Morcha ‘bonus’ for closed garden TT, Ringtang tea garden (Sonada), Sept. 21: Rita Gurung had stopped dreaming of a puja “bonus” for the past 12 years ever since the garden was abandoned by the management. Today, a bubbly Rita climbed up the makeshift dais to receive her “bonus” from Gorkha Janmukti Morcha leaders. The party distributed Rs 10.8 lakh as puja bonus among workers. “As directed by our president Bimal Gurung, we are distributing Rs 1,200 to each of the 874 families of the garden. While the rest of the gardens across the hills are receiving puja bonus, the workers live here on a hand-to-mouth existence,” said Raju Pradhan, the assistant general secretary of the Morcha. Neatly dressed workers, both men and women, could not hide their joy when the bonus was announced. “We are so happy. We had not even thought of such money,” said Rita. Connectivity to the garden, situated 7km from Sonada, is a problem. Only a vehicle with a four-wheel drive can reach the place. “There are problems of education, employment and health. Is it not enough,” said J. Lama, who was the acting manager of the garden before the management abandoned it in 1997. The garden factory had been razed to the ground on December 19, 1997 following labour unrest. Since then, the owner, Sushil Chowdhury, has neither constructed the factory nor has been running the garden. For the past one decade, the workers have not been receiving their salaries nor any statutory benefits like PF, rations and healthcare facilities from the management. A workers’ committee had been formed soon after, which paid the 944 workers Rs 10 — Re 1 was deducted as transportation charge — for every kg of green leaves plucked. Chowdhury had remained himself out of the committee but claimed that he was providing “technical knowhow” to it. However, there were allegations that he had been running the committee and raking in profits by selling the leaves to other gardens at a higher price. Dorjee Lama, the president of the Morcha’s unit-level trade union, said: “Once our party came into prominence, the committee became defunct as the people were fed up with the oppression. The joint labour commissioner has called a meeting in Siliguri on October 14 and we will be sitting for the meeting along with representatives of the management.” The workers said they would demand employment for all, payment of PF and gratuity from the management if it wants to run the garden. “Or else, we will start agitation,” said Lama. Since the garden has not been officially declared closed, the workers are not getting any aid for locked out estates from the government. “Most of the youths have left the village to work in towns. Those who are here cultivate whatever is possible and sell it in the local market. Life is difficult and the bonus is a big help,” said Suren Poudyal, a garden resident. Cong spoiler in Partha’s cancelled trip- Trinamul leader alleges ally meddling too much before local-level talks in Siliguri BARUN GHOSH, Calcutta, Sept. 21: The Trinamul Congress’s Partha Chatterjee today cancelled his scheduled trip to Siliguri to protest some state Congress leaders’ “move to jeopardise the alliance” by staking claim to the Siliguri mayor’s post even when talks have not started at the local level. “I am hurt at the way some senior state Congress leaders have started lobbying the mayor’s post long before a discussion among the councillors of both the parties takes place at the ground-level in Siliguri. This is a move to jeopardise the alliance that was firmed up in the run-up to the civic polls,” Chatterjee said here this afternoon. The Trinamul leader said he might visit Siliguri during the pujas or after to talk to councillors from his party and those from the Congress. “My primary task will be to select the leader of our party in the civic body by September 30 because the swearing-in of the new board takes place on October 1,” he added. Trinamul sources said Chatterjee had deferred his visit following instructions from party chief Mamata Banerjee. “Mamata had already spoken to AICC general secretary K. Keshava Rao, who is in charge of Bengal affairs, to request his state leaders not to meddle in the selection of the mayoral candidate for the Siliguri civic board. Instead, she wanted the matter to be left to the councillors,” said a Trinamul general secretary. Sources indicated that the president of Trinamul’s Darjeeling unit, Gautam Deb, would be elected the leader of the party in the civic body. “Deb will be projected as the mayoral candidate after he is elected the leader of Trinamul in the Siliguri civic body,” said a Trinamul MLA. In a related development, state Congress leaders today said they would stop interfering in the selection of the Siliguri mayor. “I shall see to it that state leaders stop meddling in the selection of candidate for the Siliguri mayor’s post. Instead, we shall accept whatever decision is reached at among councillors in Siliguri,” said PCC working president Pradip Bhattacharya. In Siliguri, the residents continued to remain in the dark about their new mayor and with the meeting scheduled to be held between Trinamul and the Congress leaders not taking place today, the suspense continued. “We are keeping all options open and will put in efforts to meet the aspirations of the Siliguri citizens who have entrusted the job to our alliance,” Darjeeling Congress district president Shankar Malakar said today. Malakar did not spare the opportunity to hit out at aspiring candidates for the mayor’s post. In an oblique reference to party members Gangotri Dutta and Nantu Pal and Trinamul’s Deb, he said: “It is wrong on the part of some leaders to use the media as a tool for speaking in their favour. They are trying to put pressure on the party leadership.” The week-long delay in finalising a mayor prompted the district Left Front leaders to scoff at the victors. “The residents of Siliguri elected their representatives in the civic body only for the next five years. But the leaders are conferring in Calcutta, even in Delhi,” said Jibesh Sarkar, a member of the CPM’s Darjeeling district secretariat. 35 principals threaten to quit

TT,Calcutta, Sept. 21: Principals of 35 state-aided colleges have threatened to quit to protest the scrapping of a special allowance and the lack of support from the local administration to tackle campus violence at a time the Trinamul Congress is trying to gain a foothold in many colleges. The main complaint that the principals have is about the scrapping of a special allowance — the amount was Rs 2,000 earlier. The principals wanted the allowance to be increased to Rs 5,000 but the UGC scrapped it altogether. “The salary of a principal (Rs 67,000 after the UGC revision) is nearly the same as a lecturer’s after the scrapping of the special allowance. Why should we bear the additional burden (of administrative work) if we don’t get paid more?” asked a principal of a college in south Calcutta. All 35 principals are working on lien — they are posted in colleges different from the ones in which they used to teach. Once their term is over, they will go back to the earlier colleges as lecturers. This is the first time college principals have threatened to quit. The college heads, who took their grievances to a two-day conference of the All Bengal Principals’ Council on Sunday, said besides losing the allowance, they were under great pressure because of spiralling campus violence since Trinamul started making inroads into colleges. But the local authorities such as police were not helping the institutions. On September 19, Trinamul Congress Chhatra Parishad supporters gheraoed the principal of Thakurpukur College from afternoon till 1am protesting improper scrutiny of nomination papers for the students’ union election. “The police were informed immediately but reacted only after midnight,” said a member of the principals’ council. Eleven principals have already left their posts and gone back to their old colleges. Another grievance that the principals have is about losing out on some financial benefits at the time of retirement because of the lack of a good leave encashment policy. According to the rules, the accumulated leave of a college teacher is not taken into account when he or she becomes a principal. “Principals can encash a maximum of 240 days’ leave at the time of retirement. But hardly any principal enjoys the benefit because the leave accumulated by a teacher is not carried forward when he becomes a principal,” a college principal said. Anjan Sengupta, general secretary of the principals’ council, said: “We have discussed the financial and administrative problems at the council meeting and also with the state government. The government has given us an assurance to solve our problems soon.” The principals also want the government to allow colleges to recruit part-time teachers who don’t have MPhil or PhD degrees and have not cleared the National Eligibility Test or its state equivalent. “It is difficult to get candidates with such qualifications for such posts,” a principal said. 10 Killed as in Earthquake Rocks BHUTAN and NE Guwahati/Thimpu, Sep 21 (IANS) A high magnitude earthquake measuring 6.3 on the Richter scale Monday killed at least 10 people in the Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan and left dozens more injured, while several buildings developed cracks in India’s northeastern state of Assam. Bhutan Broadcasting Service (BSS), the national broadcaster, quoted Bhutanese government officials and witnesses as confirming 10 deaths. “Of the 10 deaths, three were of Indian origin who were engaged in road widening work. They died after being hit by falling boulders,” the BSS report said. The bodies of the three Indians killed, all from Assam, were handed over to their relatives in the border town of Darranga in Assam late Monday. “Five people were killed in Mongar and two deaths were reported from Trashigang in eastern Bhutan,” U. Tenzing, the director of Bhutan’s disaster management department, said, adding, “We are trying to get more information from the affected places.” The casualties were reported when their houses collapsed or some of them were hit by falling debris. “Most of the mud and stone houses with tin roofs caved in with several schools, monasteries and houses damaged in the earthquake,” another senior Bhutanese police official said requesting not to be named. Police and civil rescue teams have since fanned out to the quake hit eastern districts of Mongar and Trashigang to look for people who could be trapped or injured. “There was extensive damage to monasteries, schools, houses and other structures in eastern Bhutan,” D. Dhendup, a Bhutanese official, said. Meanwhile, Bhutan’s Home Minister Lyonpo Minjur Dorji urged people not to panic. “We are coordinating with the district authorities to help those affected,” the home minister told IANS. “We saw several houses damaged and cracks developing,” Pema Dorji, a former governor of Bhutan, said. The tremors were also felt in parts of Assam, other north-eastern states of India, and West Bengal at 2.24 p.m. No casualties were reported. The epicentre was plotted in Munggar in Bhutan. Munggar, about 500 km from Thimpu, is located along the India-Bhutan border, 125 km northwest of Guwahati. The temblor led to cracks in apartments and concrete structures in Assam’s main cty of Guwahati. “At least five to six apartments in Guwahati developed visible cracks, while two buildings showed signs of slanting due to the impact of the quake,” an Assam government official said. This is the fifth earthquake to have rocked India’s northeast since Aug 11 with Monday’s being the strongest. “The top floor where we stay was literally rocking, swaying sideways with people forced to run out of their homes. The tremor lasted for about 20 to 25 seconds at least,” said Arun Hazarika, a resident of Guwahati staying in a five storied apartment. The seven northeastern states - Assam, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Tripura, Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh and Manipur - are considered by seismologists as the sixth major earthquake prone belt in the world. The region experienced one of the worst earthquakes, measuring 8.7 on the Richter Scale, in 1897 that claimed the lives of over 1,600 people. Villagers Clash with Maoists Kolkata, Sep 21 (IANS) Hundreds of villagers clashed with armed Maoist rebels in west Bengal’s trouble-torn West Midnapore district Monday night, police said. “We’ve got reports that a section of villagers clashed with Maoist rebels at Inayatpur area of West Midnapore district,” West Midnapore police superintendent M.K Verma told IANS by phone, adding a police contingent has been rushed to the area. “No death has been reported so far in the clash,” he said. According to sources, police received the information about the clash around 9 p.m. and immediately sent a huge contingent of police force to the violence-hit region.