Last minute rush in Kalimpong at 11.40 am of 13th July just before the onset of Indefinite Bundh called by GJMM. Photo D.K. Waiba BUNDH IN HILLS: IT IS FINAL VIVEK CHHETRI, TT: Darjeeling, July 12: The Gorkha Janmukti Morcha will start an indefinite strike in the three hill subdivisions from tomorrow but will allow vehicles to ply for the day before stopping all traffic from Tuesday morning. Even police cars will not be spared, although the district magistrate, the district superintendent of police and the subdivisional officers will be allowed to used their cars. The Morcha has termed the strike the start of a “real agitation for Gorkhaland” with party president Bimal Gurung saying that the movement is to support what Darjeeling MP Jaswant Singh is expected to do in the budget session: raise the statehood issue in the Lower House. BJP Rajya Sabha member Rajeev Pratap Rudy had already raised the statehood issue in the Upper House on July 3. Besides, a Morcha team is being sent to Delhi to lobby parliamentarians on the separate state demand. “Things are moving in Parliament and this strike has been called to support these initiatives. After all, our main demand is Gorkhaland,” said Gurung, after a review of the Gorkhaland Personnel (GLP) at the Lebong race course here this morning. He, however, did not speak on the four demands that he had placed before the state government on Friday. The Morcha had set a Monday-noon deadline for the arrest of GNLF leader Rajen Mukhia and the removal of three officers including the inspector-general of police, north Bengal, K.L. Tamta. The government has met one of the demands with the arrest of Mukhia yesterday. The police had lathicharged Morcha supporters at Panighata on Friday for attacking Mukhia’s house. Earlier, too, the house had been attacked and three Morcha supporters had been arrested under non-bailable sections. The Morcha set the deadline after Friday’s attack. “Trilok Dewan and C.R. Rai, our advisers, have already left for Delhi. Two other members will join them there and they will circulate a document, titled ‘Why Gorkhaland’, among all parliamentarians to apprise them of our demand,” said Gurung. For the tea industry, the strike call has come too early. “Plucking the second flush would have been completed in the next 10 days. We are now in a fix, as the gardens will have to close. We can only wait and watch,” said a tea garden official. The Morcha has put in place an elaborate plan to ensure that the strike is a success. “Members of the GLP will patrol the streets to ensure that there is no law and order problem,” said Gurung. Alok Kant Mani Thulung, the president of the Yuva Morcha, said: “Youth wing members who will be carrying batons will set up pickets across the hills between 6am and 6pm. At night, the GLP will patrol the streets. This is the real agitation.” Even though the Morcha has decided to stop the movement of police vehicles, it will not oppose the deployment of policemen on foot. “We will only allow the district magistrate, the police superintendent and the subdivisional officers to use their vehicles,” said Gurung. Reacting to the Morcha’s announcement, Tamta said: “The police are an offshoot of the civil society. They are there to protect and react to all emergencies. If they (Morcha) feel they can do without the police, they are living in a fool’s paradise.” GJM CALLS INDEFINITE STIR

TOI: 13 July, DARJEELING: The summer holidays are over for Darjeeling. Gorkha Janmukti Morcha has called an indefinite strike over the Gorkhaland demand from Tuesday, announcing its return to the politics of disruption and coercion after nearly two months of peace following BJP leader Jaswant Singh’s landslide victory with GJM support in the Lok Sabha election.

The muscle-flexing in the Hills will continue in tandem with lobbying in New Delhi. Singh will raise the Gorkhaland demand in Parliament and the strike will bolster the issue, said GJM leaders. “Our MP will highlight our demand in Parliament and we want to make his voice strong,” GJM president Bimal Gurung told a gathering at Lebong stadium in Darjeeling on Sunday.

Significantly, Harendra Pratap, the BJP central observer for the North-East and Sikkim, appealed to GJM to adopt a mode of protest that would not disturb communication to Sikkim via NH-31A, which is the state’s lifeline.

The fuse for the latest stir was lit during GJM’s clash with police at Panighatta on Friday that left over 40 injured. From Tuesday, all government offices, schools, tea gardens will be forced shut. Vehicular movement will come to a halt, as will development work. Cars belonging to the DM, the SP, the SDOs and emergency services have been exempted.

GJM goes in strike mode again, Hills head for fresh trouble

IE, Kolkata Monday , Jul 13, 2009: Even as the Darjeeling Hills head for yet another indefinite shutdown from Monday, called by the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha over the police action against its supporters, the GJM’s ally BJP indicated that the party would support the bandh call.

“The strike has been called by our partner. We have nothing to say on this,” BJP leader Dawa Sherpa, who was initially touted to get the LS ticket from Darjeeling, said.

Trouble broke out in Panighata near Kurseong town on July 8 when a group of GJM supporters attacked the residence of local GNLF leader Rajen Mukhia over some differences. Following a complaint lodged by Mukhia, police arrested three GJM supporters. On July 10, a large mob of GJM supporters went on rampage and set ablaze Mukhia’s residence. Unable to control the GJM men, police resorted to lathi-charge and hurled shells of tear gas.

Protesting the police action, the GJM leadership has called for an indefinite shutdown beginning on Monday and demanded the transfer of IGP (north Bengal) K L Tamta and action against Additional Superintendent of Police (headquarters) Akhilesh Chaturvedi and Kurseong SDPO Rajesh Singh. The GJM also demanded the arrest of Mukhia and 34 GNLF supporters.

Students to stay back - Schools cite logistic problems Rockvale Academy in Kalimpong has around 650 students who live in hostels. Of them, 250 stay on the campus and the rest in private accommodations. Picture by Chinlop Fudong Lepcha TT, July 12 : Schools in Darjeeling hills will not be able to meet the “request” made by the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha to clear their hostels of out-station students by tomorrow noon. Around 5,000 students in the Darjeeling hills are from different parts of India and neighbouring countries like Nepal,Bhutan, Bangladesh and Thailand. After a clash between its supporters and police at Panighata on Friday, the Morcha set the deadline for the schools and colleges to send home students from faraway places.“It is difficult to get in touch with parents in Bhutan and Nepal and sending their wards home without escorts will not be preferable. We are happy that the Morcha is not forcing us to empty our hostels. Since we support the demand for Gorkhaland, we will definitely keep our schools closed,” said a teacher, who did not want to be named. All the schools have their hostels on the same compound and the authorities of these institutes feel that if they can stock up on food items, the students will not face any problems. Many school heads were of the opinion that if the students were asked to vacate the hostels and leave the hills, it would be difficult to convince the parents to bring them back. “They would not like to send the children back here. Moreover, if there are positive developments in Delhi and the strike is withdrawn after a few days, the guardians will have to come again to the hills with their children. We want to spare the parents of any such unnecessary inconvenience,” said a school head. However, most of the principals, contacted by The Telegraph, said the time given by the Morcha was “too short” for the students to vacate their hostels. Most of the institutes have just begun their classes after a 15-day summer break. “The nearest place from where the outstation students come is Calcutta and it is impossible to get an air or train ticket in just two days,” said Rabindra Subba, the director of Himali Boarding School in Kurseong. The institute is starting classes tomorrow after the summer vacation and some of the boarders arrived today, Subba said. He said the school was making an effort to contact the guardians of students coming from other countries. “Some of them told us that they were either out of the country or were working somewhere else and asked us to take care of their wards till things returned to normal.” The principal of a Kalimpong school said the Morcha should have taken the schools into confidence before announcing the strike. “If the Morcha or any of its frontal organisation had talked to us and taken into consideration our concerns, it would have been better. There are certain logistical problems to reach such a large number of students their homes across India and abroad,” he said. He added that the head of a premier institution in Darjeeling had appealed to the Morcha yesterday to review the deadline, but the party was yet to reply. Jeep falls into Sikkim gorge, woman dies

TT: Gangtok, July 12: A woman died and two persons were badly injured when a jeep carrying 11 people fell 200 feet below into a gorge at 10th Mile this evening. The 20-year-old woman Reema Saha was travelling with her husband Tarakeswar Saha and another couple, Subhas Saha and his wife Manisha. All the four were from Jamtara in Jharkhand. The condition of Manisha was stated to be serious. Police said among the others in the vehicle were four men from Allahabad and a couple — Kakoli Karmakar and her husband Koushik — from Kansaripara Road at Kalighat, Calcutta. The Karmakars have been admitted to the Central Referral Hospital, Tadong. The doctors said Kakoli’s condition was serious. The 10 tourists and the driver, Bikash Ghimire, stopped at Chhangu on their way from Nathu-la to have lunch. The vehicle was driving down to Gangtok when it skidded off the road and fell into a gorge at 10th Mile, 30km from here. Tarakeswar, who was at STNM Hospital, but was yet to be told about his spouse’ s dead, said they and the other couple from Jamtara had been married recently. Subhas said the jeep had been moving slowly when it suddenly swerved off the road. “We were all screaming and the vehicle bounced down the slope and came to a standstill.” While Tarakeswar is a jewellery shop owner, Subhas is a rice trader. Hospital sources said the four youths from Allahabad had identified themselves as Binay Thomas, Edwin Abraham, Joel Waghmari and Anil Kerketta. All of them were discharged from the hospital after first-aid. The youths, aged between 20 and 25, had come to Gangtok to attend a workshop organised by the Indian Council for Agricultural Research, the police said. The police said drivers of other vehicles, which had been returning to Gangtok with tourists, rushed to pull the injured out of the stricken vehicle. Soon, the police and members of the Sikkim travel agents’ association joined the rescue operation. The law enforcers said the cause of the accident was not yet known, but could be a brake failure. The road was also slippery after a rain.

35 per cent increase in domestic tourist arrival in Sikkim

PTI,Gangtok , Jul 12 In spite of economic slowdown and limited hospitality infrastructure in the state, around 2.8 lakh tourists visited Sikkim in the first five months of the year, nearly 35 per cent more than the last year. According to the state tourism department, the arrival of domestic tourists in the state between January and May this year rosed to 2.73 lakh from the corresponding tally of two lakh last year. However, the number of foreign tourists has dipped by nearly ten per cent to 7,812 in this duration as against 8,690 last year.

The north-eastern state, known for its cool climate and pristine natural places like Nathu La, received maximum number of tourists from West Bengal. A large number of tourists also came from the southern and western states, the officials said. The official attributed the dip in the arrival of the foreign tourists to the ongoing economic downturn among other factors.

However, the post-monsoon months may witness a surge in the number of visitors to the border state as has been the case in the past years to enable us to achieve the target of five lakh tourists, they said. Sikkim has declared the year 2010 as the Year of Tourism and lined up as many as 13 festivals to woo the visitors and develop the tourism industry as its main source of revenue and employment.

3 NEPALESE JAILED IN U.K.

Kantipur Report, KATHMANDU,July 12 - Three Nepali youths have been jailed after being found guilty of beating another Nepali national and throwing him in the River Thames where he drowned.

The victim has been identified as 23-year old Bishal Gurung, a waiter from Esher in Surrey, the BBC news reported on Saturday.

Rocky Gurung and Kemik Thakali, both 21, and Missan Gurung, 23, attacked Bishal when he was celebrating Nepali New Year with friends at the moored Yacht Club boat at Victoria Embankment, central London on 13 April 2008.

They chased him and attacked Bishal, mistakenly thinking he had assaulted one of their friends, after he left the party.

His body was recovered from the River Thames two weeks later. According to the post-mortem report, he had died due to drowning.

Rocky and Kemik from Morden, Surrey have been sentenced to three years in jail for Bishal’s manslaughter, at the Old Bailey, while Missan from Abbey Wood, south-east London has been imprisoned for nine months for violent disorder.

Rocky has also been sentenced to one year in prison for violent disorder, to run concurrently with his three-year sentence.