DGHC casual staff start indefinite fast

Casual workers on fast outside the subdivisional office in Kalimpong and (above) inside the Gorkha Rangamanch Bhavan in Darjeeling on Monday. Pictures by Chinlop Fudong Lepcha and Suman Tamang TT, Darjeeling, Sept. 14: Over 6,000 employees of the DGHC today began an indefinite hunger strike across the hills, squatting on the premises of almost every government office and even the little alleys that dot the hill towns to demand regularisation of their jobs. In Darjeeling town, hundreds of DGHC employees had been pouring into the district collectorate from early morning. With the collectorate premises holding only around 500 employees, the rest marched into the DGHC-managed Gorkha Rangamanch Bhavan and occupied every available space in the six-storied building. Even then, the Rangamanch could house about 2,000 employees only and the others went to the Darjeeling Gymkhana Club where 390 women stationed themselves at the Rink Hall. The rest went to Hari Mohan Hall. “According to preliminary figures, 6,286 employees are taking part in the hunger strike,” said Deepak Sharma, the spokesperson of the Janmukti Asthai Karmachari Sangatan (JAKS), an affiliate of the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha, which is spearheading the movement for Gorkhaland. Hunger strikes are being held at Pintail Village in Siliguri, Gorkha Bhawan in Calcutta and also the Gorkha Welfare Centre in Delhi besides Kalimpong and Kurseong, said Sharma. In Kurseong, 1,041 men and women undertook the fast at six locations. Around 1500 temporary staff are participating in the protest in Kalimpong. While about 300 of them occupied the town hall, others sat in makeshift shelters in front of the sudivisional office and the municipality where they will spend the night. Machendra Subba, the president of JAKS, said: “On June 9, the additional chief secretary had promised to start the process of regularisation of jobs within three months. The three-month period has passed and the government has done nothing. We have been betrayed by the government,” said Subba. Even though the Morcha had demanded that the DGHC be dissolved, the party wants the contractual workers who have been working in the hill council since its inception in 1988, to be made permanent. In Darjeeling, Morcha president Bimal Gurung visited the protesters in the morning. Members of the Janmukti Asthai Karmachari Sangatan on hunger strike at Pintail Village. Picture by Kundan Yolmo “We had asked all our members to join the strike and most have. Those who have not participated are doing it at their own risk. We have exempted only those who are very sick,” said Sharma. Unlike previous hunger strikes, this time almost every individual, irrespective of their physical condition, has participated. A protester claimed that he was diabetic and joined the strike despite the doctor advising him not to go without food for more than six hours. “We are working on meagre salaries. We are now determined to get our demand fulfilled,” said Premala Rai, a participant in the hunger strike at Gymkhana Club. The monthly salaries of the casual staff of the DGHC range from Rs 2,000 to Rs 5,000. There has been no increment in the past 20 years. Not only that at one point of time, the salaries had been reduced too. With Group C and Group D employees participating in the fast, the strike is likely to hit major services — health, education, forestry, tourism — in the hills. Ranajit Ghosh, superintendent, Darjeeling district hospital, said: “Hospital activities have been affected as most of the contractual employees are taking part in the strike.” For example, the blood bank at the hospital has seven technicians. Of them, only one is a permanent employee. “ I have got staff for the emergency department but the blood bank is functioning with only two persons,” said Ghosh. Holidayers trying to book DGHC guest houses in the coming tourist season will not be able to do so as administrative work in the council has come to a total halt. B.L. Meena, the DGHC administrator who is currently in Calcutta, said over the phone: “Today, I met the home secretary and apprised him of the situation. I am confident that some positive message will come from the government in a day or two.” Vehicles off road No vehicles will be allowed to ply in Darjeeling town from 9am to 1.30pm tomorrow as the All Hill Transport Joint Action Committee will hold a rally in support of the statehood demand. The rally would also be held to protest the alleged harassment of drivers who have not paid road taxes as part of their non-cooperation movement. DGHC workers on indefinite hunger strike SNS & PTI , KURSEONG/SILIGURI, 14 SEPT: Demanding permanent jobs, over 8,000 Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council casual workers launched a hunger strike today across the Darjeeling hills. Agitating under the Jan Mukti Asthai Karmachari banner, the agitators said the strike was indefinite. The agitators have threatened to launch a violent movement, if necessary, to realize their demand. If that too failed to earn them their objective, they would launch a self-immolation drive, the JMAK leadership, said today. A casual teacher of the Upper Cedars Primary School, Mrs Rupa Sarki also participated in the hunger strike at community hall, Kurseong. Mrs Sarki is an expecting mother. According to the JMAK spokesperson, Mr Binanjay Gurung, many others carrying different ailments were participating in the strike. According to him, the JMAK had several meetings with state government representatives and DGHC administrator Mr BL Meena over their demand earlier. “Although assurances were made, those were not fulfilled and the casual workers continue to live an insecure and uncertain life. “Under the circumstances and to impress the seriousness of our demand we had no alternative left but to launch an indefinite hunger strike. If the policymakers still do not accede, we would commit self- immolation. Fire and bloodshed across the hills would precede the self-immolation drive,” he cautioned. Mr Gurung also informed that in addition to the hills, a large number of DGHC casual workers also staged hunger strike at Pintail village near Siliguri. Darjeeling district administration officials said the JMAK demand has been forwarded to the higher ups. Gorkhaland by 2010, even if talks fail The Gorkha Janmukti Morcha has warned that it will unilaterally form Gorkhaland if the next round of tripartite talks scheduled in December failed to deliver “justice”. GJMM chief Mr Bimal Gurung told a central convention of the 'Yuba Morcha', the youth wing, in Darjeeling yesterday that the fourth round of tripartite talks between the Centre, the GJM and the West Bengal government to be held on December 21 were “vital” for the Gorkhas and Gorkhaland. “In no case Gorkhas will continue to live under the West Bengal government,” he said. Gurung said that the GJMM would also raise a special force of 500 youth to be named after 'Durga Malla', a Gorkha freedom fighter who was hanged during the British rule in 1944. The GJM chief said that 50 youth each from Siliguri, Darjeeling, Kurseong, Kalimpong, Mirik and Dooars would make up the Durga Malla force and would be imparted guerrilla warfare training. The force would also be provided with arms training, but 'with government permission', he said. A GJM leader said that a volunteer force raised by the people of Ladakh in Jammu and Kashmir to help protect India during Indo-Pak war might have inspired Gurung to think of a similar force. MORE PICS OF HUNGER STRIKE By Samiran Paul Morcha mulls street protest on education Kalimpong, Sept. 14: A Gorkha Janmukti Morcha cell has threatened to take to the streets over the alleged neglect of education in the hills by the Bengal government. The education monitoring cell, which comprises members of the Morcha-affiliated teachers and students’ organisations, will meet in the next few days to discuss the matter and chalk out an agitation programme to pressure the government in addressing the problem. “We had discussed some of the issues with home secretary Ardhendu Sen on July 26 in Darjeeling. But despite his assurance to resolve some of them at the earliest, nothing has been done till date,” alleged Tshering Tamang, the chief coordinator of the cell. The primary demand of the cell is that the existing vacancies should be filled up. “There are 774 primary schools in the hills. Nine of them do not have a single teacher, over 150 of them have only one teacher each, and an almost equal number of them have only two teachers,” said Tamang. Similarly, there are 304 vacant posts in secondary schools, he added. In its August 5 notification, the West Bengal Board of Primary Education had excluded the DGHC area while initiating the process for recruitment of primary teachers in all other districts of the state, including the Siliguri subdivisional area, the cell said. “The reason they (read the government) cite for the omission is that the DGHC had not done an assessment of the vacancies in the hills,” Tamang alleged. The cell has also demanded that conditions for the setting up of primary schools in the hills should be different from that of the plains, because of different topography. “The norm says a primary school should be set up for every 400 people. However, unlike in the plains where the population is concentrated, in the hills it’s scattered. So the yardstick for the hills should be the distance and not population.” On the situation in secondary schools, Tamang said all teacher appointments in the last 15 years had been done on an ad-hoc basis. “We want the jobs of all ad-hoc teachers to be regularised. In fact, 22 of the ad-hoc teachers have been formally absorbed after they approached the high court and got a verdict in their favour. Others, who do not have the financial means to approach the court, should also be absorbed on the same ground,” he added. The cell alleged that not a single school in the hills — right from primary to the junior high to the secondary or higher secondary levels — had been upgraded in the last 15 years. “In such a situation, it is the local people who on their own have upgraded the schools (to the secondary level) in their areas. As a result, a student of the locally upgraded secondary school sits for the Madhyamik exams as a student of the nearest recognised secondary school,” said Tamang. Tamang slams media over ‘incorrect’ publicity SNS, KURSEONG, 14 SEPT: The All India Gorkha League president Mr Madan Tamang today reacted to a recent media report stating that the GJMM leadership including its party chief Mr Bimal Gurung had met with chief minister Mr Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee during the CM’s stay at Mongpong near Siliguri last week. “The Gorkhaland movement is a people's uprising and so the GJMM leadership does not have the right to mislead the people through acts such as clandestine meetings. They should take the people in confidence before making any move on the issue. “And, if the media report is incorrect, the GJMM leadership should take legal action against the section of the media responsible for publishing such a report or the people would continue to smell a rat,” Mr Tamang said. Mr Tamang also described the GJMM chief Mr Bimal Gurung's declaration yesterday in Darjeeling that the GJMM would form a new force and name it Saheed Durga Malla Special Force comprising of 500 youths. The GJMM chief had also demanded arms training for the recruited youths by the Centre. According to Mr Gurung, the trained armed youths would be deployed at different borders to stop “Chinese incursion in India.” The GJMM chief had also demanded a positive end to the proposed 21 December tripartite talks and went on to state that if the talks failed to bring out a positive outcome, they would declare Gorkhaland in 2010. Reacting to the GJMM chief's announcement, the AIGL president Mr Madan Tamang today dismissed those as “childish remarks” and said: “Such remarks are not worthy to fetch a comment from us.” Mr Tamang also confidently added that the AIGL would organise public meetings in the Darjeeling Hills before the Pujas. Consumers’ forum fines cable operator over subscription dispute SNS, SILIGURI, 14 SEPT: The Siliguri District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum has slapped a fine of Rs 18,450/- on a Siliguri based cable television operator in connection with a subscription dispute that dates back to 2002. The cable TV operator ~ the Combine Cable Network (CCN) ~ has been asked to pay the compensation amount to subscriber Mr KK Choudhuary based at Baghajatin Park in the town within 30 days of the order, which was passed on 10 August. Failing this, CCN will have to pay 9 per cent interest per day, Justice Ms Anita Debnath of the Siliguri consumer court stated in her order. The dispute in question originated in 2002 when CCN disconnected the cable connection of subscriber Mr Choudhuary's house without prior notice. Aggrieved at this, the subscriber filed a suit before the Siliguri consumer court for restoration of the cable connection and seeking compensation for the arbitrary disconnection. But the court dismissed the case, prompting the subscriber to move to the State Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum in Kolkata in 2004. Hearing into the case, the state consumer court in its order in 2007 asked the cable operator to restore the connection within 30-days or else pay a compensation @ Rs 50 per day until the connection is restored. But when CCN did not comply with the order, the subscriber appealed before the Siliguri consumer court again, which retained the state court's order asking the cable operator to restore the connection and also pay the prescribed compensation. CCN now challenged the order before the state court saying that they could not find the subscriber at his address and that a letter sent to the subscriber by registered post has returned undelivered. Hearing into this, the state court waived CCN from paying the compensation but asked to restore the connection at once. The connection was restored on 6-3-2008. The subscriber however, was not satisfied with the waiver of the compensation and went to the National Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum in New Delhi challenging the state court's verdict and also claiming that the cable operator in connivance with the postman was responsible for the letter being undelivered at his residence. He also submitted a communiqué from the Department of Posts that substantiated the allegation. Finding weight into the matter, the national court sent back the case to the Siliguri consumer court and asked it to verify the allegation and then pronounce a full judgment. Thus, hearing into the case, the Siliguri court found the connivance of CCN and the postman to be true and asked the operator to cough up Rs 18,450 as compensation within 30 days. Meanwhile, on 10 September when the deadline was to lapse, CCN authorities appealed before the Siliguri court and sought some additional time. Conceding, the court has now granted them time till 8 October for compliance with the compensation order. “We will now wait till 8 October, but under no circumstances would forego the composition amount that has been awarded to us,” said Mr Suresh Mitruka, consul for the concerned subscriber. Anniversary DARJEELING, 14 SEPT: Mankind in Action for Rural Growth (MARG), a non- profit organization engaged in several social welfare activities, observed its third anniversary at Dibya Vani Pastoral Center in Darjeeling recently. A cultural programme was organised on the occasion, involving children from the three sub-divisions of the hills. School boxes and Geometry boxes were distributed among the landslide-affected children. SNS Tata Tea estate shut again in a month - Labourers defy management order and attend work, officials leave garden Plucking permission denied TT, Siliguri, Sept. 14: The management of Nowera Nuddy Tea Estate today announced suspension of work as some labourers, accused of assaulting a garden doctor on August 10, had allegedly refused to obey its orders. This is the second time that the Tata Tea-owned estate in Malbazar subdivision was shut down in the past one month. On August 10, the medical officer, R.K. Ratan Singh, had been assaulted and confined to his office by a section of workers. They became violent after Singh had refused to sanction maternity leave to a woman labourer. The next day, the management announced a lockout and the garden was reopened on August 28 after a tripartite meeting at the deputy labour commissioner’s office in Jalpaiguri. “After the resumption of work, the management issued notices to eight to 10 workers and told them that disciplinary action would be taken against them for their involvement in the August 10 incident. They were also told to abstain from work,” said a tea industry source. “The management had decided to act according to an agreement signed at the tripartite meeting on August 27. However, the labourers refused to accept the chargesheets and, backed by the Akhil Bharatiya Adivasi Vikas Parishad, continued to attend work. They forced the management to accept the tealeaves they plucked. Finding that the workers were not abiding by the rules and norms, the management announced the suspension of work today, 17 days after reopening the estate on August 28,” said a source. He added that the management officials had left the estate. Nowera Nuddy estate is in Jalpaiguri district and located around 55km from Siliguri. Samir Roy, the state general secretary of the Hind Mazdoor Sabha whose West Bengal Cha Mazdoor Sabha is active in Nowera Nuddy, mainly blamed the Parishad for the latest round of impasse. “But it was wrong on the part of the management to leave the garden. We also find the role of the administration surprising as it is apparently reluctant to take action against errant workers,” he said over the phone from Delhi. An FIR had been filed against the accused workers after the August 10 incident. The Parishad doesn’t have a union in the garden, but it has made inroads into the Dooars, espousing the cause of the tribals. Officials of the Dooars Branch of the Indian Tea Association, of which Tata Tea is a member, refused comment.