CPI differs with state govt on Hill crisis

SILIGURI, May 6: The Communist Party of India (CPI) is not supporting the state government over the Darjeeling issue. The party holds that the state government has been taking many decisions, which are queering the pitch further instead of restoring normalcy in the strife-torn Darjeeling Hills.
For instance, the CPI has taken strong exception to the state urban development minister Mr Asok Bhattacharya’s recent statement asking the tourists to skip Darjeeling Hills. Apart from this the party welcomed the state’s recent decision of allowing the Gorkha Jana Mukti Morcha (GJMM) to organise a rally in Siliguri over its Gorkhaland demand.

The CPI state secretary Mr Manju Kumar Majumder today said that his party was critical of Mr Bhattacharya’s recent request to tourist to skip the Darjeeling Hills. “This is not expected of a minister holding a very important portfolio in the state government. Especially, at this critical juncture when the situation in the Hills is charged with mistrust and acrimony the state minister should have spoken more responsibly. Tourism as a mainstay of the Hill economy has nothing to do with political unrest. Tourism should be encouraged further as a means of bringing normalcy in the Hills,” the CPI leader said.
Welcoming the volte-face on the part of the state government over the GJMM Siliguri rally issue the CPI state secretary said that the decision was right. “If there is any apprehension of breach of peace the administration should be well-equipped to tackle it in the right manner,” Mr Majumder added. [The Statesman]

Mentally disturbed son hacks parents to death

DARJEELING, May 6: Dilmaya Rai ( 67 ) of Aarubutia Busty, who was hacked with an axe by her son, died at Darjeeling Sadar Hospital at 3 a.m. today. The incident, which took place at around 9 p.m. on Monday, also claimed the life of her husband Prem Bahadur Rai ( 66 ), who died on the spot. The accused, Sahadeo Rai ( 28 ) tried to commit suicide after committing the crime but survived and is admitted at the Darjeeling Sadar Hospital. “His condition is critical. He is presently undergoing treatment,” said Mr Kumar Sinha, OC, Lodhama police station.

According to police, the accused is the youngest among five brothers and is mentally disturbed and committed the crime in a fit of rage. “He used to get these attacks every now and then but yesterday he went out of control and killed his parents,” stated Mr Sinha. The case has been registered under 302 IPC.

Bangla O Bangla Bhasa Bachao Committee calls for 24-hour bandh today!

SILIGURI, May 7: The ‘Bangla O Bangla Bhasa Bachao Committee,’ (BOBBBC) has called for a 24-hour Siliguri bandh today against the renewed Gorkhaland demand.

The bandh call coincides with Gorkha Janmukti Morcha’s proposed public meeting at the Indira Gandhi Maidan in Siliguri today to campaign for the Gorkhaland demand. The GJMM is claiming the inclusion of Siliguri and the Dooars in the demanded Gorkhaland territory. In a Press release issued today, the BOBBBC urged the people of Siliguri to make today’s bandh a success. [The Statesman]

GJMM submits memorandum to CM for Gorkhaland

DARJEELING, May 6: The Gorkha Jana Mukti Morcha today submitted a memorandum to chief minister Mr Buddhadeb Bhattacharya stating that only the separate state of Gorkhaland would fulfill the aspirations of the people of Darjeeling and adjoining areas of Dooars and Siliguri. The memorandum states that the people of the region have been deprived politically, socially and economically and only the separate state of Gorkhaland would bring them at par with the National mainstream.

This comes as a follow-up to Mr Bhattacharya’s recent statement that the demands of the GJMM were not clear. Mr Bhattacharya also stated that he co-uld take no action on the issue on the basis of reports in the newspapers, thereby requesting the GJMM to submit a written memorandum to the state government and the Centre. The memorandum states: “Darjeeling and Dooars were never a part of West Bengal but were annexed to West Bengal by accidents of history.” GJMM has appealed the state government to consider the demand in a new perspective and to deliver justice immediately. [The Statesman]

DM clamps Section 144 in Cooch Behar

COOCH BEHAR, May 6: With the panchayat polls round the corner, Mr Rajesh Kumar Sinha, DM, Cooch Behar has clamped Section 144 Cr PC to prohibit people from carrying arms and weapons in public processions and meetings in the district. As political parties are campaigning for their respective candidates before the polls, they are carrying lathis, sharp-weapons in order to flaunt their dominance in an area and to intimidate rival groups and common people. Some major clashes were also reported during these processions in some parts of the district in which several people were injured.  The DM said that he enforced the order to prevent disturbance in society and to ensure public safety not only during the elections but also after the elections till 5 June.  [The Statesman]

900 cops for GJMM public meet

SILIGURI, May 6: The Darjeeling district administration has called in additional police forces in view of the Gorkha Jana Mukti Morcha’s public meeting at the Indira Gandhi Maidan in Siliguri tomorrow.  According to police sources, 900 of the extra forces, summoned from the adjoining sub-divisions, would be deployed in and around the venue adjacent to the National Highway (NH) 31. The rest would be kept on standby at the police reserve, Mallaguri in the town.  While the GJMM spokesperson Mr Binoy Tamang said that they were expecting a gathering of about two and half lakh supporters at the Siliguri meeting tomorrow, the administration is assuming a gathering of nearly a lakh.

Teachers’ council accuses NBU of inaction in pilfering case

SILIGURI, May 6: A section of the North Bengal University Teachers’ Council has alleged that the NBU authorities were sitting on charges of economic irregularity against the former vice chancellor Mr Pijush Kanti Saha, former controller of examinations Mr Dilip Kumar Sarkar, who is now the university’s registrar, and the institution’s financial officer Mr Pradip Ghosh. “Though the NBUTC demanded an impartial probe into the economic irregularity charges involving a huge amount almost an year back, the university authority has not yet initiated any investigation,” said the NBUTC secretary Mr Jyotish Basak.
“The NBU Teachers’ Council had charged the university authority with lack of transparency in financial affairs. It was suspected that irregular dealings were being done at the highest level of the university involving huge amounts allocated for the university’s upgradation. No probe was initiated for obvious reasons,” Mr Basak stated.

Green light for Panan hydel plant

Gangtok, May 6: A review committee set up by the Sikkim government has shelved the implementation of four hydel power projects in Dzongu, but given the nod to the biggest one located in the heart of the Lepcha reserve. [Inset: Dawa Lepcha with social activist Medha Patkar at a Gangtok hospital during the indefinite fast. File picture]

The committee’s suggestion that the 280mw Panan project was feasible, based on sustainable development, will not please Affected Citizen’s of Teesta (ACT), the organisation spearheading the protests against mega hydel power projects in Sikkim. ACT had earlier expressed its reservations about the composition of the committee headed by chief secretary N.D. Chingapa.

Row over dump-yard shift

Kalimpong, May 6 RAJEEV RAVIDAS: A residents’ committee here has invoked the Right to Information Act to ask the municipality and the subdivisional administration to explain the delay in shifting the town’s dumping yard from Lower Bhalukhop to the new site at Lower Newargaon.

The authorities had promised on October 5 last year to get the work done in six months. The residents believe that the current dump-yard had contributed to the landslides in Lower Bhalukhop in September 2007. Afterwards, they had prevented municipality vehicles from dumping wastes at the site.

The agitation was withdrawn after the new site, located outside the municipal area, was identified and the authorities set a six-month deadline on themselves for shifting the dumping yard.

“The six months have come and gone, but there are no signs of the new dump-yard,” said Bishnu Chhetri, the coordinator of the Bhalukhop Disaster Management Committee, which submitted the RTI application yesterday. Chhetri hinted that depending on the official response, the committee might restart its agitation.

Kalimpong subdivisional officer P.T. Sherpa said the matter primarily concerned the municipality. “The approach road to the new site at Lower Newargaon is under construction and once that is done, the dump-yard will be developed. The funds for the project is available with the municipality. Hopefully, the shifting should take place before the monsoon,” he added.

Holiday & ‘leave’ for Morcha rally - Gurung ally in poll dilemma

Cooch Behar, May 6: The Greater Cooch Behar Democratic Party finds itself in an uncomfortable situation following Bimal Gurung’s recent public speech in Dinhata exhorting all its panchayat candidates to resign if they win the seats. [Inset: A Congress rally in Siliguri on Tuesday, calling for peace in the hills and the plains. Picture by Kundan Yolmo]

The Democratic Party has formed an electoral alliance with the Kamtapur Progressive Party and the Jamait-e-Ulema-e-Hind to fight the CPM in the three-tier panchayat polls in Cooch Behar district.

However, on Sunday, Gurung, the president of the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha, told a gathering at Dinhata that the Democratic Party should demand a separate state of Greater Cooch Behar without taking part in electoral politics. The Morcha, which is spearheading the movement for Gorkhaland, and the Democratic Party are supporting each other’s statehood movements.

Hills to empty out for plains meet - Venue ready for water tankers, ambulances

Darjeeling/Siliguri, May 6: Schools have declared a holiday, tea garden labourers are willing to work on a Sunday instead and government employees in the hills have applied for casual leave: the number of people attending the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha’s rally in Siliguri tomorrow is expected to cross 2 lakh. [Inset: Preparations on for the meeting at Indira Gandhi Maidan on Tuesday. A Telegraph picture]

“The number will be something between 2.5 lakh and 3 lakh. We are still running short of vehicles,” said Binay Tamang, the media and publicity secretary of the Morcha.

Five parking lots have been earmarked around Indira Gandhi Maidan, the venue of the meeting, for the 10,000 vehicles that are expected to bring down the Morcha supporters from the hills. Hundreds of them have started descending on Siliguri since late this afternoon with almost 1,500 volunteers having reached Pintail Village, 4km from the town.