GJM Seeks Consensus on Gorkhaland

TNN/TOI 8 Jan, DARJEELING: Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) has started the process of garnering political consensus on the issue of creating Gorkhaland. 

From Thursday, a letter of appeal on the Gorkhaland demand is being sent to more than 22 national and regional political parties. "We are sending letters to the presidents of various national and regional parties from today, seeking their support for creation of a state of Gorkhaland," GJM secretary Roshan Giri said in Darjeeling on Thursday. 

Letters will be sent to CPM, Congress, Trinamool Congress, BJP, Bahujan Samaj Party, Forward Bloc and BJD at the national level. In the last round of tripartite talks on December 21 at Darjeeling, Union home secretary G K Pillai had stressed the need to acquire political consensus for the separate statehood demand to move ahead through negotiations. 

"There are misconceptions and misunderstanding about the Gorkhaland demand among various national parties, as well as among common people. Through our appeal, we want the parties to understand the importance and aspirations of people of the Hills," said Giri. 

The letter points out that Gorkhas just like any other community living in the country are citizens of India and that they have played an important role in achieving Independence and protecting the nation. 

The GJM leader announced that shutdown in all government offices in the Hills would resume from Friday. There was a relaxation in the shutdown of government offices for eight days December 31, 2009, to January 7. "The shutdown of all government offices will resume from Friday. However, we have exempted some departments from the closure so that people are not inconvenienced," said Giri. The food and supply office will remain open on Mondays and Tuesdays, while the post office will be allowed to work on Mondays, Thursdays and Fridays only. 

Departments involved in providing emergency and essential services, such as waterworks, conservancy and electrical maintenance, and tourists spots such as Darjeeling Zoo, Himalayan Mountaineering Institute and the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway have also been exempted.

Morcha letter to 24 outfits

TT, Darjeeling, Jan. 7: The Gorkha Janmukti Morcha has written to 24 political parties across the country, including the CPM and the Trinamul Congress, seeking support and trying to justify the need for the creation of Gorkhaland. “Our party president, Bimal Gurung, has written the letter and it is a move to create a political consensus and to reach out to all political parties in the country,” said Roshan Giri, the general secretary of the Morcha, here today. “We are confident that many political parties will realise the aspirations of the people of this region and we also hope that others will understand that we are different from the rest of Bengal,” said Giri, hinting that the Morcha was not expecting any positive feedback from Bengal-centric political parties. Without disclosing the contents of the letter, Giri said the Morcha demand for a state was justified and the letter asked for equal treatment as citizens of India. Leader assaulted SNS, SILIGURI, 7 JAN: A Sukna-based Gorkha Jan Mukti Morcha leader, Mr Pradip Chhetri was assaulted while extorting money from the local traders for his organisation. He was hospitalized. The GJMM leadership denied any involvement of the party in the incident. The police have registered a case. “We have received a complaint and stared investigation,” said the Pradhannagar IC, Mr Swapan Ghosh. Forest ‘takeover’ FIR TT, Alipurduar, Jan. 7: The stand-off between the villagers of Kodal Ban Basti and the forest department continues, with the beat officer lodging an FIR against five members of a gram sabha who led the “takeover” of a forest tract yesterday. The villagers staked claim to a 2,985-hectare plot and hung up signboards declaring that no one, including the forest department, could indulge in any activity on the land without the permission of the gram sabha they had formed recently. They cited the provisions of the Scheduled Tribes and other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006. The act is yet to be enforced in the state. Shyamal Rava, a member of the gram sabha, said: “We have acted according to a Union government law and if anyone tries to remove the signboards, we will lodge a police complaint.” He said there was also a plan to set up gates at the entrance of the forest to keep out intruders at night. “Police came today. They told us to set up the gates after a while,” he claimed. Om Prakash, the divisional forest officer of wildlife III, who visited the Kodal Basti area, 25km from here, today, said the forest staff had been asked to remove the boards. They were, however, there till late in the afternoon. “We have lodged an FIR at the Hasimara police outpost against five members of the gram sabha,” Om Prakash said, adding that a gram sabha could have jurisdiction only on community forest, which was not the case of the tract that had been “taken over”. “The act defines community forest clearly and the area does not fall in that category. Someone is misguiding the villagers,” Om Prakash said. Basu on Ventilator Support TNN/TOI, KOLKATA: An early morning scare fuelled daylong alarm about CPM patriarch Jyoti Basu’s health on Wednesday. ‘Jyoti Basu dead,’ screamed some websites, fuelling rumours that had the entire city holding its breath. A medical bulletin in the evening finally reined in the alarmists. Basu is in a critical condition, but improving, it said.  Doctors hope that the ‘positive changes’ persist for the next 36 hours. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is arriving in the city around noon on Thursday to visit Basu.  What started the scare was Basu being put on ventilator support early on Wednesday to control a “serious breathing problem”. Basu, who is suffering from pneumonia, was admitted to AMRI Hospital, Salt Lake, on New Year’s Day.  The 95-year-old leader’s condition took a turn for the worse around 3 am on Wednesday, say sources. The paramedical staff attending to him round-the-clock raised the alarm when they saw him gasping for breath despite oxygen support. For nearly an hour, efforts were made to restore normal breathing. By then, other parameters, like blood pressure, had started fluctuating. With no option left, the medical board decided to switch to ventilator support. During his previous hospital stays, Basu has never needed this.  “He had to be put on ventilator since his condition was not very stable. The response has not been very encouraging. He has respiratory problems. New medicines have been given. It has to be seen how he responds,” said A K Maity, Basu’s long-standing doctor and a member of the medical board.  By the time the city and the rest of the country had woken up, Basu’s doctors and paramedics were in a battle to save his life. At 11.30 am, a medical bulletin said Basu’s condition was critical. From then on, all roads led to the hospital. IANS ADDS: Marxist patriarch Jyoti Basu, hospitalised on Jan 1 following a pneumonia attack, did not exhibit any significant improvement on Thursday, though his ventilator support was partially reduced, doctors said. An "anxious and concerned" Prime Minister Manmohan Singh visited the AMRI Hospital here where the 95-year-old former West Bengal chief minister is admitted in the intensive Cardiac Care Unit (ICCU). The prime minister offered to arrange for any medical expert needed to treat him. A morning medical bulletin issued by the hospital said the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) veteran had fluctuating blood pressure. However, the evening bulletin said the use of blood-pressure stabilising drugs has been reduced. "Today (Thursday) there was no significant improvement in his condition. But one good thing is that his ventilation support has been reduced to partial," said the bulletin. Basu was put on a ventilator early Wednesday following acute respiratory problems. The prime minister, accompanied by union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee and Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, spent 22 minutes at the hospital in Kolkata's satellite township Salt Lake. He saw Basu from outside the ICCU and discussed his condition with doctors. "He told them (the medical board) that if they thought it necessary, he would arrange for any expert doctors from any part of the country," former Lok Sabha speaker Somnath Chatterjee told mediapersons. Manmohan Singh also spoke to Basu's son Chandan and extended his best wishes for the ailing leader's speedy recovery. "We are deeply touched by the trouble the prime minister has taken to come and visit our leader," said Chatterjee, an expelled CPI-M leader. Union Minister of State for Health Dinesh Trivedi said the prime minister was "concerned and anxious" about Jyoti Basu's condition. "Jyoti Basu is very precious. The government of India is ready to do anything that can be done. It is for the doctors to ask. The doctors have said if they feel the need, they will definitely put in such a request," said Trivedi. The prime minister arrived in Kolkata from Delhi in a special aircraft around 12.30 p.m. only to visit Basu. After the brief one-and-a-half hour visit to the city, he returned to Delhi. In a bid to ensure foolproof security for the prime minister, the state administration installed jammers and Special Protection Group (SPG) personnel threw a security cordon around the hospital. The state government deployed a large number of armed policemen, Special Action Force (SAF) and Rapid Action Force (RAF) personnel to ensure foolproof security for the prime minister. A steady stream of political luminaries called on Basu on Thursday. Governor Devanand Konwar, Tripura Chief Minister Manik Sarkar, his Assam counterpart Tarun Gogoi, CPI-M general secretary Prakash Karat and his party comrades Brinda Karat and Sitaram Yechury were among those who visited the hospital. Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) president Jagmohan Dalmiya also visited the ailing leader, who holds the record for the longest stint as chief minister after having being at the helm of affairs in the state for 23 uninterrupted years.