Kalimpong News...GJMM shifts from adamant stand.....Strike of GJVM lifted

Debasis Sarkar, ET, SILIGURI 7 Feb: Amid widespread fear of large scale chaos in the entire Dooars and Terai in the foothills, the region remained more or less peaceful on Sunday as the Gorkha Janamukti Morcha (GJM) finally shifted from its adamant stand of organising a meeting in the Dooars. In turn, the Akhil Bharatiya Adivasi Vikash Parishad (ABAVP), which had called a bandh in the Dooars and Terai, also remained restrained. 

The overall development indicates that GJM is in favour of going slow, at least till February 10 by when it expects the next political level tripartite meet to be announced. 

According to the inspector general police, North Bengal, Mr. K L Tamta, the overall situation remained almost peaceful barring a few isolated incidents. The Gorkha Janamukti Vidyarty Morcha (GJVM) general secretary Mr. K R Pokhrel informed that around 250 GJM supporters who could manage to be at the proposed GJM meeting ground at Birpara in Dooars despite tight picketing and road blockade by the ABAVP, were arrested. 

 

The party, in turn, preferred not to organize the meeting forcefully. The Jalpaiguri district administration had not issued any permission for the meeting. 

 

ABAVP Dooars-Terai Coordination Committee secretary Mr Rajesh Lakra described Sunday’s bandh as a grand success. "I appreciate the way the police and civil administration worked to prevent confrontations," he said. 

However, clearly not inclined to provoke the government before announcement of the next tripartite meet, GJM top leaders on Suday did not come out with very aggressive movement strategies in future in their meetings at Darjeeling or Kalimpong. 

GJM president, Mr Bimal Gurung said in Kalimpong, "We expect the date for the next tripartite meet to be announced by February 10. Failure of the government to announce that will lead us to reorient our course of movement. Meanwhile, several activities including processions with candles and hunger strikes by our organizations will continue. 

But, we will not allow government vehicles to ply in the hills and police stations will remain closed." While condemning the lathicharge on GJVM volunteers on Thursday in Siliguri, Mr Gurung warned, "We will react in an entirely different way if anything of this sort takes place in the future even once." 

Meanwhile, GJVM general secretary, Mr. K R Pokhrel said, "We are postponing the indefinite students strike on request from the guardians. I regret the loss caused by the strike. But, our relay hunger strike will continue."

Morcha Turns off heat Gurung's drive out threat

Gurung gestures at the Kalimpong crowd. (CF Lepcha) TT, Kalimpong, Feb. 7: Gorkha Janmukti Morcha president Bimal Gurung today said his outfit would drive away the top administrative and police officers from the hills and run its own regime if the next round of tripartite talks did not bear fruit. Addressing a rally 5km from Kalimpong town, he said the hills had people experienced enough to run the administration. “We’ll chase out the DM, the SP, the DSP and the SDOs. We have already done a detailed study…. We know how much money is required to pay the salaries of staff and how to generate revenue.” In Darjeeling, Morcha general secretary Roshan Giri revealed that a “secret” proposal Gurung had sent to the Centre dealt with an interim arrangement — till the 2011 Assembly elections — for the area they wanted as Gorkhaland. “Every point in our proposal will have to be accepted. There will be no compromise on Gorkhaland,” he said. The Morcha students’ wing has already given a call to stall movement of government vehicles in the hills after Thursday night’s police baton charge on a group fasting near Siliguri for permission to hold a rally in the plains. In protest, a constable was beaten up brutally and two state buses were torched. Gurung said Delhi would announce the dates for the fifth round of talks on February 9 or 10. “Since the talks will be held at the political level, I expect (chief minister) Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee and Union home minister P. Chidambaram and myself to take part in it,” he said. He warned that he would not accept “someone like (state urban development minister) Asok Bhattacharya representing the state”. “I will not talk to those who have come through the barbed wire fence from Bangladesh,” he added. Gurung also took potshots at Sikkim chief minister Pa- wan Chamling, suggesting he had a hand behind a Sikkim resident’s petition in the Sup-reme Court against frequent Morcha blockades on National Highway 31A, the only road link to the Himalayan state. At Birpara in Alipurduar, in the plains, police today arrested over 300 Morcha supporters who had assembled for a rally flouting prohibitory orders. They had planned the rally in memory of a Morcha supporter killed last year in a clash with Adivasis opposed to the demand for Gorkhaland.

Education strike called off TT, Siliguri, Feb. 7: The Gorkha Janmukti Vidyarthi Morcha has postponed its indefinite education strike in the district, which it had called on Friday to protest the police lathicharge on its supporters here a day earlier. However, the Morcha ban on movement of government vehicles in the hills will continue. “Guardians and school authorities requested us to withdraw our strike… we decided to postpone (the strike),” Vidyarthi Morcha Keshavraj Pokhral told a news conference at Dagapur today. “We have nothing against the residents of Siliguri, but the state government tried to foil our movement applying force… we will stick to our decision to not allow any police or government vehicle to ply in the hills unless we get permission to hold a meeting here,” Pokhral added. The student outfit will also continue with its relay hunger strike in Darjeeling, Kalimpong, Kurseong, Siliguri and the Dooars. Pokhral also came down heavily on Bengal urban development minister Asok Bhattacharya, who had said yesterday that the administration would look after all educational institutions up to Sukna should they decide to remain open during the strike. “Being a minister why is he not bothered about the students of the hills,” Pokhral said. Most of the schools in the hills, however, are shut for winter and will open only at the end of this month. In Kalimpong, Morcha president Bimal Gurung said the women’s wing will take out candlelight processions from 4pm to 7pm every Saturday and Sunday. Morcha meeting Thwarted-350 held Arrested Morcha members get into a police van. (Anirban Choudhury) Birpara (Alipurduar), Feb. 7: Police today prevented the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha from holding a memorial meeting at Birpara by arresting around 250 supporters who had assembled defying a prohibitory order. Another 100 workers were picked up later when they marched to Birpara police station. A 12-hour bandh called by the Adivasi Vikas Parishad to scuttle the Morcha meeting affected life in the Dooars. The Morcha had announced the meeting at Birpara Nepali High School grounds, 65km from here, in memory of Akbar Lama, a party supporter who had died in a clash with Parishad members on this day last year. The Parishad had called for the bandh to thwart the Morcha meeting. Section 144 was imposed in Birpara police station area yesterday. But a large number of Morcha members from different parts of the Dooars reached Birpara last night to avoid the Parishad picketers. At 9 this morning, about 250 workers were arrested when they had gathered near the stage erected for the memorial service and all were charged with violating Section 144. Alleging that they had been picked up illegally, two workers smashed the window glass of the police van with their fists. They suffered injuries on the hands. About 11am, around 100 Morcha members were also taken into custody while marching towards Birpara police station to protest the earlier arrests. Madhukar Thapa, the convener of the Dooars Committee of the Morcha, said: “Police arrested our people illegally. In a democratic country, can’t we pay tribute to a martyr?” The strike by the Dooars Terai Co-ordination Committee of the Parishad hit life in Nagrakata, Malbazar, Banarhat, Birpara, Kalchini, Madarihat and Falakata. Four shops were damaged and two traders attacked by bandh supporters at Bhoiraber near Falakata. All arrested protesters were released on bail. UK Toy Train Lovers on trip to Check Funds File picture of DHRS members at the toy train station in Darjeeling TT, Siliguri, Feb. 7: After two years, Darjeeling Himalayan Railway Society chairman David Barrie is visiting Darjeeling this week to review the projects his organisation has funded for people living along the tracks. Barrie’s wife Moo, a trustee of the Darjeeling Railway Community Support Group, the charity wing of the DHRS, will also accompany him during the 12-day trip. They will arrive here on February 11 and leave for the UK on February 23. The DHRS, a UK-based society of toy train lovers, and its two wings, the DRCS and the DHR Education Group, are involved in education, health and employment projects for the people living along the tracks. In the past few years, the DRCS has helped set up children’s parks at Tindharia and Rongtong, a preparatory school at Kurseong and a tailoring training centre for women at Gayabari. “One of the key things about our tour is we like to meet the communities that live along the DHR and review the projects. When we come as tourists it separates us from the people. We want to penetrate the invisible bubble between tourist and the person for whom this area is home. My wife also wants to look at the school we are helping to fund through our charity fund raising at Kurseong,” Barrie wrote in an e-mail to The Telegraph. The Education Group works to create awareness and local support for the toy train, which enjoys the Unesco World Heritage status, by providing resource material to schools in the region. The DHRS was presented with the Best International Achievement Award in September last year by the Association of Community Rail Partnerships, a federation of over 60 community rail partnerships and rail promotion groups in the UK, for the projects along the toy train tracks. “We want to focus on this region of outstanding natural beauty and friendly and helpful people. We think its all part of the holiday experience to meet and talk with the people of the region. If we can say a ‘Thank you’ for their hospitality by giving something more in return then that would be the icing on the cake!” Barrie wrote. To give an additional boost to the projects, the couple is bringing along a group of 26 European steam enthusiasts who are interested in the DHR affairs, most of whom are first time visitors to Darjeeling. “As I have been captivated by the DHR and Darjeeling, there are others too who wanted to fulfill their dream of visiting the World Heritage Railway. By bringing tour groups there’s a chance of getting them interested in our community projects. That’s how our fund raising began for worthwhile projects in the region,” he wrote referring to a similar trip a few years ago from which the DHRS conceived the idea of establishing the DRCS to help the local people. On the first day of its trip, the group will visit the locomotive shed at Siliguri and explore the tracks. They will also enjoy a three-meal course in a dining charter from Siliguri Junction to Rongtong in the evening. The group’s itinerary includes chartered rides on the toy train, a visit to Kurseong and to Makaibari Tea Estate, and trips to Mirik, Gorumara National Park and Jaldapara Wildlife Sanctuary. The DHRS team will also take a chartered ride from Siliguri Junction through the forests of Sukna to Tindharia where the B class (a type of model) steam locomotive workshop is located.