Jaswant to skip Delhi talks SNS, SILIGURI, 9 AUG: Darjeeling BJP MP Mr Jaswant Singh will not take part in the 11 August tripartite talks in New Delhi convened over the Gorkhaland agitation. This is the third round of dialogues initiated by the Union home ministry between the agitating Gorkha Jan Mukti Morcha (GJMM), the West Bengal government and the Centre. The previous two rounds of inconclusive talks were held on 8 September and 29 December respectively, in 2008. According to the GJMM general secretary Mr Roshan Giri, a 13-member party delegation has already reached Delhi to take part in the 11 August talks, which are scheduled to commence at the India International Centre in the national capital at 10.30 a.m. The GJMM delegation includes Mr Amar Lama, Mr Anmol Prashad, Mr Trilok Dewan, Mr Harkabahadur Chhetri, Mr Rohit Sharma and others. “The meeting is to be held at the bureaucratic level and hence neither our party supremo nor our ally, the BJP MP Mr Jaswant Singh, will take part in it. Instead, the 13-member delegation that we have sent in, comprising several central committee leaders, will carry forward the dialogue,” Mr Giri said. The West Bengal government is likely to be represented in the negotiation meet by the state chief secretary Mr Ashoke Mohan Chakraborty and the home secretary Mr Ardhendu Sen. The Union home secretary Mr GK Pillai will represent the Centre. Meanwhile, coinciding with the tripartite talks, Siliguri based anti-Gorkhaland pressure groups have convened a 24-hour shutdown in north Bengal on 11 August. Tamang no to compromise The All India Gorkha League is against any forms of arrangements made for the Darjeeling hills under the West Bengal government, the AIGL chief, Mr Madan Tamang has said at a press conference in Darjeeling today. “Several forces are intentionally fomenting confusion over the paramount separate statehood demand. My party would not accept anything short of a separate state as a homeland for the Indian Gorkhas,” Mr Tamang said. He said that even a regime change in West Bengal would not bring about a perceptible change in the ruling clique's policy towards the long suppressed Gorkha community in the Darjeeling hills. ABGL pressure on talks team

TT, Darjeeling, Aug. 9: Two days before the third round of tripartite meeting between the state, Centre and the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha, the ABGL has reminded the hill delegates that nothing “less than separation from Bengal” would be accepted. The ABGL reminder is expected to put pressure on the 12-member Morcha team so that it discusses only the statehood demand and refrains from exploring alternative arrangements which the state and Centre may suggest during the August 11 meeting. “It is time for the people to stand united and strong and refrain from accepting any other arrangements. We must accept nothing less than separation from Bengal,” said ABGL president Madan Tamang. He tried to dispel the “myth” that the Gorkhaland demand was an outcome of the people’s aspiration for a separate identity. Political parties, which have spearheaded the Gorkhaland movement — the GNLF and the Morcha — had argued that a new state was needed to distinguish between the citizens of Nepal from the Nepali-speaking Indian population. “This is not a movement for identity but for existence ,” said Tamang, adding that development was not possible as long as the hills were part of Bengal. Elaborating on the “existence” theory, Tamang said there is a genuine fear of the Nepali people getting “swamped” by the dominant population of the state. “The 1872 census showed that there were less than 100 Bengali people in the Darjeeling district. The 1941 census revealed the number of Nepali speaking people in the district was 94 per cent. However, the growth rate of Bengali speaking population was 63 per cent between 1951 and 61 and at the same period the growth rate of people who spoke Hindi stood at 67 per cent. At that time, the Nepali speaking people stood at 14 per cent. “Even the Montley-Chelmsford report of 1917 said the hills should be given a separate administrative set-up,” said Tamang. The ABGL also appealed to political leaders to be “transparent and to tell the truth about developments in Delhi”. “Jaswant Singh should tell us the truth. Those who lie will face a fate similar to Subash Ghisingh,” said Tamang. The Morcha team had earlier said it would discuss the talks strategy with Singh, the BJP MP from Darjeeling. Bandh on Aug 11 The Akhil Bharatiya Adivasi Vikas Parishad has called a 12hour bandh in the Terai and Dooars area on August 11, the day of the tripartite talks, reports our Jaigaon correspondent. Parishad general secretary Tej Kumar Toppo said the bandh was being called to protest against the Morcha’s demand to make the Terai and the Dooars part of Gorkhaland. ABAVP 12-hour bandh scheduled for 11 August SNS,JALPAIGURI, 9 AUG: The Dooars-Terai Coordination Committee of Akhil Bhartiya Adivasi Vikash Parishad has convened a 12-hour shut down in both the Dooars and Terai area on 11 August to protest against the tripartite meet on the Darjeeling tangle slated on the day. Informing this, the secretary of the Terai-Dooars Coordination Committee of ABAVP, Mr Rajesh Lakra, said they would continue opposing the Gorkhaland demand. “The Centre and the state government have been giving undue importance to the GJMM in spite of the fact that the Hill-based outfit seems bent on unleashing ethnic tension in the Terai- Dooars region. We would observe the bandh to ventilate our collective grievances on this front,” he said. The Terai committee secretary of ABAVP Mr Susil Tirkey said that all the tea plantations of the Dooars and Terai would remain closed on that day. "This apart, the bandh would include all the educational institutions in the region. No vehicle would be allowed to ply during the bandh hours. But we would keep the emergency services like ambulance, medicine shops etc and marriage ceremonies out of the bandh purview,” said Mr Tirkey. The leader also added that they would soon inform the two Adivasi members who would be a part of the GJMM delegation to Delhi. When contacted, the inspector general of police, North Bengal, Mr KL Tamta, said sufficient police force would deployed in area to prevent any untoward incident. Hill students demand hike in quota KURSEONG, 9 AUG: The students of Darjeeling Polytechnic Institute (DPI) have started a relay hunger strike in front of the Kurseong SDO office from yesterday demanding hike in quota for the Hill students from 60 to 90 per cent. The general secretary of the DPI Students’ Union, Mr Chandan Gurung, said that seven students were on the strike and another bunch comprising seven students would replace them after 48 hours. “The agitation would continue till our demands are met,” he said. Mr Gurung said they had served several deputations on their demands to the principal of the institution over the past few months. “But so far the institute management has taken no step to address these. We have thus no alternative but to resort to hunger strike,” he added. Mr Gurung further said that counselling should be held in the institute itself instead of the present system of Online counselling. “Besides, a permanent principal should be appointed who would look after the Kurseong branch of the institute. Currently, the principal looks after both the Siliguri and Kurseong branches of the institute. But our principal demand is increase in reservation for the Hill-based students from 60 to 90 per cent. We would not budge from this issue,” he affirmed. When contacted, the Kurseong SDO, Mr Dibyendu Das said since the matter was related to the education department they had already forwarded the matter to the authorities concerned. Minister faces job fury- Aspiring teachers protest Bhattacharya tries to pacify the protesters in front of his house in Siliguri on Sunday. (Kundan Yolmo) TT,Siliguri, Aug. 9: More than hundred students who had passed out of various primary teachers’ training institutes in Siliguri today demonstrated in front of the urban development minister’s house against a government notification. The notification had said 50,000 primary teachers would be taken and the posts were open to those who have qualified the Madhyamik Examinations. The protesters demanded that the notification be revoked and those who have passed out from the training colleges be given preference during recruitment. Around 8.45am, nearly 150 protesters gathered at Asok Bhattacharya’s Subhashpally house and started sloganeering against the government announcement. Local people alleged that the slogans were “indecent”. Although no complaint was lodged, police came after half-an-hour. “Earlier, we met chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee here twice. He had assured us that he was trying to find a solution to our problems,” said Mintu Saha, a protester. “But when we saw that we had been ignored in the notification, we decided to raise our voice against it.” At the time of the agitation, the minister was busy campaigning for the civic polls at Lichubagan in Ward 18, hardly a kilometre from his residence. Hearing about the demonstration, he rushed to his house around 9.20am. By then, nearly 100 CPM supporters had assembled at the spot and a heated exchange followed. Bhattacharya asked both sides to cool down. Ten minutes later, he called the protesters in for a discussion. “I told them that the issue has nothing to do with my department. Our government is aware of the problem. Still, if the members have something to say, I can forward their appeal to the chief minister,” Bhattacharya later said. The agitation was withdrawn after the minister’s assurance to the protesters. Bhattacharya later said: “It is unfortunate that the trainee teachers behaved in such an indecent manner today.” The district CPM leadership criticised the protesters for the demonstration. “Agitating in front of a minister’s residence in an indecent manner cannot be tolerated,” said Jibitesh Sarkar, a member of the party. “Bhattacharya’s timely intervention has helped avoid any untoward incident, as the local people were angry with the protesters’ attitude.” Rural jobs elude tea zone- No sight of funds or accounts Kalchini Tea Estate: One of those hit Anirban Choudhury, TT, Alipurduar, Aug. 9: More than 3,000 tea garden workers in a Jalpaiguri block have not received their dues under the national rural job scheme and the gram panchayats have been turning them back with a host of excuses. While most have been told that the government is short of funds, in some cases the block administration did not open accounts for the workers so that the money could be paid. To make matter worse, the Kalchini gram panchayat has stopped awarding fresh work under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme since the earlier payments have not been made. Under the NREGS, the daily wage is Rs 81. With most garden residents having worked at least 14 days, they are entitled to Rs 1,134. The payment has not been made for the past five months. Gandur Bhagat, a member of the operating and maintenance committee of Radharani Tea Estate in Kalchini block, 42km from here, said: “The rural job scheme is our only source of sustenance here. It is not possible for everyone to go to Bhutan to work in the stone quarries. Anyone who has joined the scheme should get at least Rs 1,100 for the 14 days work. But nobody took the initiative to open our accounts in the post office.” In Radharani, there are 405 workers. The garden has been abandoned since January, but the workers do not get the monthly government aid of Rs 750 for locked-out estates, as they are yet to be officially declared closed. Not only that, none of the workers have accounts where they can be paid for work done under the job scheme. Residents of Kalchini Tea Garden and Chinchula Main Garden had worked for seven days in March. Those from Radharani had worked for seven days each in February and March under the NREGS. Kalchini with 2,024 workers has been lying closed since 2003. Chinchula that opened last month has 875 workers, but they are yet to get one-third of their dues that they had been promised by the management after the reopening. “We are scared of asking these people to go back to work without clearing their dues. They may attack us if we tell them so. At a meeting in June, I had told the NREGS authorities to disburse the funds but we are yet to get the Rs 45 lakh that we are entitled to,” said Chanchal Das, the upa-pradhan of the Kalchini gram panchayat. “I have stopped going to office as I cannot face the workers.” The block development officer (BDO) of Kalchini, R.S. Sundas, was not aware that many of the workers do not have any accounts. “Now that I have come to know of it, I will order am inquiry and see to it that the work (of opening bank accounts) is completed at the earliest.” According to Bhagat, the plight of the garden workers does not end here. Recently, wild elephants damaged 12 houses in Radharani garden. The management sent the affected workers to the local panchayat member and he, in turn, sent them to the forest office only to be told that no funds could be provided to repair the huts. “This is how we live and if we don’t even get paid for our work, how will we survive?” asked Bhagat. Customs catch of Rs 2cr TT ,Siliguri, Aug. 9: Red sandalwood worth Rs 2 crore was seized by customs officials at Bidhannagar, 35km from here, today. The consignment weighing six tonnes was recovered from a truck parked on NH31, said Pradip Lama, the superintendent of the Bidhannagar customs. “It is worth Rs 2 crore.” A gold-plated idol of Lord Ganesha was seized and three persons were arrested from Pandapara in Jalpaiguri yesterday. Red sandalwood seized in Siliguri SNS, SILIGURI, 9 AUG: The Custom department today seized around six ton red sandalwood (in picture) from a lorry near Bidhannagar in Siliguri. The lorry, coming from from Andhra Pradesh, was on its way to the northeast. According to the custom officials, the red sandalwood is worth Rs 2 crore in the open market.