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Morcha supporters block Hill Cart Road at Chowrastha in Darjeeling. Picture by Suman Tamang
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TT, Nov. 20: The Gorkha Janmukti Morcha today ended its strike “temporarily” at 6pm, but with the state government offering no assurance on when the contract workers of the DGHC would be regularised, threatened to start a fresh agitation soon.
After a meeting with home secretary Ardhendu Sen at Writers’ Buildings this evening, DGHC administrator B.L. Meena said: “The government is examining the regularisation process but cannot specify any time frame within which this will be done. The continuous agitation by the DGHC employees has hampered the process and they should desist from doing so.”
In Darjeeling, Deepak Sharma, the spokesperson for the Janmukti Asthahi Karmachari Sangathan (JAKS), said: “We are calling off the strike temporarily, but after hearing what the government had to say this evening, we will decide on the next course of action tomorrow.”
The Morcha-backed organisation of DGHC contract workers had yesterday confined district magistrate Surendra Gupta and 14 of his staff members to the collectorate till almost midnight. They withdrew the siege after the district magistrate gave them an assurance that he would take up the regularisation of jobs with Writers’ Buildings today.
Asked why he had set November 17 as the date from when appointment letters would be distributed to the contract workers, Meena said he had done so “under duress” at a meeting with the Morcha in Darjeeling on October 30.
Morcha central committee member Amar Lama refuted Meena’s allegation. He said: “This (he) is not telling the truth. Meena should come to Darjeeling and tell us that he was under duress. On September 22, the state home secretary told us in Calcutta that vacancies against 3,472 posts would be filled up within 10 working days and the remaining workers would be absorbed by November 15. When the 10-day deadline was over, we had merely gone to Meena to find out about the delay and he, himself, in the presence of DGHC secretaries, had come up with the November 17 deadline.”
Meena pleaded helplessness, saying that the JAKS members did not understand ground realities.
“Nothing is in my hands,” he said. “There is a financial implication involved that (the process) has to be ratified by the government.”
In the hills today, Morcha supporters set up pickets and “checkpoints” on the main roads leading to the plains and stopped vehicles to check whether passengers had tickets to catch flights from Bagdogra or board trains at New Jalpaiguri. The party while announcing the strike yesterday had said only people with flight and train tickets would be allowed to go down to the plains.
The Morcha had called the strike yesterday to demand Meena’s resignation and that of the district magistrate, who is also the principal secretary of the DGHC.
Vehicles with students were allowed to ply and tea gardens and cinchona plantations were open.
Dilip Roy, a member of a delegation of the West Bengal Chemists and Druggists’ Association that had a conference in Darjeeling today, said his entire team came down in three buses to Siliguri.
“We were not getting vehicles to accommodate our 86-member group and so we approached the Sadar police station. The police were very helpful and arranged three buses for us to go down to New Jalpaiguri from where we are scheduled to board the Darjeeling Mail to Sealdah,” said Roy.
There was a heavy rush of vehicles at Rangpo on Bengal’s border with Sikkim. The Morcha had set up a checkpoint earlier, on the Teesta Bridge, which is part of NH31A that connects the Himalayan state. Barring ticket holders and patients, no one was allowed to travel towards Siliguri. A long line of vehicles was stuck at Rangpo.
Life in Siliguri was normal although the stands and terminuses from where vehicles leave for the hills remained empty. Shops in Sukna, on the outskirts of Siliguri, were shut.
Govt rules out fixing timeframe for DGHC job regularisation
SNS,SILIGURI / KURSEONG 20 NOV: The state government has ruled out fixing any timeframe for regularising the Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council (DGHC) casual staffs and has instead blamed the continuous agitation by the Gorkha Jan Mukti Morcha (GJMM) affiliated Jan Mukti Asthai Karmachari Sangathan (JMAKS) of hampering the regularisation process.
The announcement came after an emergency meeting between the state home secretary Mr Ardhendu Sen, the DGHC administrator Mr BL Meena and the Darjeeling DM Mr Surendra Gupta at the Writers’ Building in Kolkata this afternoon.
“The process of regularisation (of DGHC staffs) is under examination by the state government.
The process is getting hampered/delayed due to the regular agitation programmes by the JMAKS. They are advised not to take any agitation in future and disciplinary actions would be taken as per law against the defaulters or those who disrupt the administration.
No fixed timeframe (for regularisation) can be set up at present,” the DGHC administrator Mr Meena said reading out the resolution of the meeting over the phone from Kolkata.
He however, claimed that the DGHC authorities were trying their best to make sure that the job regularisation of the 6,287 DGHC casual staffs materialises.
Earlier in the afternoon, the Darjeeling DM and the DGHC administrator had flown down to Kolkata for the meeting with the home secretary, after that they were cooped up in their respective office chambers in Darjeeling and Siliguri by the agitating JMAKS activists from morning to midnight on Thursday.
The DGHC staffs ~ on causal payroll for the last 21-year, are hell bent on an immediate regularisation of their jobs.
Reacting to the state's announcement, GJMM general secretary Mr Roshan Giri said that blaming the agitation for the delay in job regularisation was ‘ridiculous'.
“This is absolutely a false allegation and the fact is, the state government is not being able to keep its words. Once we get a written communiqué from the administration, we would discuss the matter in the central committee and decide on our future course of action,” the GJMM general secretary said.
None of the JMAKS office bearers could be contacted for their immediate reaction.
Meanwhile, the GJMM sponsored 24-hour shutdown in the Hills today over the DGHC job regularisation demand, brought normal life to a standstill.
The JMAKS activists also came out on the streets to make the shutdown a success. A sizeable number of the activists haling from different parts of the Kurseong subdivision blocked the Siliguri-Darjeeling national highway 55 on the Panchonoi Bridge at Dagapur near Siliguri till dusk and thus, paralysing traffic on the arterial road throughout the day.
Similar pickets were also put up at several places across the Hills. Educational institutions, tea gardens, cinchona plantations and the emergency services however, were kept out of the purview of the bandh.
No bandh-related violence was reported from anywhere in the Hills.
GJMM fails to honour ‘no-shutdown’ promise
SNS, SILIGURI, 20 NOV: With a 12-hour bandh observed in the Hills today demanding prompt regularisation of the Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council casual workers, several parties across the political spectrum appealed to the state government to resolve the matter as quickly as possible.
The state urban development minister and a senior CPI-M leader, Mr Asok Bhattacharya, however, termed the bandh “unethical”.
Asking the state government to take initiatives to resolve the problem, the Darjeeling district Congress president, Mr Shankar Malakar said that his party supported the regularisation demand for the DHGC contractual workers.
“The Left Front government should solve the tangle at the earliest to prevent the situation in the hills from drifting in confrontationist directions,” he said.
Speaking on the matter, the district Trinamul Congress president, Mr Goutam Deb said that the state government should not backtrack on the sensitive matter.
“The CPI-M is adept in going back on commitments.
It did so when a solution on the Singur issue was thrashed out at the behest of the state Governor. It should not do so regarding the DGHC problem,” he said.
Even the Left Front constituents like the RSP and the Forward Bloc have appealed to the state government to expedite the matter in the interest of peace in the hills and in view the next round of tripartite negotiations slated on 21 December.
“Demanding regularisation for the contractual workers in the DGHC is justified.
It is unethical to hang the issue in balance,” said senior RSP and FB leaders, Mr Tapas Goswami and Mr Smritish Bhattacharya respectively.
Terming the 12-hour strike in the hills as ‘unethical’, the state urban development minister, Mr Asok Bhattacharya said that the shutdown was in contravention to the agreement reached during the last round of tripartite dialogue in New Delhi in August. “The GJMM has committed to desist from shutdown programmes till the next round in December.
The tangle related to the regularization is an old and complicated one. The Hill-based outfit should exercise patience as the state administration is engaged in sorting it out to the satisfaction of all,” Mr Bhattacharya said.
Former British minister cancels trip
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Foreign tourists near Tenzing Norgay Central Bus Terminus in Siliguri. They could not go to the hills on Friday. Picture by Kundan Yolmo
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TT, Siliguri, Nov. 20: Former British Labour minister and an MP from Makerfield, Ian McCartney, and his wife Ann have had to cancel their two-day trip to Darjeeling, courtesy the sudden strike called by the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha.
“The ex-minister (trade and industry) and his wife were expected to arrive in Bagdogra from Calcutta today,” said Raj Basu, who is associated with Help Tourism, one of the leading tour companies of eastern India that had McCartney as client. “However, after the strike was announced last night, it took us hours to cancel the trip and arrange for refund and the process ended only this morning.”
“We could not take the risk of letting the McCartneys visit Darjeeling as there is a chance of an indefinite strike. Today, vehicles carrying tourists were not allowed to go uphill unlike taxis, which carried passengers downhill. The MP and his wife would have had to remain stranded in Siliguri and might have been forced to return to Calcutta from here,” said Basu hours before the strike was lifted.
Besides the McCartneys, Basu had to cancel the trips of at least 60 others, both domestic and foreign tourists, who were scheduled to arrive here in the next three-four days from Calcutta and Delhi.
“We have asked them either to wait for a confirmation from us on their rescheduled itinerary or cancel their trip,” said Basu. But seven of them, all foreigners, already arrived here today.
“We have sent them to the Dooars and asked them to spend two-three days there. We don’t know what to do if the strike is not withdrawn in hills.”
Samrat Sanyal, the general secretary of the Eastern Himalaya Travel and Tour Operators’ Association, said tour operators are now better known as crisis management operators. “We are busy bringing tourists down from the hills, chalking out new itineraries and keeping regular contacts with customers and tabs on emerging situations,” Sanyal said.
The strike had left some tourists stranded in the hills too. “Those who had planned to stay for a few days in the hills are holed up in hotel rooms. A client of mine called up from Kalimpong today, saying that he can’t go sightseeing because of the sudden strike and asked for a DVD player and some DVDs,” Sanyal said.
Basu said the tourism sector was being hit hard repeatedly. “The strike is affecting business. More than that, it takes time to restore the image of the tourism sector of the region. People whose trips have been cancelled or those who are stranded in the hills will naturally discourage their acquaintances from visiting the region. We fear this multiplying negative effect,” he said.
Bravery at bullet’s end - Headmaster takes on Naga rebels
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TT, Silchar, Nov. 20: Shot three times and bleeding profusely, 50-year-old Som Bahadur Chettry’s last act was what he had taught his students all throughout his career as a teacher — to stand up against injustice.
The headmaster of Birbhadra High School saved the lives of his family members, and perhaps even his neighbours, when he snatched an AK-56 from a militant’s hands even after being shot, forcing the three assailants to flee from the Upper Daghetar village in North Cachar Hills in the wee hours today.
Chettry, who took bullets in his chest and arms, was rushed to the civil hospital in Haflong, a few kilometres away, but succumbed to his injuries shortly after.
He is survived by his widow, two sons and a daughter.
A police source said a three-member group of suspected National Socialist Council of Nagalim (Isak-Muivah) rebels barged into Chettry’s house after midnight and demanded Rs 15,000 as “tax” to the outfit.
The headmaster’s family members, who were confined to another room, overheard a heated argument as Chettry said he would not be able to pay such a large sum.
“On being threatened, Chettry offered Rs 260 which was all he had with him at the time,” the police official said.
The militants then assaulted him.
One of the militants lost his temper and opened fire from the AK-56 rifle he was carrying, hitting Chettry on the chest and arms.
Even as he was falling, Chettry grabbed one end of the rifle and snatched it from the militant.
“The militants panicked when they suddenly found themselves unarmed. The AK-56 rifle was the only weapon they had. Chettry shouted for help, attracting the attention of his neighbours. Sensing that they could be in trouble, the trio fled. The villagers rushed Chettry to Haflong but he died just after being brought in,” the police official added.
The incident brought back memories of the Kashmiri girl Rukhsana, who had snatched an AK-47 from a Laskar commander who had entered her home and shot him dead in September this year. Rukhsana was appointed a Special Police Officer earlier this month by the state government as a reward for her exemplary courage.
A senior district administration official said Chettry’s family would be given Rs 3 lakh as part of the Assam government’s policy to pay this amount to any civilian killed in a militant attack.
“However, any decision on rewarding him posthumously for his act of courage will have to be taken at Dispur. We will definitely recommend his name to the government for an award. He can be a role model for others in the state, especially youngsters,” the official added.
A police source said the NSCN (I-M) has become active in the area of late after the Jewel Gorlosa faction of the Dima Halam Daogah laid down arms and the “Naga outfit moved in to fill in the vacuum”.
A manhunt has been launched in search of the rebels. Security was tightened in and around the village.
which has a mixed population of Dimasas, Nepalis and Nagas.
TT, Gangtok, Nov. 20: One person was killed and three were missing after the car they were travelling in skidded off the Rangpo-Rhenok road and fell into the Teesta early on Wednesday morning. Police said the vehicle was coming from Siliguri and was bound for Rhenok in East Sikkim when it had fallen about 150 feet into the river near Rangpo.
The police said the incident came to their notice when the family members had started making inquiries after the passengers had not reached home even yesterday. After a search throughout yesterday, the body of Mahendra Saha, 55, was recovered from Tarkhola, 3km downstream from Rangpo. The missing three are Deepak Saha, 18, Pradeep Rai, 24, and Samidullah, 16.
24 Hrs Bundh KalimNews: 24 Hrs. bundh in the whole area of Darjeeling Hills along with the a few Terai and plain area is being observed by Gorkha Janmukti Morcha. Protesting against the denial of justice in the employment of casual staff of DGHC and delay in issuing appointment letters to the DGHC staff all traffic , Offices and shops and other institutions are closed today. Relaxation is made for the school and college examinations and classes as well as traffic related to them. Members and leaders of Janmukti Asthayi Karmachari Sangathan were seen picketing in all the places.
Meanwhile GJMM has called a meeting with all the Heads ofthe Schools tomorrow at Headquarters at Patlaybas. It is assumed that schools will be asked to prepond their examinations within November or 1st week of December. (Photo Rabin Rai, Darjeeling).
PTI: Siliguri, Nov 20: Normal life was crippled in Darjeeling Hills of West Bengal as the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha-sponsored 24-hour bandh began on Friday morning.
Shops, markets were closed and vehicles kept off the roads in Darjeeling, Kalimpong, Kurseong sub—divisions as a result, official sources said. Educational institutions and tea gardens were, however, exempted from the strike call. The GJM has been demanding permanent status for over 6,000 employees in Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council. GJM General secretary Roshan Giri alleged the West Bengal Government did precious little to accord them permanent status by November 17, 2009 as promised.
Darjeeling, Nov 20 (IANS) Normal life came to a halt here Friday as Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) activists called a 12-hour shutdown in Darjeeling district of West Bengal, demanding permanent status for iver 6,000 employees working with Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council (DGHC) on temporary basis. ‘There are altogether 6,274 employees working in DGHC now. The state government had promised to make them permanent by Nov 17 this year, but nothing has been done so far.
‘We’re demanding permanent status to all DGHC – the district’s governing body – employees and we have called this dawn to dusk shutdown protesting against the administrative delay,’ GJM general secretary Roshan Giri told IANS.
According to an official , hundreds of GJM activists had also staged a demonstration Thursday, squatting in front of the office of Darjeeling district magistrate B.L. Meena. Shops, markets and tea gardens were closed and buses and cars were off the roads since Friday morning.
The attendance rate was also very low in schools and colleges in the district though they were kept out of the purview of the strike, an official in the district administration said.
‘We heard that the district magistrate has gone to Kolkata to hold talks with senior state government officials on this issue. We’re expecting that some positive result will come out of the dialogue process,’ Giri added.
‘We’ll decide our next plan of action after hearing the whole matter from the district magistrate,’ he said.The GJM has been heading a movement for a separate Gorkhaland state in the hills, besides opposing the Sixth Schedule status for Darjeeling district that ensures greater autonomy to the district’s governing body DGHC.
The total number of Bhutanese refugees resettled in the third countries has crossed 23.000, according to the UNHCR. Of the total of 107,O17(2007) refugees living in the seven UNHCR administered camps in eastern Nepal, 23,214 have now left for third countries to begin entirely new lives.
Among the seven core group nations resettling the Bhutanese refugees under one of the UNHCR’s largest refugee resettlement programs, the United States has welcome the highest number, with 20,327 resettled there till date. In the same way,Australia has received 959 refugees from Bhutan putting Canada in the third rank resettling 892 Bhutanese in its land. Norway has resettled 310, Denmark, 305 and NewZealand, 299. A small number of the Bhutanese(122) have also reached Netherlands choosing this Northwestern European nation their home.
As an alternative to this tediously drawn-out Bhutanese refugee crisis, UNHCR, with the strong support from the Nepal Government, International Organization for Migration(IOM), resettlement nations and other humanitarian organizations, began the relocation of these refugees in Nov. 2007 solely on humanitarian ground.
The program turned to be controversial and created misunderstanding among the refugees in the beginning and many people didn’t wish to opt it, but now, having seen no other ways to repatriate, around 90% of them have expressed their interest in resettlement.
Weather report dated 20.11.09
Local forecast for next 24 hours (Gangtok & its neighborhood):
Generally cloudy sky . Maximum and minimum temperatures likely to be around 15°C and 09°C respectively .
Gangtok city forecast of Max., Min. & Wx. Condition
Valid for the period
| Max in oC
| Min in oC
| Rainfall
in mm
| Wx condition
|
Next 24 hours
| 15
| 09
|
000.0
|
Generally cloudy sky.
|
Next 48 hours
| 16
| 09
|
000.0
|
Generally cloudy sky.
|
III. Met data dated 20.11.2009
Today’s Sun sets at (in IST)
| 16:40
| Tomorrow Sun rises at (in IST)
| 05:58
|
Moon rises at (in IST)
| 09:43
| Moon sets at (in IST)
| 20:27
|
24 hours rainfall (in mm)
| 000.0
|
Max Temp.(in 0C)
| 16.3
| Dep. from normal
| -1.7
|
Min Temp.(in 0C)
| 09.0
| Dep. from normal
| +1.0
|
(विद्यपती मिश्र) नेपालमा प्रजातन्त्र आए लगत्तैको सन् १९९० को समय भूटानको प्रजातान्त्रिक आन्दोलनको एक महत्वपूर्ण समय थियो । त्यतिखेर भूटानले आफ्नै नागरिकहरूलाई देशभित्र बसेर बोल्न त दिएन नै; देशमा बस्न पनि दिएन । नागरिकहरू शरणार्थी हुन बाध्य भए । भूटानमै छँदा सुरु गरेको ‘बोल्न पाऊँ’ अभियानको धुक्धुकी शरणार्थी बन्दा पनि मेटिएन । फलतः शरणार्थी बनेको करिब एक दशकपछि भूटानी शरणार्थी समुदायमा पत्रकारिता फस्टाउन थाल्यो- बोल्न पाउने अधिकारको खोजी गर्दै ।
आज भूटानी शरणार्थीहरू मध्येबाटै पाँच दर्जनभन्दा बढी पत्रकार जन्मेका छन् । साधन स्रोतको सीमितता अनि अवसरको अभावका कारण उनीहरूले आफ्नो क्षमतालाई तिखार्न सकिरहेका छैनन् । करिब दुइ दर्जन पत्रिका शरणार्थी समुदायको पहलमा उदाए पनि आर्थिक समस्याका कारण लामो समय टिक्न सकेनन् । त्यसो त उदाउँदो कालमा झापाको स्थानीय प्रशासनले पनि शरणार्थी पत्रकारमाथि कुदृष्टि नै राख्यो ।
प्रतिकुलता र कठोरताकाबीच पनि भूटानी शरणार्थी पत्रकारहरूले प्रेस स्वतन्त्रताको आन्दोलन जारी राखे । विश्व समुदायले प्रेस स्वतन्त्रताको पक्षमा चासो र दबाब दिइरहेको छ । नेपालमै पनि पत्रकारका अधिकारका पक्षमा आन्दोलन जारी छ । यो अवस्थामा पनि शरणार्थी भएकै कारण कतिपय न्यूनतम अवसरबाट पनि पन्छाइएको तीता अनुभव संगालेका छन्, शरणार्थी पत्रकारहरूले । जबकि नेपालको प्रेस स्वतन्त्रताका धेरै जसो आन्दोलनमा भूटानी शरणार्थी पत्रकारहरू भौतिक रुपमै साथमा साथ मिलाइरहेका पाइन्छन् । उनीहरूलाई राम्ररी थाहा छ- बोल्नसमेत प्रतिबन्ध लगाउने भूटान सरकारले शरणार्थीका सवालमा केही गर्ला भनें आशा गर्ने अवस्था छैन ।
यस्तो अवस्थाका बीचमा पनि आज भूटानभित्र जति पत्रकार छन्, प्रवासमा पनि त्यतिकै संख्याको हाराहारीमा पत्रकारहरू जन्मिएका छन् । यिनले परिचय र अवसरको खाँचो अनुभूत गरेका छन् । त्यो खाँचोलाई पूरा गर्ने विभिन्न प्रयास भएका छन् । भूटानी शरणार्थी र भूटानसम्बन्धी समाचार प्रवाह गर्ने स्तम्भ खडा भएको छ- भूटान न्यूज सर्भिस । पुनर्वाशमा गएका शरणार्थीको अवस्था र भावनालाई दरिलो माध्य दिएर आएको छ अमेरीकाबाट संचालित भूटान यूएसएडटकम । त्यस्तै प्रवाशका सुसेलीका नामले भूटानी साहित्य र कलालाई जगेणना गरिरहेको छ नर्वेबाट संचालतिभूट्नीसलिटिरेचर डटकम । यसका अलावा दर्जनौ लोकप्रीय ब्लगहरु पनि आइसकेको अवस्था छ । शरणार्थीहरुको बोल्न पाउने अधिकारका लागि शरणार्थीमात्र यस मिसनमा छैनन् – नेपाली साथीभाइको पनि ठूलो योगदान छ । उदाहरणको रुपमा परिचित तितोपिरोमिठो डटकम त्यसका लागि संधै खडा छ । अनि प्रेस स्वतन्त्रताको वकालत गरिरहेको छ र गर्न तयार छ- एसोसिएसन अफ प्रेस फ्रिडम एक्टिभिष्ट । रेडियोमार्फत शरणार्थी सरोकार कार्यक्रमले श्रोतालाई ताजा जानकारी पस्कने काम गरिरहेको छ ।
यी र यस्तै विषयलाई दरिलो ढंगले अभिलेखीकरण गर्दै भूटानमा प्रेस स्वतन्त्रताका निम्ति आवाज उठाइरहेका शरणार्थी पत्रकार टि.पि. मिश्रले यसै वर्ष एक पुस्तक लेख्नुभएको छ- बिकमिंग अ जर्नालिष्ट इन एग्जायल । यो संर्घष र यथार्थको एउटा दरिलो संगम हो । यस पुस्तकले आम पाठकले पढ्न नपाइरहेका विषयवस्तुबाट केही तथ्य उद्घाटित गरेको छ ।
भूटानी शरणार्थी पत्रकारिता र पत्रकारहरूको अवस्थाका सम्बन्धमा तयार पारिएको यो पुस्तकले दमनका बीचमा पनि कसरी प्रेस स्वतन्त्रताका लागि संर्घष गर्न सकिन्छ भन्ने मार्गदर्शन गरेको छ । वर्तमान पुस्ताका लागि अवस्थाको जानकारी दिने, पुराना पुस्ताको अभिलेखीकरण गर्ने अंग्रेजी भाषाको यो पुस्तक भावी पुस्ताका लागि प्रेरणा प्रदान गर्न सहयोगी सिद्ध हुने विश्वास गर्न सकिन्छ । लेखक मिश्रसंगै अन्य ५ जना पत्रकार र एक जना सामाजिक विश्लेषकले पनि निर्वाशनको पत्रकारिता वा पत्रकारिताको थालनीका विषयमा यस पुस्तकमा कलम चलाएका छन् ।
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