Centre ready for Talks in political level-GJM

Sabyasachi Bandopadhyay, IE, Kolkata,14 Jan:The Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) has claimed that it received a message from the Union Home Ministry saying the Centre had accepted their demand for political-level talks. The state government is yet to take a decision on the issue.

On December 21, at the tripartite talks held at Darjeeling among representatives of the state government, the Centre and the GJM, the Morcha demanded that they wanted the next level of talks to be held at the political level. The Morcha was to be informed of the Centre and the state’s decision within 45 days.

“No decision has been taken on whether the talks would be held at the political level or not, discussions are still on,” said Ashok Bhattacharya, Minister for Urban Development, who is from Siliguri.

Roshan Giri, the Morcha spokesman, however, told The Indian Express from Darjeeling: “We have received a message from the Union Home Ministry that they have agreed to political level talks. The deadline will end in the first week of February and we are awaiting a concrete decision.”

He said the relay hunger strike — going on at five to six places — and other agitation programmes will continue. “The offices of the state government, too, will remain closed,” Giri said.

The state government, meanwhile, has no plans to ban the Gorkhaland Police (GLP) — the volunteer force of GJM which has almost replaced the Darjeeling police for maintaining law and order — said Home Secretary Ardhendu Sen.

There are reports that retired Gorkha soldiers are training GLP members in arms handling. The CPM unit of Darjeeling has long been demanding a ban on the outfit.

Morcha burn & bury seized booze - Inside GLP hub, telltale signs of an absent govt

Morcha members throw liquor in the pit at the GLP camp at Tribeni on Wednesday. Picture by Suman Tamang VIVEK CHHETRI, TT, Tribeni (Teesta), Jan. 13: Any car approaching the DGHC complex on the confluence of Teesta and Rangeet rivers is dutifully flagged down by a member of the Gorkhaland Personnel who then directs the vehicle to a parking space. The car enters through a makeshift gate to the “GLP camp” — a prominently inscribed signboard on the boundary walls of the complex. In the compound, 35km from Darjeeling town, a flag of the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha flutters in front of the unfinished three-storied building which houses the “office of camp commandant” and dormitories for members of the GLP, a special voluntary squad of the hill party with around 3,000 members. The party, however, puts the figure at 15,000. Within the complex, young boys, who are supposedly paid Rs 2,000 a month for their voluntary service to the party, practise march past. At Tribeni and inside the complex, telltale signs of a non-existent state government are evident, the most prominent being the taking over of the DGHC building in 2008. Against this backdrop, the Morcha today destroyed 5,592 bottles of liquor that the GLP and the Nari Morcha had intercepted in the past five months to “prove” that the Bengal administration was apathetic to the welfare of the hills. The seized liquor bottles. Picture by Suman Tamang Roshan Giri, the general secretary of the Morcha, said: “The Bengal government had so far allowed illegal liquor trade to flourish and this has been proved by the large number of seizures. Our people have been wasting time drinking and it is our duty to safeguard our society.” Giri was referring to a “flourishing illicit liquor market” in the Darjeeling hills dubbing it a product of police inaction. An excavator dug up a 10- foot-deep dumping chute just outside the complex and the “environmentally concerned” Morcha leaders poured the liquor on firewood that was lit at 12 noon. Giri was the first to pour out a bottle and the rest followed him. “We do not want to pose any danger to the environment by dumping the liquor in the rivers. This is why we are sprinkling it on firewood and will cover the dumping chute with earth after burning it,” said Binay Tamang, the assistant secretary of the Morcha. Asked whether the ban on sale of liquor in the hills had been a success, Lt Col (retd) Ramesh Allay, the chief of the GLP, said: “There are things which cannot be banned 100 per cent. Nevertheless, our activities have brought about awareness and have also proved our sincerity for the uplift of society.” The Morcha had banned the entry of “illicit liquor” from Sikkim on August 4. The GLP had been stopping cars coming from the Himalayan state to check if passengers were carrying liquor. The inspector-general of police, north Bengal, K.L. Tamta, had at that time said such raids were illegal and anyone caught conducting them would be arrested. In recent times, the raids on NH31A — the national highway connecting Sikkim to the Darjeeling hills — had come down. The Morcha followed this up with a ban on the sale of liquor in the hills from November 7. This was done to stop the government from earning revenue from liquor sales. All licensed shops were told not to sell liquor. Locally brewed liquor, like thongba, was, however, not banned. “We have deployed the GLP in batches of 30-35 in 13 places across the hills to stop the flow of liquor,” said Allay. The GLP has three camps in Jamuni (near Darjeeling), Teesta and Gorubathan in the Kalimpong subdivision. Allay claimed that the party had already informed the state and the Centre about the GLP’s activities. “We have sent them our training schedule and the governments know that we are not imparting any military training,” he said. Hill beauty with dose of sport - rural USP: adventure NTPC trainees at a rock-climbing session near Damsangri on Wednesday. (Chinlop Fudong Lepcha) RAJEEV RAVIDAS, TT, Kalimpong, Jan. 13: The nooks and corners of Kalimpong is a bundle of contradictions: they promise a holiday spent in the quiet and calm of the hills with an adrenaline high. Determined to give more than what the other parts of the hills have to offer, the people of Damsangri, Sillerey, Tinchuley and Reshi, villages around Pedong, 20km from here, are focussing on adventure sports. The USP includes crash crash courses in rock-climbing from experts, crossing rivers with ropes and bamboo or trekking for miles along the forests rich in flora and fauna. The villages too have not been disappointed: they have been getting a steady flow of visitors even in the off season, which usually lasts till March. “We are promoting these places through Explore New Darjeeling-campaign. The response has been encouraging,” said Sebastian Pradhan, the owner of Reshi Eco-Tourism Resort and the main person behind the campaign. A team of 32 trainee engineers from the National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) based in Farakka were visiting the area today to indulge in rock-climbing and river-crossing as part of their five-day training programme. “I am really enjoying this new experience. We have never participated in such adventure activities in the past,” said Shravan Dasari, a team member. For a day-long rock-climbing course, one has to pay Rs 300. According to Pradhan the amount has to be paid to the organisers who also arrange for the equipment. Experts train the interested individuals in groups of 20. Amit Seth, co-trainer of New Horizon India Limited, which is organising the trip for the engineers, said they will organise similar programmes in the area for 60 more trainee engineers of the NTPC in the next couple of weeks. These places are popular because they have managed to for retain their pristine character. “We only practice eco-friendly tourism. In Sillery, for instance, the local tourism development committee has resolved not to allow people from outside to indulge in any construction activities,” said Pradhan. He added that a home stay project has been implemented in Damsangri. “Villagers are being encouraged to add a room or two to their houses with attached bathrooms to keep tourists,” said Pradhan. Sukna Land Scam Officer on Leave TOI,New Delhi,14 Jan: With the Sukna land scam already casting a shadow on Army Day celebrations on January 15, one of the four indicted generals in the scandal, military secretary Lt-Gen Avadhesh Prakash, has been ‘advised’ to go on a 10-day leave to avoid further embarrassment.  Lt-Gen Prakash, Army chief General Deepak Kapoor’s close aide, is the alleged kingpin in the entire conspiracy. He will now rejoin office only for a few days before he retires on January 31. Incidentally, outgoing 9 Corps chief Lt-Gen G M Nair is likely to be the new military secretary.  Defence minister A K Antony, on his part, on Wednesday said, ‘‘We have received a report from Army chief that he is going to take some disciplinary and administrative proceedings against some of his colleagues, who are involved in this inquiry. At this stage, it is too early on my part to comment.’’  But, as reported by TOI earlier, Gen Kapoor has finalized only ‘administrative action’ — rather than the harsher ‘disciplinary action’ in the shape of a court martial — against Lt-Gen Prakash.  This could lead to a recordable or non-recordable censure, especially with the Army HQ arguing that too much is being made of the Sukna case since not an inch of land was transferred during the episode. The ‘pleasure doctrine’ of the President of India can, of course, be invoked to terminate an officer’s services with immediate effect. Time, of course, is of the essence since Lt-Gen Prakash retires this month-end.  The court of inquiry (CoI) report squarely blames Lt-Gen Prakash for allegedly ‘‘concealing information’’, taking ‘‘undue interest in furthering the vested agenda’’ of real estate developer and ‘family friend’ Dilip Agarwal and ‘‘influencing’’ the other officers indicted in the case.  Apart from Lt-Gen Prakash, ‘administrative action’ has been finalised also against Lt-Gen Ramesh Halgali and Maj-Gen P C Sen, while the then Darjeeling district-based 33 Corps chief Lt-Gen P K Rath faces a court martial under ‘disciplinary action’.  Though the case against Lt-Gen Halgali is relatively mild, the others are accused of actively conspiring to aid the transfer of a 71-acre tea estate adjacent to Sukna military station to Agarwal and others on the pretext of opening an educational campus affiliated to the Ajmer-based Mayo College.  Lt-Gen Prakash and Agarwal are known to be very close to each other, with the latter and his family even visiting the military secretary’s residence three-four times every year. The CoI report mentions that Lt-Gen Prakash had even accompanied Agarwal to Jodhpur to meet Maharaja Gaj Singh in the abortive bid to gain affiliation of Mayo College.