Arunchal lad to scale Mount Everest

FROM PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

Itanagar, Jul 7 (PTI) He sold his four prized mithuns to fund his expedition to climb Mera peak — the highest among 36 group-B peaks, at a height of 6654 metre in Nepal and is now considering a solo expedition to Mount Everest. [Inset: Mt. Everest. Photo Source: Wikipedia.org]

Though he could get sponsorship from clubs if he wanted dimunitive 24-year-old Tapi Mra from Lemiking in Upper Subansiri district of Arunachal Pradesh on the Sino-India preferred to bear the expenditure on his own.

Last year, he had scaled the 6160 metere Island Peak, in the same area almost barefoot, but because of his ignorance of the rules he could not secure a certificate for the feat.

With the successful ascent of Mera Peak, Mra is planning a solo assault on the 8848 metre Mount Everest in April through the treacherous China route. The state government has sanctioned Rs. 10.75 lakh to him which will barely cover his expenditure as he has no source of income.

Climbing from Nepal side would have been much easier but Mra was informed that the Nepal Mountaineering Association charged 25,000 US dollar (over Rs 11 lakh) on royalty alone, which would be sufficient to meet all expenditure on the China route.

Mra said it was off season when he climbed the Mera Peak and he ascended it ignoring the advice of sherpas, the mountain guides. He was caugt in the midst of a severe storm and realised that the sherpas
were right, he said. He, however, decided to press on from the high camp just a few hundred
metre below the peak as he had staked all his money on the expedition.

While two porters he hired stayed back at the high camp, sherpa Ange Dindi after initial hesitation agreed to accompany him because of his pleadings. It was like moving blindfolded to reach the summit which they circled for hours before reaching the south summit instead of the central one, Mra said.

Cherrapunjee – the world’s first wet desert

FROM PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

Cherrapujee (Meghalaya), July 7 (PTI) The monsoon magic at Cherrapunjee, the wettest place on earth, appears to be fading by the day, with locals seemingly coming to terms with a new sobriquet for their land – the world’s first wet desert.

Meteorological records show that this year during the monsoons, the hill town, now called Sohra, has received about 700 mm less rainfall till June 30. While the normal rainfall in the first 30 days of the monsoon is 2793.9 mm, Cherrapunjee received 2092.6 mm.

Officials in the Regional Meteorology Centre in Guwahati hoped that the deficit would be supplemented in the next couple of months of the season.

The average annual rainfall at Cherrapunjee from 1973-2007 (35 years) is 11,952.2 mm.

Due to two consecutive years of below average rainfall in 2005 and 2006 the average has been pulled down to under 12,000 mm. 2007 received little more than the average rainfall at 12,646.8 mm.

The total rainfall at Cherrapunjee in 2005 was 9,758.0 mm and in 2006 8734.1 mm. In 2001, it was 8971.5 mm.

The decreasing rainfall statistics has prompted the authorities to rush experts to study the factors leading to the lessening rainfall.

Bomb Hoax at Siliguri

FROM PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

Siliguri, July 7 (PTI) Bomb disposal squad personnel along with sniffer dogs today searched the premises of a school at Matigara in the outskirts of the town here today after an anonymous caller said that a bomb has been
planted in the school, but found nothing, police sources said. The anonymous caller had called up the authorities of St Joseph school and told them that a powerful bomb has been planted at the school, sources
said.

The school authorities immediately informed the police. The bomb disposal squad along with sniffer dogs rushed to the school but after searching the school premises they found nothing, sources added. PTI UBR SNP rg 07071509 K 07071521 DEL

GL-numberplates in Darjeeling

FROM PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

Siliguri, Jul 7 (PTI) As part of its professed non-violent movement for a separate Gorkhaland, vehicles of central committee members of the Gorkha Janamukti Morcha (GJM) began plying in Darjeeling hills from today with GL-affixed numberplates.

“Forty vehicles belonging to the party workers and leaders now bore GL numberplates,” GJM general secretary Roshan Giri told PTI over phone from Darjeeling.

The numbers of vehicles remained the same with only WB replaced by GL, he said.

In the second phase, the numberplates of all government vehicles would be changed and in third and final phase that of all public vehicles, he said.

Superintendent of Police, Darjeeling, Rahul Srivastava told PTI that Home Secretary Ashok Mohan Chakraborty during a recent visit here had said the GL numberplates were illegal and police would take steps against it.

GJM Town Committee meeting participated by members from 32 wards

Photo by Himalaya Darpan

“Damber Singh Gurung failed for the first time, Subash Ghisingh was the second leader to fail. I will not be the third.” Bimal Gurung

Bimal Gurung, President Gorkha Janmukti Morcha speaking to the people at Sonada Ciders Tea Estate. Photo by Mohan Prasad [Himalaya Darpan]

Gorkha Janmukti Morcha should realize, revitalize and restrategize!

BEACON ONLINE EXCLUSIVE [THE HIMALAYAN BEACON]

BY BARUN ROY

REALIZE

Its’ faith on the National Parties may be misplaced

The formation of Gorkha Janmukti Morcha and its acceptance thereof was the result of the resentment against the 21 year old draconian rule imposed upon the people of the Hills by the Saviour turned Dictator Subash Ghisingh and his party Gorkha National Liberation Front (GNLF). While Bimal Gurung, the President of Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) has so far rode sumptuously over the gracious love of Gorkhas in the Nation and abroad, he must not take it for granted for the people who helped him oust Subash Ghisingh may as well turn against him if he does not deliver. Subash Ghisingh realized that to his peril and so must all the politicians in the Hills and beyond.

The Gorkha Janmukti Morcha Chief’s declaration that March 10, 2010 will herald a new era of Gorkhaland in the Darjeeling Hills and Dooars Terai may have come too early and not based on much reasoning. Sources in GJM point out that since Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has declared its desire for the formation of smaller and more administratively effective states in the nation, the formation of Gorkhaland after the installation of BJP lead National Government is essentially a foretold conclusion. If there is such a thing as a ‘foretold conclusion’ politics sadly would lose all its charm for me. Yet, if one were to take the said reasoning as a concrete fact for the declaration of the date for the inauguration of Gorkhaland, I wonder would BJP keep up to its promise for yet the Temple at Ayodhya is to be built. An issue which helped it to gain a seat at the National Government and which again brought it done from that same seat after its failure to deliver. At the same instance if we were to look into the Congress Party’s declared stance on Telangana when the formation of the State of Telangana was in the manifesto of the Congress Party so much so that after the formation of the Congress Government at the Centre, the first Presidential Speech to the Nation declared the formation of Telangana as inevitable. Yet we know today that the term of office for the Congress Party in the National Government is to be completed, Telangana as yet remains to be realized. Congress Party insiders today declare that within the months of the declaration of the General Election the Congress Party and its allies will declare their desire to form the Second States Reorganisation Commission after their coming back to the power. But will that promise again be delivered? I bet not. The National Parties be it Congress or the BJP have the habit of picking on the regional parties to get the best out of them as long as they get the regional parties in question to support them during the General Election. The Gorkha National Liberation Front boycotted almost three General Elections to help the Communist Party of India Marxists candidates win the Darjeeling Constituency through the majority Dooars Terai vote. Wooed by the Congress later, it supported Dawa Narbula even though the People’s Democratic Front (PDF) an all party conglomerate sans GNLF and CPIM came to support the Congress candidate. Today, Dawa Narbula can’t even make his stand on Gorkhaland clear, albeit his personal stand even if he was voted to the Parliament on the issue of Gorkhaland.

Gorkha Janmukti Morcha thus must realize that the National Parties may not always deliver on its promises and that their stance on issues shifts with the position of sun on the earth, declaring March 10, 2010 as the inauguration of the state of Gorkhaland is not at all a good idea.

The Key to Gorkhaland is not in Kolkata

All political leaders in the hills must realize that the Key to Gorkhaland is not in the hands of the State. Kolkata or the State Communist Party of India Marxist Government neither has the will nor means to work towards the formulation of Gorkhaland or for that matter Kamtapur or Greater Coochbehar. There are only two ways in which a new state could be formed in India – i) Direct Political will shown through a Party forming the National Government or the largest party in the National Parliament. A State after discussion and setting up of a Parliamentary Committee on the same can be set as a Bill being passed forthwith through a simple majority. ii) Formation of a States Reorganisation Commission.

While the BJP in the coming Lok Sabha election may go to the polls with the promise of “we are in favour of smaller states and hence, we will create as many as 50 to 60 states in the nation” winning over the regional parties as in GJM, the possibility of their sticking to their promises might not be possible as almost all states with sizeable political participation in the centre will be against its break up into smaller states, solely because their political power will diminish effectively. At the same instance, the Congress Party may go to the polls promising the setting up of the Second States Reorganisation Commission. Which still, albeit it creates after its inauguration of Governance at New Delhi, the realization of newer States may still not be possible unless a nation wide exigency forces it to do so. Where Gorkhaland will then stand only time can tell? Parties like Gorkha Janmukti Morcha should then realize that statehood movements like Gorkhaland must be made into a national issue based on which political strategies are made at the Centre…not at the State…where the formation of states like Gorkhaland becomes a political beneficiary motive for the National parties like Congress and the BJP. And this can only be done, once again, as I repeat by bypassing the State and by bringing together all the statehood movements all over the nation under one umbrella making it a powerful entity both in terms of strength, number, political reach and most importantly Member of Parliaments. Only then with the National Parties who run the national Government be interested. Or else separate statehood movements will only be ‘pockets of disturbances’ in the Indian National Map.

Realize that some of its political programmes are a bit impractical

Gorkhaland Personnel

The Gorkha National Liberation Front raised the Gorkha Volunteer Corps (GVC) under the stewardship of Chhatray Subba as the overall Tactical Commander, the result being that the Gorkha National Liberation Front and the Gorkha Volunteer Corps fought a protracted civil war leading to more causality on both side than the Gorkhaland Agitation itself. Chhatray Subba later went on to form the Gorkha Liberation Organization, whereof his alleged involvement in the attack of the GNLF Chief’s motorcade at Saat Ghumtee led to his subsequent arrest and his imprisonment without trail. Subash Ghisingh immediately pursued a vindictive purge everyone he deemed to be against him. Most of the said purge then was carried out by Bimal Gurung himself, Gorkha Janmutki Morcha’s President and Founder. Albeit, Bimal Gurung is not the same man (as told to this author himself by the GJM President – “I am not the same person…I am different today. I am responsible towards the people and have duties towards them”), his decision to form the Gorkhaland Personnel (GLP) is still a bit too reminiscent of the Gorkha Volunteer Corps, of which he himself was once an Area Commander (Singamari-Singla Constituency). Further more, the involvement of the Ex-service men and statements coming out of them – “GLP will act as the filter in the society,” as stated by Retired Colonel Ramesh Allay, intellectuals in the hills today, increasingly find themselves asking the question – GVC ‘filtered’ out much of ‘independent reasoning’ from Gorkhaland Movement I, will GLP not repeat the same? GJM must come out with a concrete programme on “why GLP is essential and how it will operate… what will be its parameters of operation and upon what philosophy is it based.” I wonder, individually though how long will the GJM leadership refrain itself from using it against the opposition?

Today’s panorama look east over the Zanskar Mountains

Today’s panorama look east over the Zanskar Mountains of northwest
India. On the right side (south) of the panorama lie Govind Sager and
Pong Reservoir. The famous hill station of Shimla is situated slightly
above and to the left of the far end of Govind Sagar, and the city of
Rawalpindi lies on the edge of the plain just this side of where the
Chenab River flows southward from the Himalayas into the state of
Punjab.

The Pangong Tso, Zumunang Co, Dyap Co, Spangur Co, and Morai Lake may
be seen in the upper left corner of the image. The regional center of
Leh lies in the valley of the upper Indus River.

–
Dr. William A. Bowen
California Geographical Survey
Northridge, CA 91326

Land of no return

What would you tell someone if they told you that you had to give up your land, along with your livelihood, for the betterment of your state? For the people of Singur, they have had many opportunities to protest and little reason to celebrate. But they are hard working, so they set up tea stands, do embroidery work, to earn a little income. It is a far cry from the harvest they used to yield, before they were told less than two years ago that a small-car factory would bring not only work for the people but development for the state.

The first time Citizens’ Initiative, a group made up of mostly English Literature students from Jadavpur University as well as professors and activists, went to Singur in Hooghly district it was on a fact-finding mission, to see for themselves how the construction of the Tata Motors small-car factory had affected people. After encountering the hospitality of the villagers and hearing some of their stories, members of the group were compelled to return.

The result is Under Development: Singur, a photography exhibit, coupled with a panel discussion and film festival that took place last weekend at Seagull Arts and Media Resource Centre. They plan to have a separate exhibit on Nandigram in the future. A full report of the group’s findings from their visits to Singur and Nandigram from February to August 2008 will be available in the coming months. “What is a very important part of this exhibition is the growing relationship between the students who come from such privileged background and these people… our efforts have that personal touch, these are not only photographs of burnt houses and bleeding people which is what comes out in the media, you know, sensational news but these are pictures of people leading their day to day lives,” said Madhura Chakraborty, one of the group members. The photographs vividly demonstrate that there is no short-term solution to what now troubles the people of Singur ~ no matter which political party is in power. The cement has been poured, the walls have come up around the 997.11 acres of land allocated for the project, and the factory is being built, permanently damaging the once fertile land.

“They can’t get back that land and put it to any use. But most of them think that they’re going to get back the land and go back to cultivating it. We’ve encountered this in several cases and several people have told us now that it’s going to the Supreme Court we’re hoping to get back the land. I don’t think that’s an option for them… the Opposition is exploiting them in that sense,” Chakraborty said.

Members of the group first started discussing development issues after 2 December, 2006, when police officers and CPI-M cadres burnt the houses of Singur villagers who were opposing the land acquisition. Since they were students of English Literature, they invited guest speakers who were familiar with land development issues to educate them about what was happening in West Bengal. They started a blog called Development Dialogues, where they have also been diligently archiving all of the pieces published in local newspapers, national newspapers and at times in the foreign press about Singur and Nandigram. More people joined the group after the Citizens’ Silent Protest March that took place in Kolkata on 14 November 2007. After their first visit to Singur, the group members have been trying to find ways to help the affected people, particularly those in the village of Dobadi, where 95 Scheduled Cast families, landless labourers, live.

“We found out that they haven’t received anything (compensation)… most of them are now without work since they only have farming skills and most of the cultivatable land fell within the boundary walls and they weren’t being allowed to cultivate it, so we started planning doing something for them to help them generate some income for them,” Chakraborty said. The group collected 270 kgs of rice and various other food staples from their friends and families but that was only enough for a couple of meals for them. They also set up a medical camp.

NH~31 blocked due to landslides

FROM THE STATESMAN

GANGTOK, July 6: The NH, 31A linked to Sikkim was blocked for more than an hour following the continuous landslides at 29 Mile near Teesta in Kalimpong sub-division this morning.

The slush that had came tumbling down on the road from the top terrain blocked the highway for about an hour. The traffic was snarled due to a vehicle jam in the slide area.

“The slide that occurred in the morning was not a major one as we cleared it within an hour but vehicles were stuck due to the mismanagement of the traffic police” alleged BRO official. “ Our people are continuously working on clearing the road everyday but we can’t take the responsibility of traffic movement” he added.

The traffic official of the Kalimpong sub-division couldn’t be contacted.

Earlier in June the NH, 31A was blocked due to the indefinite bandh called by Gorkha Jan Mukti Morcha ( for the demand of a separate state and now the landslide frequently blocks the highway due to incessant rainfall but all of this has caused alot of trouble in Sikkim.

Football fans clash in Siliguri

FROM THE STATESMAN

SILIGURI, July 6: Football, the world’s self-styled “beautiful game”, has always attracted a fringe element of fan violence. Football hooliganism in Siliguri was widespread in the early years of this century with the major football clubs in the town roping in players from countries where violence is a part of football playing culture. It reached its peak with the riots that occurred during the dying moments of the Siliguri Mahakuma Krira Parishad (SMKP) organised Super Division Football League encounter between Siliguri Ulka Club and Globetrotters Sporting Club at the Kanchenjungha Stadium here late last afternoon.

Close on the heels of the incident at the Terai School Ground on 26 June, 2008, during which a section of the spectators heckled Sports Authority of India players and forced them to abandon their First Division League match against Sashastra Seema Bal, enraged by what they felt was an intentional under-performance by SAI, ugly clashes erupted between players, officials and supporters of SUC and GSC despite a big police presence to prevent violence during the high-voltage encounter yesterday. Bottles were hurled by the fans inside and the Rapid Action Force were forced to intervene to restore an uneasy calm before the crucial tie had to be called off by referee Kalu Bhowmick, after what was, as the 72 -year-old SMKP general secretary, Mr. Samir Bindu Dhar claimed, “the worst incident of violence at a football ground in Siliguri since independence.” At one point the skirmishes, which began when an SUC defender got involved in a heated argument with a GSC mid-fielder at the head of the SUC penalty box during injury time when the two teams were tied 1-1, turned into a free-for-all with fans and officials sneaking into the ground and raining blows on the players.

Parties condemn attack on scribes

FROM THE STATESMAN

DARJEELING, July 6: The All India Gorkha League president Mr Madan Tamang condemned the attack on reporters in Sikkim on Friday. “It is unfortunate that the same people who had gone for a candle light demonstration when Mr Nar Bahadur Bhandari was the chief minister of Sikkim, are mum when the Press, also the fourth estate of democracy was attacked”, the leader said.  On Friday, the editor of the daily newspaper Hamro Praja Shakti, Mr Anjan Upadhyay along with other reporters were attacked by some anti-social elements at their office in Sikkim. The AIGL leadership also condemned Sikkim government’s act of filing a case with the Supreme Court regarding the blockade at NH-31A when the GJMM staged protests in the Hills. “The Sikkim government should not escalate matters to such a level. We can always talk to arrive at a solution”, Mr Tamang stated.

At the same time the AIGL leader expressed his full support to the Congress for going ahead with the nuclear deal. “It is a big achievement for the country. The CPI-M has a regressive approach and has always come in the way of development. Earlier they had opposed the nuclear tests at Pokhran too”, he said.
In another incident in Darjeeling, the house of Mr Amitava Bannerjee, senior journalist of The Hindustan Times, was attacked by some goons last night. Mr Bannerjee has filed an FIR with the Sadar police station. The Darjeeling Press Guild has severely condemned the attack and demanded the immediate arrest of the culprits.

All Hill parties including AIGL, CPRM, Congress and the GJMM have expressed their disapproval on such an act by anti-social elements. The Gorkha Jana Yuva Morcha (GJYM) too came up with a signature campaign criticising the recent attack.

HIV women out to fight for rights

FROM THE TELEGRAPH

A file picture

Siliguri, July 6: It was the end of the world the day her husband died about six months ago. The mother of a 12-year-old boy, Sunaina (name changed) of Pradhannagar, was asked to leave her lower middle income household by her in-laws and to fend for herself.

Like her husband, she too was HIV positive, probably being infected by him. But unlike her husband, she suddenly found herself homeless, her mother-in-law and sister-in-law telling her that the family would be in an awkward position in the neighbourhood if she continued to stay.

Sunaina was fortunate to be offered a small, rent-free hovel by an acquaintance where she somehow manages to eke out a living. But every night before going to sleep, she cries, unable to cope with the woebegone turn of events, the company of her son the only consolation.

A few kilometres eastward in the Matigara locality, Malati (not real name) still doesn’t know how to make ends meet. Her husband used to work as a cook for a government school but died from AIDS a year back.

The job should have passed on to Malati but the school authorities said it would not be possible because she too was infected with the virus. With a seven-year-old daughter, she goes about homes and construction sites, seeking odd jobs as long as her health permits.

Continuously facing injustice and being deprived of their rights, a group of HIV positive women from the region, like Sunaina and Malati, have come out of their cloistered existence to form a platform of their own. They will now be able to voice their demands and obtain what is not just theirs but their children’s as well.

Hill civic body eyes Siliguri dump yard for waste disposal

FROM THE TELEGRAPH

BY RAJEEV RAVIDAS

Kalimpong, July 6: Civic authorities here are mulling approaching the Siliguri Municipal Corporation (SMC) for permission to use its open dump yard behind Don Bosco School on Eastern Bypass, as garbage accumulates on the streets of the hill town.

Although the proposal looks impractical to implement given the distance of 65km between the two towns, what it does suggest is that the civic officials are desperate to find a solution to the garbage crisis that has been lingering for long. The row has also put at risk the health of thousands of people.

Sources in the civic body said the health officials will meet the Kalimpong subdivisional officer, P.T. Sherpa, soon to put the proposal before him. They will also discuss digging of pits to bury degradable wastes.

Beginning today, the Kalimpong civic body has started separating degradable and non-degradable wastes. “We engaged workers to separate plastics from the heaps of garbage. Plastics comprise about 50 per cent of the urban wastes,” said an official, adding that the challenge now is to find suitable sites to dig pits without upsetting anyone.

The official’s caution comes close on the heels of the refusal by the residents of Bhalukhop to allow dumping at the the dump yard there. Following this, the civic authorities had attempted to dump the garbage at three different sites, but everywhere they met with local protests. “It has been almost two weeks since garbage has been piling up on the streets. We better resolve the impasse fast, or risk facing both health problem and social tension,” said another official.

Already, people residing in and around the accumulating wastes in different parts of the town are talking about launching their own campaign to get the garbage removed from their localities. “When people can’t pass by the garbage without covering their noses, how do you expect us to bear the foul smell day in and day out?” asked a resident of Main Road.

Rain makes tusker task easy

FROM THE TELEGRAPH

One of the huts destroyed by the elephant. Picture by Kundan Yolmo

Siliguri, July 6: A tusker, suspected to have strayed out of its herd, destroyed 12 huts near Simulbari Tea Garden in Matigara last night.

The villagers of the fringe hamlet, who are usually accustomed to elephant intrusions and often devise their own means to scare the marauding animals away, were taken unawares because of the torrential rain that lashed the area around 1pm.

Forest officials from the Sukna range reached the spot, 15km from here, this morning and have promised compensation to the garden workers.

Rami Sauria, whose hut was the first target of the lone jumbo, said: “I was sleeping with my children when we felt a portion of our house wobbling. We immediately got up and when we saw a tusker forcing its way into the house, I, along with my children, ran out through the backdoor.”

The pachyderm completely destroyed the woman’s tin-roofed house and the furniture inside. The tusker had also feasted on the 30kg rice that Rami had bought from the local market a couple of days ago, before leaving for another target.

Another villager, Banni Oraon, had a similar horror tale to tell. “As it was raining heavily, most of us did not know that an elephant was on the rampage in the area We could not do much to avert the attack.”

Police catch KLO rebel on the run for five years

FROM THE TELEGRAPH

Ranjan (centre) at the Mathabhanga police station on Sunday. Picture by Main Uddin Chisti

Cooch Behar, July 6: KLO rebel Ranjan Barman, wanted for the past five years, was arrested from Chandamari market in South Dinajpur last night.

The 26-year-old is suspected to have been involved in several rebel activities in Cooch Behar’s Mathabhanga subdivision between 2003 and 2004.

Ranjan was produced before the subdivisional judicial magistrate’s court in Mathabhanga this morning. His bail prayer was rejected and he was remanded in police custody for a day.

Cooch Behar police chief Anil Kumar said the KLO rebel had recently sneaked into India from Bangladesh. Acting on a tip-off, he was picked up from the market near his father-in-law’s house last night.

A resident of Kawer Dera village in the Mathabhanga police station area, Ranjan had joined the KLO in 1992. He was trained in the second batch of the rebel outfit.

The subdivisional police officer of Mathabhanga, Ananda Roy, said a number of extremist activities took place in Mathabhanga in 2003-2004. According to police records, Ranjan was involved in them and had also masterminded the shooting on a video shack at Betlapara in Hazrahat in January 2004, in which four persons were killed.

A police source said Ranjan along with KLO chief Jiban Singha had fled to Bangladesh after the Indian Army carried out a flush out operation in Bhutan in 2004.

Day’s salary for statehood fund – Money to be at Morcha disposal

FROM THE TELEGRAPH

Gurung with a khukuri in his hands at the Morcha office in Darjeeling on Sunday. Picture by Suman Tamang

Darjeeling, July 6: State and central government employees from across the Darjeeling hills have decided to donate a day’s salary — on an average around Rs 500 each — every month to Bimal Gurung’s party to enable it to sustain the movement for a separate state of Gorkhaland.

The two employees’ association in the hills, which have taken the decision, claim to have around 5,000 members each.

“This is our contribution to the movement. We have decided to collect one day’s salary from the employees and hand it over to Bimal Gurung,” said Amar Rai, the president of the Hill Employees’ and Workers’ Trade Union.

The Union has decided to create a “Gorkhaland Relief Fund” for this purpose and every employee will be given a receipt for the donation.

“We will collect the amount by the 10th of every month and at the end of three months, we will hand over the money to Bimal Gurung,” said Rai.

Gurung’s party, the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha, is leading the movement for a new state in the hills.

“The average day’s salary would be about Rs 500 a head every month,” the president of the 13-year-old Union said.

This means the Union can collect around Rs 25 lakh every month.