PHE DEPT UTILIZES THE SERVICES OF GLP 
KalimNews, 10 Nov : First it was vehicular traffic control then seizure of Sikkim made liquor and now removal of illegal water tapping. Yes, the Gorkhaland Police (later renamed as Gorkhaland Personnel) cadres have now started to assist the Govt. department i.e. Public Health Engineering (PHE) of DGHC to unearth the ‘illegal’ water connections of the local residents. The local educated and intellectual circle has expressed concern over the maintenance of law & order by the GLP which is a totally private and political force. On 9th November Rajen Pradhan, Superintendent of Water Works department led a contingent of the GLP and reached Dhwang Dara at Tripai Hill and started to unearth the existing water pipelines as according to him these were illegal. While speaking to the media, Pradhan claimed that the concerned local residents have been instructed to apply for regularisation of their existing illegal lines with requisite documents. 
The local residents whose waterlines have been disconnected have expressed their resentment over the development and claimed that it was the concerned department which despite repeated requests delayed in providing the official line in proper time on various pretexts which ultimately compelled them to make adjustment at their own. Pradhan did not rule out the hand in gloves of some of the departmental officials in providing such unauthorised connection and warned them to face disciplinary action if found guilty. 
On the other hand, local residents have viewed that use of the GLP which is a unit of political outfit, the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha, by a Govt. agency could be highly risky and it may adversely affect the ongoing Gorkhaland movement. According to them, the services of the GLP could be utilized in making the local people aware of their duties towards the society, awakening the youths about the ill-effects of illegal, immoral activities like speedy driving, drug abuse and social evils including illiteracy, flesh trading, corruption, mal-practice during examinations, human trafficking, etc. For this purpose the GLP may be imparted adequate training by organising different kinds of workshops, seminars under the guidance of expertise of the respective fields.

Drop-bill demand before talks TT,Darjeeling, Nov. 9: Gorkha Janmukti Morcha president Bimal Gurung today set a condition to the fourth round of tripartite talks, saying that DGHC should be dissolved and the Sixth Schedule Bill officially scrapped before the December-21 meeting. Gurung, who was speaking at a seminar on Gorkhaland organised by the ex-servicemen’s association at the Darjeeling Gymkhana Hall, said: “The DGHC must be dissolved and the Sixth Schedule bill officially dropped. Otherwise things cannot move forward”. The Morcha leader, however, did not clarify whether the party would boycott the talks if the demands were not fulfilled. During the third round of talks between the state, Centre and the Morcha in New Delhi on August 11, the three sides had agreed to dissolve the DGHC and drop the Sixth Schedule Bill. Dropping the bill would not be much of a problem as the next session of Parliament is set to be convened in the next two weeks. But dissolving the council before the talks could be an uphill task largely because the Morcha has also demanded that all the 6,000 DGHC contractual workers be regularised before it is dissolved. The Morcha has already demanded that the process of issuing appointment letters to contractual workers should begin from November 17, failing which they have threatened to launch an agitation. Darjeeling MP Jaswant Singh, while addressing the meeting, said for Gorkhaland “one must show patience, should maintain peace and have determination and thoughtfulness”. “The unity of the hills is its biggest strength and Gorkhaland is not a demand but a right of the people. Gorkhaland will definitely be a reality,” the MP said. The three-day seminar also brought the Morcha and the Bharatiya Gorkha Parisangh closer to each other. The two bodies, the Parisangh is an apolitical front, have not shared the best of relations in the past. Dil Kumari Bhandari, a former Sikkim MP and the president of the Parisangh, said: “We have supported the movement in the past and will continue to do so in future. We can definitely be united.” Gorkhaland: ‘Challenge to statecraft’ In an exclusive chat with The Telegraph’s Meghdeep Bhattacharyya in Darjeeling, Jaswant Singh spoke on Gorkhaland and the political crisis in Bengal. Excerpts follow: Q: What’s on your agenda, with regard to Gorkhaland, on this trip? A: This visit is essentially about the ex-servicemen’s gathering. Ex-servicemen from all over the country up to the rank of generals are here to attend the seminar. Naturally, the legitimate aspirations (with regard to Gorkhaland) of the people of Darjeeling will be in focus in the seminar. The organisers are seeking the support of the entire community of servicemen which has fought side by side in the battlefield with the valiant Gorkhas. I, Jaswant Singh, an ex-serviceman, am no exception. Q: How do you propose to take forward the issue of Gorkhaland, now that you are no longer with the BJP? A: I believe in the cause, in the aspirations of the people of Darjeeling. I appeal to everybody, don’t treat the issue as a problem, treat it as a challenge to statecraft — how best to meet the hopes and aspirations of India’s valiant citizens who have, for centuries, given their lives to the protection of their motherland. Q: Rephrasing the previous question — how, after the BJP has been relegated to much lesser significance in Parliament and after your expulsion from the party, do you expect to make progress on the issue as the sole crusader for your cause in Parliament? A: (Laughs) I really like the term “sole crusader”. Sometimes, my dear friend, it takes a sole crusader to make a difference. The strength of the demand for Gorkhaland is in the relevance and legitimacy of the ideas. With or without the BJP, I will continue to voice the demand, even as the sole crusader. Q: Do you support the forms of agitation adopted by the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha, from barring administrative work, not paying electricity bills, land revenue and motor vehicles taxes to the banning of licensed liquor sale in the hills? A: No! I do not support this. I certainly don’t. But understand that such steps sometimes become necessary when the government stops hearing the voice of legitimate demands and aspirations of a people. Bengal, over the last three-and-a-half decade, has turned illegal forms of agitation into a political art form. The Left Front government cannot preach restraint now, something which it has hardly shown during its tenure in power. Kehtey hain na - saw chuhey khaakey billi Haj ko chali! (As the saying goes — after devouring a hundred mice the cat embarks on a pilgrimage!) Q: What’s your opinion on the way the Morcha leadership, self-declared Gandhians, silences all opposition, even from within the hills, be it Madan Tamang or Subhas Ghising? A: You're referring to a local disputation of an individual nature. I cannot comment on this. Q: The last time we asked you this question (October 21), you had declined comment. What’s your opinion on the present political crisis in Bengal and Mamata Banerjee's brand of politics? A: It is a matter of great sadness, my friend, that Bengal today has sunk into the kind of non-governance, not just mis-governance, mind you, non-governance. The Left Front has obliterated the difference between party and government, a fundamental of democracy. It has turned election engineering into an art and now cries foul when others do the same. The Left Front government introduced in India's political lexicon, the bandh. Now, Mamataji is doing exactly what the Left Front has mastered for so long. Q: You've told us earlier that the question of your rejoining the BJP “is really of academic interest”. Given the choice, would you join any other political party? A: (Laughs) I've become a veteran of attempting to answer this question. I leave it to you, show me a party, which you think I should join and then I'll think and answer.