.

 The first blast took place outside the community toilet and bath complex in Patna railway station. Bomb disposal teams found two more bombs hidden in the public toilets. One person was injured during the blasts and no casualties have been reported yet. The Bihar police and the bomb disposal squad (BDS) rushed to the spot, reported ANI. "There has been one person injured, who has been rushed to the hospital. No arrests have been made so far," said Manu Maharaj, Special Superintendent of Police. 

The injured has been taken to Patna Medical Hospital. He added that search operations are being carried out by the BDS teams and forensic experts at the station. Security has tightened around the Patna Railway Station after the crude bomb exploded. Modi's Hunkar Rally NDA prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi is scheduled to address a mega rally at Gandhi Maidan in Patna, which is about 3 km away from the railway station where the explosion took place. 

The rally is supposed to begin at 12 pm. Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had made elaborate arrangements for supporters to attend the 'Hunkar rally'. At Gandhi Maidan, a 30-feet long electronic screen has been erected on the stage behind Modi's podium for those attending the rally. As many as 11 special trains and 3,000 buses were booked for BJP supporters to commute from different parts of the state to the venue. However, the blast at Patna railway station didn't seem to hamper BJP's efforts in campaigning against the incumbent JDU government in Bihar. 

Latest Reactions Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, BJP leader: "We condemn this, investigation as to who is behind this must happen," he said. Digvijaya Singh, Congress spokesperson: "What a coincidence blast at Patna Railway on the day of Modi's Rally ! Challenge to Nitish Govt to find the culprit !" he tweeted. Rajiv Pratap Rudy, BJP leader: "Even after this lawlessness following the blasts, we are ready for the rally, Narendra Modiji will address rally," he said. Rashid Alvi, Congress leader: "This is extremely unfortunate, government must investigate as to who is behind this. I am certain that truth will be revealed," he said

Gorkhaland is the final destination of the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha.

 Source : Bimal Gurung Official: Darjeeling, 27th October 2013. I would like to tell Mamata Banerjee that I don't want any violence in the hills. I would like like to tell her that The GJM would want peaceful dialogue to solve the current the Political issue of the Hills, Terai and Dooars. 

 There would be no bandhs for Gorkhaland in the Hills, Terai and Dooars and instead we will take our agitation to Delhi. I would like to ask the Chief Minister why she is using the police administration in her attempts to extend her political interests. This is not the right attitude of the Bengal government. Her politics should be based on principles.

 I would also request Mamata Banerjee not to create division within the communities of the hills. If so many development boards come up then how will GTA function? Whenever she comes to Darjeeling her remarks like there will be no division of Bengal hurt the sentiments of the people. How long can this continue? The local TMC is trying to spoil the peaceful environment in the hills.

 Local TMC leaders have no credibility and the CM must look at their history. Where have they come from? They are being led by Maoists who have come from Nepal. 

Why does not the Bengal govrernment check this fact? The GJM will not drop the Gorkhaland demand as the GTA Act signed by the Central Government, West Bengal Government has a clear provision which has Gorkhaland demand on record. When the Centre can accept the Telangana demand why should be told to let go of our statehood demand. 

 We will now take the Gorkhaland demand to Delhi on 21st, 22nd and 23rd December. We will create pressure in Delhi now. The GJM will also have "Maha Jansabha" on November 9th in Kalimpong where GJM will prove it's mandate in the hills. It will prove that it is the largest political party in the hills..

No-strike hint in hill peace call

Bimal gurung'pic s tamang

TT' Vivek Chhetri Kurseong, Oct. 7: Gorkha Janmukti Morcha president Bimal Gurung today said time had come to start a dialogue and iterated the need for a peaceful agitation for Gorkhaland, indicating that he was not planning to call general strikes in the hills in the immediate future. Addressing a meeting organised to celebrate the Morcha’s foundation at the Kurseong Motor Stand today, Gurung took a dig at his party leaders who were absconding fearing arrest. 

 “We have to go for talks now. Everything won’t be solved by hinsha, danga fashad (violence and riots). Right now, we are concentrating on the October 23 meeting and we are confident that the talks will be very good for all of us,” said Gurung. The Morcha claims that the Centre has convened a meeting on October 23 to hold talks with the party and the state government to discuss the hill issue. Gurung admitted that he had said that the land was seeking blood.

 “After I said that the land was seeking blood, milk has been separated from water. Soon after my comment, I could easily distinguish people and (political) parties who only pay lip service to the call for sacrificing lives for Gorkhaland.” The Morcha chief told the crowd that he was the first to come up with the idea of a Gandhian movement. “I was the first to start the movement on Gandhian philosophy and other parties needn’t teach me a lesson on this. I don’t want any person in the hills, be it from the GNLF or the Trinamul Congress, to die because of infighting,” Gurung said, hinting that he was not looking at calling general strikes in the hills soon. 

 During the course of Gurung’s 45-minute speech, he stressed the need for dialogue at least three times. Later speaking to journalists, Gurung said: “If they (state government) want to talk, they can always talk with my representatives (who are MLAs).” Gurung had earlier said the Morcha would only talk to the Centre and not the state government. Training guns at the leaders of his own party, Gurung said: “Why are you absconding? Why are you scared of going to jail? You are not terrorists and sooner or later, everyone will obtain bail.

 A leader must be fearless and you shouldn’t be afraid of going to jail. Most of the leaders starting from Mahatma Gandhi went to jail.” A large number of Morcha leaders were arrested on various charges after the party had resumed the Gorkhaland movement from the July-end. The Morcha leader also gave broad hints that the party was willing to run the GTA Sabha and they were in no hurry to dump it. 

“If we hadn’t elected a new chief executive of the GTA on September 27, the state government would have nominated Trinamul leaders on September 30 to run the hill body and voices for statehood would have been stifled.” Gurung promised to work towards regularising the services of the GTA workers and said he would even drag the state government to court on the matter.

Golay show

Nirmal Mangar TT,Gangtok, Oct. 6: Prem Singh Golay, the former rebel Sikkim Democratic Front (SDF) leader and ex-minister, today joined the Sikkim Krantikari Morcha at a programme at Paljor Stadium that was attended by around 20,000 people. Golay, 43, had resigned as an SDF MLA on September 4. Today, he was welcomed by the working president of Sikkim Krantikari Morcha, Bharati Sharma. Around 9.30am, Golay was escorted from Rangpo, the border town between Sikkim and Bengal, to the stadium by hundreds of vehicles. 

Along the road he was greeted by people with traditional scarfs. Golay reached the stadium at 12.20pm. “I have taken mukti (freedom) from the SDF so that I can now work genuinely for the poor and needy people of Sikkim, who have become victims of nepotism and the one-man rule of chief minister Pawan Chamling for the past 20 years,” he said. “There is corruption in every field in Sikkim, from hydel power projects to the land acquisition process, and only a few influential people close to the chief minister have taken the benefits.

 The real people are still deprived of proper facilities like good schools and hospitals,” Golay said in his almost hour-long speech. The last time Golay became an MLA was in 2009 and he was nominated as the chairman of the state commerce and industries department that year. He resigned from the post on March 22, 2011. He is one of the founding members of the SDF that was established in 1994. Golay has been an MLA four times (1994, 1999, 2004 and 2009). 

He was a cabinet minister three thrice after being elected from the Soreng seat in West Sikkim before the SDF leadership asked him to contest from Upper Burtuk in East Sikkim in 2009. Although Golay won that year, he started distancing himself from the party after that. The Krantikari Morcha was floated on February 4 this year under Golay’s supervision, but he did not join the party. Today, Golay slammed the SDF saying Pawan Chamling had “divided” the state into different communities.

 “For his vested political interests, Chamling divided the Nepali community into different sub-communities in the name of associations. But once we form the government, our main aim would be to unify all the communities again,” Golay said. There are three communities in Sikkim —Bhutia, Lepcha and Nepali. Golay said that after Chamling became the chief minister in 1994 he divided the Nepali community by setting up different associations. In the past 20 years, several bodies such as the Sikkim Chettri Bahun Association and the All Sikkim Mangar Association have been set up. Bharti Sharma today said Golay would take charge as the president of the party.

 “Our party believes in a democratic process. We would soon have a general meeting and unanimously pass a resolution for making our leader as the president of the party.” Jacob Khaling, the spokesperson of Sikkim Krantikari Morcha, today announced that around 2,000 people had come to get the party’s membership. Deo Maya Subba, 43, a resident of Geyzing in West Sikkim, said she travelled for five hours to attend today’s programme.

 “I reached Gangtok on Saturday evening and stayed at my relative’s place. P.S. Golay is the real leader of Sikkim who can take Sikkim to a new path of progress. There is honesty in his words,” she said. Sonam Bhutia, 27, of Mangan in North Sikkim, said: “I have seen a spark in P.S. Golay. He has an undying vision for a new and better Sikkim and I want to be the part of his parivartan (change) mission.” Preeti Chettri, 22, from Singtam in East Sikkim, said: “Which leader would give up his post as an MLA for the people? Golay has always raised his voice against injustice. He is a true democrat and a leader of the masses.”

Kurseong first for Trinamul Party attracts contract hands

Kurseong, Oct. 6: The Trinamul Congress today claimed that people of the Darjeeling hills were with the party as the Mamata Banerjee government was focusing on development and peace in the region. Mukul Roy, the general secretary of Trinamul, today addressed the first meeting of the party in Kurseong where 800 contractual employees of the GTA Sabha joined Mamata’s party. Around 1,500 people attended the meeting. Those who joined Trinamul were with the Janmukti Asthai Karmachari Sangathan, an affiliate of the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha.

 A handful of other hill residents not associated with the Morcha also became Trinamul members. Trinamul also announced a public meeting in Darjeeling on October 23, the day the Centre may hold a tripartite meeting with representatives of the state government and the Morcha. The Trinamul general secretary told the gathering that the state government was bent on ensuring the development in the hills. “Since 1986, no political leader from Bengal or outside the state has thought of the hills seriously and the people who live there, as Mamata Banerjee has.

 Unlike the representatives of the earlier governments in the state or at the Centre, our chief minister visited the hills not once or twice, but at least 20 times in the past two-and-a-half years,” Roy said. “Today’s gathering proves that a large number of people in the hills are with Trinamul and the state government as we are focussing on maintaining peace and bringing about comprehensive development in the region. The state government is consistently working for the execution of important projects associated with water, roads and civic services across the hills. This will go on,” he told the crowd at the Kurseong Motor Stand.

 A procession was also taken out from the local tourist lodge to the venue of the meeting. Binny Sharma, the spokesperson for Darjeeling hill Trinamul, said: “Today’s meeting was a success as hundreds of hill residents joined our party. Such political activities of Trinamul will continue in the hills and we have decided to hold a public meeting in Darjeeling on October 23 and it will be addressed by Mukul Roy and north Bengal development minister Gautam Deb.” The contractual workers of the GTA said they had joined Trinamul as the Morcha had failed to keep its word. 

 “When the DGHC was there, we had been promised by the GNLF that we would be made permanent. Later, the Morcha made the same promise. Nothing has happened although two years have passed since the Morcha formed the autonomous hill body. We are all disappointed and around 800 employees affiliated to the Karmachari Sangathan joined Trinamul today,” said Dilip Singh, who quit as the general secretary of the Karmachari Sangathan. He said the GTA had 6,421 contractual employees. According to Singh, minister Gautam Deb has offered to take up the matter with the chief minister. 

 Observers said Trinamul was seeking to cash in on the pent-up anger of the common people against the Morcha. “It is a fact that the 44-day-strike of the Morcha has acted against it, may be to a less extent. Those who had to face hardships to obtain food and earn a livelihood during the strike are disappointed with the Morcha and are turning to Trinamul. Leaders of Trinamul have sensed an opportunity for the party’s growth in the simmering resentment of the people and are using it to cement the outfit’s cadre base in the hills,” said an observer.

 Although Roy did not criticise the Morcha, others who spoke at the meeting today were not so restrained. “Prominent leaders in the hills are playing with our future. They are simply siphoning off money from the funds allotted for the development of the common people without making any attempt to mitigate the problems of the public,” said Rajen Mukhia, the hill Trinamul convenor. “Leaders who didn’t have the wherewithal to buy a cycle or a two-wheeler are travelling in luxurious cars now. We want to know from where they have got this money while common people continue to live amidst miserable conditions.”

Subash Ghising tours Kurseong

 After remaining in exile for more than two years, Gorkha National Liberation Front supremo Subash Ghising yesterday made a surprise visit Kurseong Along with some associates, Ghising entered Tindharay via Sukna from Matigara where he presently resides in a rented apartment. He surveyed the landslide spot NH55 in Tindharay and also paid a visit to the GNLF party office there. Later, the GNLF chief visited to the Seti Devi Mandir at Giddha Pahar from Ghayabari and offered prayers. He next headed towards Jagdambaha lake in Rohini to finally return to his residence in Matigara. Commenting on the visit, GNLF spokesperson Daya Dewan said the party president has provided a much-needed impetus to the otherwise declining morale of GNLF supporters. He added Ghising will soon make a permanent comeback once the festive season is over.

Statehood on lips, GTA moves resolution for full salary

 TT;;VIVEK CHHETRI Darjeeling, Oct. 4: The GTA today passed a resolution for the creation of a separate state of Gorkhaland and the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha said there would be no general strike in the hills till October 23. The Centre has reportedly told the hill party that a tripartite meeting would be held in New Delhi on October 23. The decision of the GTA executive Sabha to pass a resolution on Gorkhaland is a ripple effect of the Union cabinet’s nod for the formation of Telangana yesterday. 

 Today, the GTA executive Sabha members met in Darjeeling around 4.30pm and passed three resolutions in an attempt to pass on a message to the public that the party is not sitting idle while the process to form Telangana was on. Jyoti Kumar Rai, GTA executive member, said the first resolution was to welcome the Centre’s decision to create Telangana. “We welcome the Union cabinet’s decision. 

Through the resolution, we would like to congratulate the people and the leaders of the Telangana movement and we, too, want Telangana to be formed as early as possible,” he said. The second resolution was for Gorkhaland state. “The executive Sabha has passed a resolution to create a separate state of Gorkhaland, which is the aspiration of the people of Darjeeling hills, Terai and the Dooars,” said Rai. 

The third resolution pertains to the interference of the state government in the running of the autonomous hill body. “We have passed a resolution stating that the show-cause notice served to employees for not attending office during the agitation should be withdrawn and the deducted salaries be disbursed immediately,” said Rai. 

The state had passed an order to deduct salaries of 7,500-odd GTA employees for not attending office. The GTA employees have received eight days’ salary for August. A GTA source said: “The show-cause notices were technically sent by the GTA and if the employees decide to move court that they would have to move against the GTA. By passing the resolution,

The onus will now be on the state government,” said a GTA source. Sources said a section of the GTA employees want to move court against the state’s decision to deduct salaries. Morcha leader R.B. Bhujel said: “The Morcha or the Gorkhaland Joint Action Committee will not call a strike till October 23. The future course of the agitation will be decided after the tripartite meeting.”