Morcha plans own ‘army’

TT, Darjeeling, Sept. 13: The Gorkha Janmukti Morcha has decided to raise a special force which will be imparted guerrilla training to “protect the country’s frontiers” in case of a Chinese aggression. Bimal Gurung, the Morcha president, today said the force would be named after Durga Malla — a member of Subhash Chandra Bose’s INA who was hanged by the British on August 25, 1944 — and would comprise 500 youths from the Darjeeling hills and the plains. “I am informing the government of this now (through the speech) and they must provide special arms training,” Gurung said at the Gymkhana Club. The Morcha borrowed the idea from the people of Ladakh who had formed volunteer forces when Pakistan had invaded India, a leader said. New ‘guards’ for Sino-Indian frontier KURSEONG, 13 SEPT: The Gorkha Jana Mukti Morcha (GJMM) chief, Mr Bimal Gurung announced in Darjeeling today that his outfit would form a new force, Saheed Durga Malla Special Force, comprising five hundred youths in order to guard the Sino-Indian frontier. Durga Malla was a free-dom fighter who was han-ged during British rule. “The force will be trained by the agency of the Central government and would be equipped with arms to deal with any incursion from across the border,” he said while addressing a youth rally at Gymkhana Club in Darjeeling today. “We are concerned over the reported incursion by the Chinese army through several sensitive points across the Sino-Indian border. We will do everyt-hing to foil any attempt to unlawfully occupy land of our country,” he said. Dwelling on the coming tripartite parleys slated in December, Mr Gurung said the talks must be po-sitive. “If negotiations fail to yield result, we will be forced to declare separa-tion of the hills from West Bengal in 2010 and defy rules of the Centre and the state,” he said. Re-poll in one booth today TT, Siliguri, Sept. 13: Election to the Siliguri Municipal Corporation was peaceful today, except for some altercations and EVM malfunctioning. Repolling will be held tomorrow in Booth II of Ward 41 where the EVM stopped functioning. The voting, held to choose councillors for 47 wards, began at 7am and ended at 3pm, save at some booths, where the people were standing in queues even after the scheduled time. This time, the voter turnout was around 80 per cent. The last time, it was 75 per cent. A source at the subdivisional office here said around 35 per cent of votes had been cast till 11am. The polling rose to 59.63 per cent at 1am, he added. “We cannot give a final figure as the voting is on in around 10 per cent of the booths even after the scheduled time,” said Surendra Gupta, the Darjeeling district magistrate. “However, trends and figures we have received so far indicate that around 80 per cent polling was recorded,” he added. “While nine EVMs had to be replaced in different booths, polling was cancelled in Booth II in Ward 41 because of a kaput voting machine,” said Gupta. “The booth has 1,064 voters and a re-poll will be held tomorrow.” The total number of voters in the corporation area is 287,535, higher by 40,000 after the last election, and 348 booths were set up for the polling today. D.P. Singh, the superintendent of police of Darjeeling, said the elections had been peaceful. “Pradhannagar police detained one person for creating trouble.” Political observers said it was difficult to predict results, except in five to seven wards. In the present municipal board, the Left Front has 36 councillors, while the Congress and Trinamul Congress together have 11 members. Counting of votes will be held on September 15. Polling peaceful, turnout high SNS,SILIGURI, 13 SEPT: Siliguri Municipal Corporation (SMC) elections were held peacefully today, amidst several instances of Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) malfunction. By the end of the day, the total poll figure stood at 78 per cent ~ roughly six per cent higher than the total turnout in the previous SMC polls in 2004. Repolling has been ordered in one polling booth in Ward number 41 tomorrow after the EVM there was found to be registering less number of votes than what the actual franchise exercised. Polling for the 47 Wards of the Siliguri civic body with a little over 2.83 lakh registered voters began at 7 a.m. in the morning. Voters, especially women and the aged, were seen in long queues across 348 polling booths. The voter turnout rose steadily as the day progressed. At 9 a.m. the total number of votes been polled was recorded at 18.53 per cent, 33.02 per cent at 11 a.m. and at 1 pm it stood at 59.63 per cent. By the 3 p.m. official deadline, the poll figure touched 73.79 per cent mark, while the voters who were already in cue took the final figure to 78 per cent. “The polling was by and large peaceful. At closure, the poll percentage stood at around 78 per cent,” said the DM, Darjeeling, Mr Surendra Gupta. Throughout the day, no major commotion was reported from anywhere in the town barring the alleged hackling of Trinamul Ward number 20 candidate, Mrs Ajanta Biswas by certain CPI-M cadres. A few instances of heated arguments between the cadres of the ruling Left Front and the Congress-Trinamul Opposition were reported from wards 5,8 and 47. In Ward number 47, wherefrom the outgoing mayor Mr Nur-ul Islam is in the fray, Opposition cadres opposed an attempt by CPI-M activists to enter the polling booth with some aged voters and allegedly exercising the franchise to their favour. The dispute disrupted the polling for some time but normality was restored after the election officials intervened. In Ward number 5 and 8, the Left Front supporters were accused of jamming the polling booths but the police intervened immediately and averted a commotion. Repolling will be held between 7 am and 3 pm tomorrow at the Pateswari Primary School polling booth at Jyotinagar in Ward number 41 in the Bhaktinagar police station area. A total of 138 candidates are in the fray for the SMC polls this time. They will come to know their fate on 15 September ~ the day of counting. Party activists clash in Jalpaiguri SNS,JALPAIGURI, 13 SEPT: The Akhil Bhartiya Adivasi Vikash Parishad (ABAVP) activists ransacked the Nagrakata block committee office of the Congress affiliated National Union of Plantation Labourers today after local National Union of Public Workers (NUPW) leaders allegedly assaulted an ABAVP supporter yesterday. According to Congress secretary of Nagrakata block committee, Mr Amarnath Jha, the problem started yesterday at Changmari Tea Plantation of Nagrakata, “When the management of the Changmari Tea Plantation was paying Puja bonus to plantation labourers and we were collecting our trade union's special subscription which we collect every year from the labourers’ bonus payment, a group of ABAVP supporters led by the ABAVP Nagrakata block committee president, Mr Uday Shankar Bhagat stopped the process. The NUPW collectors were provoked and got involved in a clash with the ABAVP activists. The dispute was later solved,” he stated. Around 200 ABAVP supporters held a rally at Nagrakata today and later ransacked the NUPW office. “They ransacked the office and torched important documents. We will agitate against such vandalism,” stated Mr Jha. ABAVP leader, Mr Uday Shankar Bhagat blamed the NUPW leaders for this incident. “The ABAVP leadership decided not to allow any trade union to collect subscription from the labourers’ bonus. They notified this decision to all the plantation management,” said Mr Bhagat. The ABAVP Terai Dooars Coordination Committee secretary, Mr Rajesh Lakra stated that they would file an FIR at Nagrakata police station against the NUPW activists for assaulting the leaders of his organisation. The SP, Jalpaiguri, Mr Anand Kumar said that they would take appropriate action after receiving the FIRs. BENGALI DRAMA STAGED IN KALIMPONG KalimNews, 13 Sept: A bengali drama was staged at Ramkrishna Ranga manch by Kalimpong progressive service society yesterday. "DAMPATI" written by Manoj Mitra is based on the modern life style where the people lose their moral values. How the children share the parent's money for their livelyhood and ignore parents in their old life and how children are not taking any responsibility of their parents is centralised in the drama. And above all how is the extramarital relationship are growing day by day when the people are mechanised and running for money is also focussed and enjoyed by the spectators. (Pix:Samiran Paul)