The Telegraph:Kalimpong, June 18: A comprehensive profile of the Darjeeling hill topography using satellite imagery can be of great use for preparing land-use plans in the landslide-prone region.
Mamata Desai, professor, department of ecology, physical and human resources at the Netaji Institute for Asian Studies, Calcutta, who has carried out identification and mapping of the hazard-prone areas in the hills by using Geographical Information System and remote sensing techniques, put forward the suggestion here today. Desai was delivering a keynote address at a workshop on disaster management. She said population explosion and dwindling forest cover were among the main reasons for the increase in the frequency of landslides in the hills. The workshop was organised by Save The Hills, an NGO actively engaged in espousing the landslide issue.
Citing the example of the Darjeeling Municipality area, she said the percentage of forest cover had come down from 95 per cent in 1800 to 10 per cent in 2001. Conversely, the built-up area has gone from nil to 65 per cent. The population in the hills has increased by over four times between 1901 and 2001.
Under such circumstances, she said, land-use practices played the most important role in determining the stability factor of a region.
“The land-use planning should be undertaken after thorough analysis of the slope faces by calculating the humidity aspects. The humidity level is very high on the southern slope of the hills. The slope should not be used either for construction or agriculture activity,” she told about 100 people who had been invited.
One among the many ways of mitigating the landslide hazard, she said, was the preparation of data base by taking into consideration all relevant information like geology, geomorphology, history of landslide or any other type of disaster in the area concerned. “On the basis of the database, respective department or group can prepare sustainable planning to mitigate the disasters,” she said, while emphasising that landslides could not be completely stopped, but only mitigated.
Stating that proper management could reduce landslides by as much as 75per cent, she made a 10-point suggestion, including, among others, soil mapping, micro-level land-use mapping, checking deforestation, restriction on construction along side slopes of the roads, and ban on plastic bags.
MORCHA CELL TO MONITOR STUDY
The Telegraph: Darjeeling, June 18: Frontal organisations of the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha have formed a monitoring cell to put in place a roadmap for improving education in the hills.
Members of the Janmukti Secondary Teachers’ Association, Gorkha Primary Teachers’ Organisation and the Gorkha Janmukti Vidyarthi Morcha today met at Darjeeling Gymkhana Club to deliberate on problems common to educational institutions in the hills.
“We have reasons to believe that the standard of education in the hills has come down in the past 21 years (GNLF’s tenure). The Left Front government has also remained indifferent to improving educational infrastructure in the hills. The cell (named Education Monitoring Cell) will meet again in Kalimpong on Saturday and we will chalk out our future roadmap,” said Tshering Tamang, the convener of the 17-member cell.
The meeting was attended by student leaders and teachers from Darjeeling, Kalimpong, Kurseong and Mirik.
“In Mirik, we do not even have a higher secondary school that offers science and commerce. Can one believe this?” asked Keshav Raj Pokhral, the general secretary of the Vidyarthi Morcha.
“The infrastructure is so inadequate in the hill schools that institutions like Rama Krishna Siksha Parisad have 150 students in the only section of Class V. The authorities are unable to create a new section because of lack of classrooms,” said a teacher.
Representatives of almost every place aired one grievance or the other. “Kalimpong Government High School has only eight teachers against the sanctioned strength of 27. The science stream has been closed down,” said Tamang.
“At Darjeeling Government College, there had been an order to start a post-graduate course in geography in 2003. Till date, it has not yet started. The government had never bothered to introduce subjects like tea management and tourism in the hills,” said Kismat Chhetri, the president of the Vidyarthi Morcha.
The teachers also complained that no new school had been recognised of late. “There are no fulltime headmasters in most of the schools,” said another teacher.
The monitoring cell is also likely to take up with the government the issue of lack of adequate colleges in the hill areas. “In Siliguri subdivision there are as many as 11 colleges. Three of these colleges were started last year but in Kalimpong subdivision there are only two,” said Pokhral.
The Vidyarathi Morcha leaders said subjects like Bengali and Urdu were still in place in Darjeeling Government College despite there being no students for these streams. “We are not against continuing these courses but Nepali should also be introduced in all the colleges of Calcutta,” added Pokhral.
There was a comparison between the institutes in the plains and the hills. “In Jalpaiguri district, there are 47 Rabindra Mukta Vidyalaya (for Madhayamik dropouts) but in the DGHC area we have none. When we asked the authorities, we were told that since the books used in these Vidyalayas were only printed in Bengali the same could not be started for the hills,” alleged Tamang.
Trade Union train guns at Parishad
The Telegraph: Siliguri, June 18: Supporters of the Akhil Bharatiya Adivasi Vikas Parishad have been intimidating trade unions members of tea gardens in the Dooars into walking out of the organisations, an apex body of the unions has alleged.
Leaders of the Coordination Committee of Tea Plantation Workers today met the additional district magistrate and the superintendent of police of Jalpaiguri to seek redress.
“The Parishad workers are threatening people associated with different trade unions and asking them to leave the unions. Also, there have been incidents of ransacking of houses and attacks on leaders of trade unions,” Monohar Tirkey, the RSP MP from Alipurduar, said after meeting the district administration in Jalpaiguri. “Despite claiming to be an apolitical organisation, the Parishad is intervening in every issue associated with tea workers and directly talking to the government bypassing us.”
The incidents are mostly occurring in Birpara, Kalchini, Hasimara, Nagrakata, Binnaguri and Banarhat.
The Parishad, however, has denied the charges and said it was working for the socio-economic welfare of the tribals. “Representatives of political parties are facing resistance from people who have understood that they have done nothing for the Dooars,” said John Barla, the president of the Terai-Dooars Coordination Committee of the outfit.
FURY AFTER NO TO FEE SLASH
The Telegraph: Siliguri, June 18: Parents today confined a five-member team from St Joseph’s Convent, Matigara, to the subdivisional office here for more than an hour after the management ruled out a fee rollback.
A meeting had been convened between a parents’ committee and the school authorities by Siliguri deputy magistrate Achinta Das at his office on the same campus this afternoon. The meeting started around 4pm but came to an abrupt end an hour later when the school authorities walked out without taking any decision.
“They presented the documents showing the school’s expenditure. We saw that expenses had risen by just 40 per cent after the implementation of the new pay scale of teachers. Accordingly, the fees needed to be hiked by just 20-30 per cent instead of the 110 per cent which they have done. The administration took note of it but when it came to taking a decision, the school representatives just walked out,” said Sandeepan Bhattacharjee, the president of the Guardians’ Forum of North Bengal. The forum has been spearheading the movement against fee-hike in English-medium schools.
After the walkout, around 150 parents formed a human chain around the school’s representatives, including principal Sister Margaret and managing committee president John W. Lobo, and prevented them from reaching their cars. It had been decided earlier that each school would have its own committee of parents to interact with the authorities on the fee hike. The forum had been in charge of the selection of the committee members.
The committees formed for Auxilium Convent, Jermel’s Academy, Don Bosco School and Nirmala Convent had met their respective school authorities yesterday. “The authorities had agreed to talk to their higher-ups on the fee rollback. The exception was St Joseph’s, which refused to come to a settlement,” Bhattacharjee said.
Around 5.45pm, a force from Siliguri police station arrived at the spot and tried to persuade the parents to move aside but in vain. “We had explained to them at the meeting that we could not give them any assurance on the fee roll back until the government increased the DA paid to our teaching staff,” Lobo said.
Among the five schools, only Don Bosco and St Joseph’s Convent receive DA from the state government. Sharad Dwivedi, the subdivisional officer of Siliguri, called the parents to his chamber at 6.15pm. The gherao was lifted 15 minutes later after he assured them that he would issue an order to the school, asking it to accept the old fees until the issue was resolved.
“We are allowing you all to leave because of the SDO’s assurance. If you don’t accept the order he issues tomorrow, we will give up our peaceful agitation and keep you confined to your school,” Bhattacharjee told Sister Margaret. Cries of “shame, shame” rent the air when the five left the subdivisional office campus.
Calcutta, June 18: Security forces have dipped their toe in Lalgarh, not launched the final assault.“There was some action today and our forces advanced towards Lalgarh but it was more like testing the waters,” said one of the state police officers overseeing the unfolding events in Lalgarh. A CRPF officer echoed him, saying today’s operation was more in the nature of reconnaissance to size up the terrain and, if possible, soften up encumbrances such as human shields. “The forces there went around to have a feel of the area and the extent of possible resistance,” said the CRPF official. “Our task now is to reach Lalgarh tomorrow at any cost,” a police officer said. “We will first fan out to the trouble-torn areas like Dharampur after reaching Lalgarh police station. We will also get additional reinforcements from the Pirakata camp.” The nature of the operation is expected to change once the security forces inch closer to Lalgarh. The real strongholds of the Maoists in Lalgarh are interior villages like Kantapahari and Ramgarh. The two villages are around 7km and 11km, respectively, from Lalgarh town. Security experts said they did not expect the forces to move into these places before consolidating their hold on the “recaptured” areas. The full-fledged attack on Maoists holed up in the interiors would start after drawing up the standard operating procedure (SOP) for the central forces.“The SOP would clearly demarcate the areas of operation and define the mandate for the central forces. That’s the standard protocol and it is being prepared in consultation with the representatives of the central forces,” said an officer. A meeting on demarcating the areas of operation was held in Calcutta today. “A full-fledged attack can result in bloodshed. So, we cannot launch it when the chief minister is not around,” the officer added, referring to Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee’s weekend meetings in Delhi. The chief minister is expected to meet the Prime Minister tomorrow when he can tell Manmohan Singh that “action” has started.The movement of forces also suggested that the government was not planning a full onslaught today. Although state police personnel started out from their Midnapore camp early this morning, CRPF personnel joined them at Pirakata hours later.The Cobra force was not pressed into service today. “Typically, a final assault starts at the crack of dawn to ensure that the operation takes place during daylight. This prevents the enemy from taking maximum advantage of their knowledge of the terrain. But today, the operation started only at 4pm,” an officer pointed out. “Unlike fidayeen attackers, the Maoists do not believe in losing their cadres. So today’s flaunting of forces was aimed at sending a signal to the leaders to vacate Lalgarh or face sustained action later,” an official of the state home department said. The security establishment also wanted to instil fear among the villagers to ensure that they stayed away from the line of fire. “If the villagers are not used as shields, the loss of lives will be much less,” said the official. A part of the forces will be staying up all night to scan paddy fields with night-vision binoculars. The CRPF men who took part in the action were replaced at night by those kept in reserve at the Pirakata camp while the district riot police have been replaced by the state armed police. A team from Calcutta police, headed by joint commissioner Ranvir Kumar, will join the forces in Lalgarh.ACTION AT LAST
RECCE, not the Final Assault
KINSUK BASU, The Telegraph )
SECURITY FORCES ENTER LALGARH TO FLUSH OUT MAOIST
Thaindian News June 18th, 2009 - 11:19 pm ICT by IANS Lalgarh (West Bengal), June 18 (IANS) Advancing security forces faced a massive ‘human wall’ and firing by Maoists and tribals in this troubled zone as West Bengal’s Communist government launched a massive operation Thursday to free the region of Left extremists.
Violence continued unabated, with Maoists gunning down four activists of the ruling Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) at nearby Goaltor in West Midnapore district. The four had been abducted Wednesday, and their bodies with injury marks all over were found Thursday, said Inspector General of police (Law and Order) Raj Kanojia.
A top Maoist leader K. Koteshwar Rao alais Kishanjee claimed responsibility for the killings to a private television news channel. A day after being prodded by the centre to reclaim this headquarters of Binpur 1 community development block, 200 km from state capital Kolkata, from the Maoists, a huge posse of state police personnel, backed by the central forces, moved in from their base camp at nearby Pirakata for ‘Operation Lalgarh’.
However, soon after, the forces came up against a ‘human wall’ at Malida, as hundreds of tribals carrying traditional weapons like bows and arrows, shovels, pickaxes and canes blocked the way by felling big trees on the road as they shouted slogans like “Inqilab Zindabad” and “Maoism zindabad”.
Using megaphones, the police warned the protesters to move away and clear the roads, but getting no response from the other side, the security forces started removing the tree trunks when they suddenly saw two Maoists standing in the nearby field with assault rifles. Immediately, the well-armed central forces came to the frontlines and the Maoists beat a hasty retreat. The police started baton charging and lobbing tear gas shells, and succeeded in dispersing the protesters. Two rebels as well as a lensman accompanying the security forces were injured, eyewitnesses said, but police did not confirm the news. The police raided some houses in the vicinity and detained a few people before resuming their march.
A few kilometres ahead at Doima, the forces came under fire from some mud houses near the road, and the march was halted for some time as the securitymen ensured there was no danger. Raj Kanojia said 18 people have been arrested, of whom three are from West Midnapore and 15 from Bankura.
Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhatacharjee said his government was ready to hold talks with tribals on their grievances, and appealed to the Lalgarh villagers not to get provoked by Maoist rebels and not let themselves be used as human shields by the Left radicals. State home secretary Ardhendu Sen said doors for discussions were open, but first the violence needed to stop. He said similar operations will also be launched in Bankura and Purulia districts. “We will make all the 18 police stations in the three Maoist affected districts free of the rebels”.
Maoist guerrillas have been active in organising a tribal movement alongside a group called the People’s Committee Against Police Atrocities (PCAPA). Meanwhile, Kishanjee demanded that the centre and state government apologise to the tribal people of Lalgarh if they wanted a peaceful and amicable resolution to the stand-off.
“The prime minister (Manmohan Singh) and home minister (P. Chidambaram) have started a psychological warfare by amassing huge forces. If they start the operations, we will resist with the help of the people who are with us,” CPI-Maoist politburo member Kishanjee said over phone. He said the rebel group has decided to call for a two-day shutdown beginning Monday in West Bengal, Chhattisgarh, Orissa, Jharkhand and Bihar.
Lalgarh has been on the boil since last November when a landmine exploded on the route of the convoy of Chief Minister Bhattacharjee and then central ministers Ram Vilas Paswan and Jitin Prasada.
Complaining of police atrocities after the blast, the angry tribals launched an agitation virtually cutting off the area from the rest of the district. During the last few days, the agitators have torched CPI-M offices, driven away the party’s supporters and forced police to wind up several camps, thereby establishing a virtual free zone.
Maoists have been active in the three western districts of the state - West Midnapore, Bankura and Purulia. They also backed the Trinamool-sponsored movement against the state government’s bid to establish a chemical hub at Nandigram in East Midnapore district.
THE TELEGRAPH: Sanat Kumar Sinha, a photographer with The Telegraph, was caught in the battle between security forces and villagers near Pirakata on the road to Lalgarh on Thursday afternoon. Sinha’s photographs tell the story of how the forces broke up a group of vigilantes. However, soon after taking these pictures and despite showing his media identity card, Sinha was beaten up by a policeman, injuring the photographer’s left arm and right leg. Sinha recalls his hour of horror near Pirakata. I told the uniformed man in front of me that I am from the media. I showed him my accreditation card.But that did not satisfy the man in his early thirties in khaki uniform with padding on his body and legs and the word police written on it. Before his superior could stop him, he started raining blows on a fellow photographer and me till we fell into the thorn bushes lining the road. The trouble started when we landed right in the middle of the battle between the police and villagers and started taking pictures of the battle. About an hour earlier, when we were near Lalgarh police station, we had heard that the police were entering the village and had rushed to the spot.
Three kilometres away from Pirakata, we encountered villagers running towards Lalgarh.We advanced and found ourselves caught in the police firing and tear gas shelling. The police were making the same noise as the villagers, beating their hands against their mouth and screaming obscenities. There was a distance of about 800-900m between the villagers and the police, and we were in between.The police started abusing us and asked us to stop taking pictures. They kept saying: “Camerabondho kor, chhobi tulbi na. Toder jonnoi eto jhamela hoyechhey (turn off the camera, stop taking pictures. You are the ones responsible for the trouble here).” We turned off our cameras and got off our bikes and stood by silently.A policeman came forward and started abusing us and threatening us. “Maobadir jayga thekey aschhish maobadi ra kothay achhey bol naholey merey debo (you are coming from the Maoist area, tell us where they are or we will kill you),” the policeman told us. Although we had already put away our cameras, the policeman rushed towards us and beat us with a stick. He was carrying a stick, not a baton, that looked like it had been yanked off a tree. The police officer in charge of the troops and the CRPF behind the police started yelling at him to stop beating us but he did not stop. He landed some blows on my left arm and elbow and on my right thigh. It was at this point that the officer in charge dragged him away. We had been beaten up for at least five to 10 minutes before the others intervened. The CRPF practically rescued me and took me to their pharmacist who put medicine on my wounds.
THE START: Armed with minesweepers, security forces set out from Pirakata, 17km from Lalgarh 
THE RESISTANCE: At the mouth of Malida, 3km from Pirakata, the security forces run into a wall of vigilantes 
THE HITBACK: After warnings to disperse were ignored, the police fire tear gas shells and scatter the villagers 
THE ROUND-UP: Police look for suspects at Malida 
THE MOP-UP: A policeman picks up a brick to break open a locked office of the People’s Committee Against Police Atrocities UP AHEAD 
In Jhikira, a village 3km from Lalgarh and out of reach of the security forces till Thursday evening, crowds were seen either digging up roads or mobilising support. Pictures by Sanat Kumar Sinha 
Paramilitary forces take position.
(Sanat Kumar Sinha)
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