DARJEELING HILLS: Strike relief for offices – Morcha withdraws shutdown till February 7
Posted by barunroy on January 26, 2009
FROM THE TELEGRAPH
Darjeeling, Jan. 25: The Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) has decided to relax the strike in state and central government offices from Tuesday till February 7.
However, the party’s trade union has threatened to indefinitely stop the flow of tea from hill gardens unless an auction centre was set up within the Darjeeling brew growing area.
Although Morcha media and publicity secretary Binay Tamang refused to provide any reason for lifting the strikes, it was obvious that the decision was taken to allow the treasury to disburse the salaries of nearly 20,000 government employees.
“The strike will be off in state and central government offices from January 27 to February 7. This is the stand of the party,” said Tamang.
On December 8, the Morcha had called for a closure of all government offices as part of its non-cooperation movement. At the end of the month, the party had relaxed the strike to allow employees to draw their salaries. The strike was resumed from January 7.
The Morcha trade union, however, has not yet set a deadline for setting up the auction centre . Milan Pradhan, the spokesperson for the Darjeeling Terai Dooars Plantation Workers Union, a Morcha affiliate, said: “No tea is manufactured in the gardens at this time. We will decide on the deadline, once production starts in March.”
The union leader admitted that setting up a tea auction centre was not easy. “We are aware of the process. The (nature of our) agitation might change, depending on the negotiations,” said Pradhan.
Bengal already has three auction centres in Jalpaiguri, Siliguri and Calcutta. The Morcha wants the fourth one to be set up exclusively for Darjeeling Tea preferably near Pintail Village.
All business establishments in town remained closed for about two hours today with the All Gorkha Minority Forum bringing out a rally to protest against the violence in the Dooars. The shops opened from 1pm.
