VIVEK CHHETRI, TT, Darjeeling, Feb. 3: The CPRM, the second largest party in the Darjeeling hills, today said it was a “rational” thinking on the part of the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha to exclude those areas in the Dooars and the Terai from Gorkhaland where other communities are in majority.
R.B. Rai, the general secretary of the CPRM and also a former MP from Darjeeling, said: “One has to be rational. We cannot afford to leave out areas where our people are in a majority. However, we must be rational and think twice before demanding places where there is no presence of our people (in Dooars and Terai). We do not think that a Gorkhaland where the Gorkhas are in a minority should be formed.”
The same logic was put forward in the “secret proposal” that Morcha president sent to the Centre recently. The CPRM’s stand was made public after the central committee met in Darjeeling yesterday.
The party, however, said the Morcha should “dare” and make its “proposed set-up” public as early as possible. “The issue of Gorkhaland is related to the political identity of the Indian Gorkhas. The Morcha must let us know whether such a set-up addresses this core issue. If the (Morcha) set-up is in tune with the people’s aspiration, we can think of it otherwise, it is meaningless,” said Rai.
Morcha president Bimal Gurung had earlier said the “set-up proposal” sent to the Centre was supposed to make the statehood demand more palatable. The Morcha leader had also said there would be a slight change in the name of the new state that the party wants (till now it is called Gorkhaland) but in the same breath had re-affirmed that he would not settle for any thing less than statehood. Morcha sources had also said the party was redrawing the map to exclude those areas in the Dooars and Terai where there was no presence of the Gorkhas.
Every since the Morcha indicated that the Gorkhaland map would be redrawn, there have been strong reactions from Gorkhas living in the Dooars who fear that they would be disappointed like they had been in 1988 when the DGHC was formed.
In the 80s, the Gorkhaland agitation under the GNLF headed by Subash Ghisingh had also spread to the Dooars. Despite violent protests from other communities living in the region, the Gorkha population had continued to support Ghisingh. However, when Ghisingh settled for the DGHC in 1988, the entire Dooars and the Terai were excluded and the GNLF virtually stopped all its activities in the region.
It was only after the Morcha was formed in 2007 that a serious campaign was started in the Dooars. Observers believe that the move to “slightly change the name” of Gorkhaland was made to make the statehood demand more inclusive even though the exact nomenclature is not yet known. But the party’s indication that the map of Gorkhaland would be redrawn has made the Gorkhas in the Dooars wary. They fear a rerun of 1988.
The CPRM decision to back the Morcha move is being interpreted as an attempt to act as a responsible Opposition and not merely object to every move for the sake of opposing. “The CPRM is likely to receive much attention after its announcement as it has not only taken into account ground realities but has acted like a responsible Opposition by demanding that the document sent to the Centre be made public for a proper debate,” said an observer.
Bandh call to stall Morcha
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TT, Jaigaon, Feb. 3: The Akhil Bharatiya Adivasi Vikas Parishad has called a 12-hour bandh in the Dooars on February 7 to protest the Gorkha Janmukti Yuva Morcha’s decision to hold a public meeting in Birpara on that day.
The general secretary of the Parishad’s state committee, Tejkumar Toppo, the chairman of the outfit’s Terai-Dooars regional committee, John Barla, the secretary, Rajesh Lakra and other leaders met at their Birpara office this afternoon and announced the decision to call the bandh.
“We will not allow the Yuva Morcha to go ahead with the meeting. We have asked all our members in the Madarihat-Birpara tea garden belt to join the rally on February 7. Members of our Calcutta unit will also attend the rally,” Barla said.
Barla said the main reason for holding the rally was to foil the Yuva Morcha’s meeting. “Along with the protest, we will once again renew the demand for Sixth Schedule status for the Terai-Dooars area on February 7. Our units will take out processions from different gardens and congregate at Birpara,” he said.
The Parishad leaders, however, said emergency services would be exempted from the purview of the bandh.
“We have been strongly protesting the inclusion of the Terai and the Dooars in the Morcha’s proposed map of Gorkhaland. We want the Sixth Schedule status for the overall development of this region,” said another Parishad leader.
When the attention of the Parishad leaders was turned to recent reports that the Morcha had scaled down its statehood demand and now want only Gorkha-dominated pockets of Terai and Dooars in Gorkhaland, the leaders said “that too is unacceptable”.
The convener of the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha’s Dooars unit, Madhukar Thapa, said he had heard about the Parishad’s call for bandh. “I will not make any comment. Our zonal committee will meet at Birpara tomorrow and we will decide on our next course of action.”
SMC warns milkmen
Siliguri, Feb. 3: The Siliguri Municipal Corporation organised a drive to prevent the sale of adulterated milk at Darjeeling More and Pradhannagar today.
Officials of the food and conservancy departments of the civic body collected samples from milkmen and warned eight of them against selling poor quality milk. Such drives will be conducted on regular intervals, officials said.
Parents protest pay-up notice
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Siliguri, Feb. 3: The Guardians’ Forum of North Bengal today lodged a protest with the district inspector of schools (secondary) against New St John’s High School for issuing a notice asking its student to clear the dues by February 18.
The DI has asked the school to withdraw the notice.
The guardians’ move comes close on the heels of the alleged harassment of primary students by Don Bosco School on the same ground.
“Despite being present at the meeting on December 16 with two senior officials of the state education department which resolved that the government is expected to come up with a decision by February 20 and till then none of the schools would pressure the students who have not paid the revised fees, the school authorities issued this notice yesterday. This is surprising,” said Sandeepan Bhattacharjee, the forum president. “We consider this as a gross violation of the resolution taken and want the DI to take action against the school.”
According to the forum, the school has 888 students and the average revised fee for August 2009 is Rs 928.57. “However, the data available with the provident fund department shows that the total monthly salaries paid to teachers and other employees by the school is Rs 89,400,” Bhattacharjee said. “If we add the PF share provided by the school, the total expense comes to Rs 1,00,575 a month. If we consider that the expenditure is to be realised from the students’ fees, the average fee comes to Rs 113.26 which means the school is charging more than Rs 800 extra from a student every month.”
The forum alleged that the school has been taking over Rs 7 lakh extra every month on account of the revised fees. “It is surprising that though the school does not have a games teacher, does not hold annual sports meet and lacks a playground, it is charging Rs 17,850 annually as games fee,” Bhattacharjee said.
School principal Kamal Bhattacharjee could not be contacted. An office assistant of the school who introduced himself as S. Dasgupta said over the phone: “The notice served to the students is self-explanatory. We have no information that it will be rescinded.”
Asit Chakraborty, the DI, has written a letter to the school. “I have told them that the notice has dishonoured the resolution of the December 16 meeting,” he said. “The school authorities have been asked to withdraw the notice and reminded of the resolution ”
Bhattacharjee said tomorrow they would visit the additional superintendent of police, asking him to take steps against Don Bosco School.
Approach to AF Triunal on Sukuna Scam
PTI,New Delhi, Feb 3: Lt. Gen Avadesh Prakash, former Military Secretary who is facing court martial in the Sukna land scam, is likely to approach the Armed Forces Tribunal against the disciplinary action initiated against him by the army.
Gen Prakash, who was attached to the Western Command and asked to remain in Delhi until further orders, will approach theTribunal in a couple of days, sources close to him said today.
The former Military Secretary found himself in the dock after an ArmyCourt of Inquiry indicted him along with two other Lt Generals and aMajor General for issuing a No Objection Certificate for the sale of 71 acres of land adjacent to Sukna military station near Darjeeling to a private realtor last year.
The scam came to light after the Army found out that the private realtor, Dilip Agarwal, had falsely claimed to set up an educational institution affiliated to Ajmer-based Mayo College.Center starts to move on Telangana PanelPTI, NEW DELHI, 3 Feb: The Centre today started deliberations on finalising the terms of reference (TOR) for the five-member committee constituted to look into the demand for a separate Telangana state.
Member-secretary of the newly-constituted committee, Mr Vinod K Duggal, held a nearly 30 minute-long meeting with home minister Mr P Chidambaram and home secretary Mr Gopal K Pillai and discussed the broad contours of the TOR. Sources said Mr Duggal would travel to Mumbai later in the day to discuss the terms of reference with Justice (Retd) BN Srikrishna, who is in the financial metropolis. "We are trying our best to quickly put in place the terms of reference,” an official said.
The TOR is likely to be announced by the weekend. Mr Pillai had said yesterday that the terms of reference of the committee were being drafted and would be finalised in consultation with the chairman of the committee. The committee would hold wide-ranging consultations with all sections of people and different political parties and groups on “the situation in Andhra Pradesh”. The other members of the committee are Mr Ranbir Singh, Mt Abusaleh Shariff and Mr Ravinder Kaur.
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