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Monday, July 20, 2009

Delhi rejects statehood, offers hill autonomy

TT, Kolkata July 19: Union minister Pranab Mukherjee today summarily ruled out splitting Bengal and creating a separate state at a time the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha has made Gorkhaland a condition for talks to end the hill impasse.

“We are willing to grant Sixth Schedule status to the Darjeeling hills. And we are also willing to sit with them (the Morcha) so we can also look into what extra powers we can give them, but we will not allow the division of Bengal,” the finance minister said at Raiganj, North Dinajpur.

Under the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution, a region gets more autonomy to run the local administration.

Without naming the outfit, which has called an indefinite bandh in the hills and paralysed its administration and ec- onomy, the finance minister said: “The problem in the hills is going on for a long time and now some people are flexing their muscles…. If they continue to remain unmoved to our offer (of autonomy), we’ll have to think of something else.”

Asked what he meant by “something else”, Mukherjee said: “It will depend on the situation at the time.”

At a time the Bengal government has almost given a free hand to anarchy in various parts of the state, including Darjeeling, the words served as a reminder of the rule of law.

Mukherjee did not spare the Bengal government’s inaction. Talking to reporters before boarding his helicopter, he accused the Left Front regime of “keeping the Darjeeling hills simmering for a long time” and not trying for a permanent solution.

After the Morcha called the indefinite hill bandh last week, the Centre convened a meeting involving the outfit and the state government. Its date was brought forward from August 24 to August 11 yesterday as a “goodwill gesture” following a Morcha demand.

But the outfit has not responded to the offer, apparently because the Centre has been silent on its two other demands — Gorkhaland as its sole agenda and talks at the political level, not with bureaucrats.

“We had clearly stated our three demands before the government,” Morcha chief Bimal Gurung said.

Sources in Delhi said the UPA government was not prepared for a political discussion and if the BJP MP from Darjeeling, Jaswant Singh, insisted on attending the meeting, it could be a thorny issue. The Morcha wants Singh to attend the meeting.

It had also wanted the talks before the budget session ended on August 7, but the Centre has clarified that August 11 is the “earliest possible date”.

The Morcha today decided to relax its strike for 10 hours — 8am to 6pm — tomorrow but asserted that it was not in response to the Centre’s “goodwill gesture” yesterday.

On Friday, it exempted educational institutions, tea gardens and cinchona plantations from the strike. Morcha central committee leader Amar Lama said in Darjeeling: “Since the educational institutes are reopening tomorrow, we thought it’s essential to provide the relaxation.”

Vehicles will be allowed and shops can open. But banks and government offices won’t be spared. However, primary schools will continue to remain shut.

Bank loan drive

The finance minister today attended a United Bank of India camp at Sagardighi, Murshi- dabad, where loans were giv- en to farmers, self-help groups and businessmen on the 40th anniversary of bank nationalisation. Mukherjee attended a similar programme at Raiganj. Loans worth Rs 67 crore were given to 11,111 people.

Pranab Favours Sixth Schedule Status for Darjeelng

Raiganj (WB), July 19 (PTI) Rejecting demands for a separate Gorkhaland state carved out of West Bengal, Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee today said the Centre was ready to grant Sixth Schedule status for Darjeeling hills and asked the GJM leadership to call off its indefinite bandh. "There is no question of any division of Bengal," he told reporters when asked about indefinite bandh by the GJM in the Darjeeling hills which entered seventh day today.

The Centre was ready to grant Sixth Schedule status for Darjeeling or more powers under its provisions, he said. Meanwhile, GJM General Secretary Roshan Giri said they were not ready to accept the Sixth Schedule status.

"It is against the people''s interest. Sixth Schedule is a dead issue.

Pranab Mukherjee should not try to reopen it. People had already opposed it and ousted its proponent GNLF supremo Subhas Ghisingh from Darjeeling.

Ninety-nine per cent people in Darjeeling want Gorkhaland and Centre should consider it," Giri said..

Bandh in Hills relaxed for 10 hours

SNS, KURSEONG, 19 JULY: The GJMM has finally announced a 10-hour relaxation (from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.) for vehicles, banks and shops tomorrow as the indefinite Darjeeling shutdown entered into its seventh day today. Notably, educational institutions, tea and cinchona plantations have already been excluded from the purview of the ongoing bandh. These would be allowed to function normally from tomorrow till 23 July. Announcing the relaxations, the GJMM assistant secretary, Mr Binay Tamang said that keeping in mind the general inconveniences, his party had decided to relax the bandh for ten hours tomorrow. Meanwhile, the GJMM central committee member, Mr Amar Lama said that they had not received any official communiqué from the Centre regarding the tripartite dialogue seemingly fixed on 11 August. “Once we receive the formal invitation, we would sit and decide whether we will continue with the strike or not,” he said. However, the GJMM demanded that the tripartite talks should be held at the political level in July and these must be focused exclusively on the Gorkhaland agenda. The party even threatened to extend the shutdown to the National Highway 31A from 23 July. The NH 31A, the lifeline to Sikkim, was exempted from 18 to 23 July. Meanwhile, the All India Gorkha League president, Mr Madan Tamang, demanded immediate promulgation of Article 357 of the Constitution as regards the Darjeeling Hills.

“The writ of the state government does not run in the area. The administration seems to have abdicated authority to the Gorkhaland police, a GJMM frontal organisation. We would soon write to the Centre demanding imposition of Article 357 on the Darjeeling Hills. This appears to be the only way to restore a semblance of governance in the Hills,” Mr Tamang said.

Sikkim gets a six-day respite

SNS, RANGPO/GANGTOK, 19 JULY: The east district administration has lifted the restriction in rationing of auto fuels that was effected during the bandh in the Darjeeling Hills that left National Highway 31A blocked for five days. The five days' relaxation starting from 18 July to 23 July for vehicles bearing Sikkim registration plates, has brought a sigh of relief for the people of the landlocked state. The highway that traverses through Darjeeling Hills was closed since 13 July due to an indefinite bandh called by the GJMM. Mr D Anandan, collector, east district, said that the window period is being utilised to maintain the depleted stock of essential commodities. He further informed that the controlled supply of petroleum products would again come into force if the bandh resumed after 23 July. Each vehicle is entitled to 5 litres petrol or 10 litres diesel for a day under the rationing. According to Mr LM Pradhan, general manager, Sikkim Nationalised Transport (SNT), a total of 37 trucks, 19 tankers and 14 buses ferried stranded passengers and essential commodities between Siliguri and Sikkim on Saturday. “As 10 buses already booked on Friday could accommodate passengers with valid air and rail tickets only, four buses were added to beat the rush” he said. More than 300 passengers en-route to Sikkim, were stranded at the SNT Siliguri terminus. It is also reported that nine SNT trucks have been deployed on Army duty. On Saturday, in an attempt to ensure that only Sikkim vehicles entered the West Bengal side of the Rangpo border, Gorkha Land Personnel (GLP) volunteers were seen busy checking number plates. According to Mr RB Gurung, the GLP in-charge at Rangpo, the exemption for vehicles bearing Sikkim registered number plates would continue till the morning of 23 July. It has also been reported that the GLP has been picketing the border in shifts throughout the bandh period. Mrs Kazim Tshering Bhutia, president of Kalimpong branch committee, Gorkha Janmukti Nari Morcha, informed that the women's wing has been co-ordinating with the GLP to avert any hiccups at the border. The breather has also been extended for vehicular movement in Darjeeling Hills on 20 July. Mr Sunil Pradhan, president of Gorkha Janmukti Yuva Morcha, Kalimpong branch committee, said, “The 12-hour exemption would be limited to vehicles only”.

Railway’s Tatkal Reservation Period to be reduced from 5 to 2 days

PIB, 20July: has been decided to reduce the Advance Reservation Period (ARP) under Tatkal Scheme from five days to two days (excluding the date of journey) for journey commencing w.e.f. 01.08.2009. This decision was announced by the Minister of Railways, Kumari Mamata Banerjee while presenting the Railway Budget 2009-10 in the Parliament earlier this month. The new decision will be implemented as per the following course of action:-

Ø Reservation under Tatkal Scheme as per earlier ARP of five days shall continue till 26.7.2009.

Ø For journey commencing w.e.f. 01.08.2009, the ARP shall be two days by reducing ARP gradually w.e.f. 27.7.2009 as per details given below:-

Date

ARP

Reservation available for journey commencing upto

26.07.2009

5 days

31.07.2009

27.07.2009

4 days

31.07.2009

28.07.2009

3 days

31.07.2009

29.07.2009

2 days

31.07.2009

30.07.2009

2 days

01.08.2009

31.07.2009

2 days

02.08.2009

01.08.2009

2 days

03.08.2009

Centre for Railway Information Systems (CRIS), under the Ministry of Railways, has been instructed to make necessary changes in the software for this purpose under intimation to all Zonal Railways as well as Railway Board.

Suitable instructions to all concerned are being issued to ensure smooth change-over to the new time limit.(PIB)

BJP state unit keeps distance from Jaswant on Gorkhaland

Sabyasachi Bandopadhyay

IE, Monday , Jul 20, 2009 : The state BJP unit came down heavily on former union minister and Darjeeling BJP parliamentarian Jaswant Singh on Sunday for his open support for Gorkhaland.

According to party leaders, by rooting for Gorkhaland he was harming the interests of the party in West Bengal.

At the release of the book Why Gorkhaland in New Delhi last week, Singh had said that the demand for a separate state of Gorkhaland was quite legitimate. “The demand is for a small state within the country. It is very important to remember that it is the only district in the country which actually adjoins three international borders and is very close to the fourth,” said Singh. The BJP had always favoured small states, he added.

“What Singh said must have been his own comments. In our party manifesto it is clearly written that if voted to power the party would actively consider the legitimate demands of the Gorkhas. Nowhere does it say that the party will back the demand for Gorkhaland,” said Shamik Bhattacharya, BJP state secretary.

“Moreover, we were signatory to the all-party resolution taken last year which ruled out any further division of the state,” said Bhattacharya. He added that the party unit would take up the matter with the central leadership and ask for the party’s stand.

In fact, the party unit thinks it would lose a major portion of its support base if such comments are made in favour of Gorkhaland. “At a time when we are fighting with our backs to the wall, Singh is destroying whatever paltry support base we have in south Bengal. It is as if we are getting backstabbed,” said a leader. Another state leader, general secretary Rahul Sinha, said: “We are now discussing this issue among ourselves. We will soon get in touch with our central leadership.”

Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, meanwhile, ruled out the demand of Gorkhaland. “We are against any further division of West Bengal,” he said at a function at Raigunj, North Dinajpur district.

Love whiff in youth murder

TT, Siliguri, July 19: A youth allegedly stabbed his friend to death in a hotel this morning, a crime that police suspect involves a love triangle.

Sunil Gajmer, a resident of Salugarah, was stabbed on the left side of the chest and died on the spot. Rahul Chhetri, the main accused and a resident of Kalimpong, was arrested in the evening.

“We have detained four persons for interrogation,” Sitaram Sinha, the deputy superintendent of police of Siliguri, had said earlier.

The police recovered blood-soaked clothes and sealed the hotel at Pradhannagar. But the knife, used for the murder, was not found. The detainees included a girl and three employees of the hotel.

“The accused and the girl have been staying in the hotel since July 14. Yesterday evening, Sunil picked up the girl, spent the night outside and dropped her in the hotel around 6am today. As he arrived, the accused stabbed him and fled,” said an officer of Pradhannagar police station. “We suspect that the youth was killed as a result of a love triangle.”

    Six hydel projects in Sikkim put on hold

    Hal Khabar.com,Gangtok, July 20 : Sikkim's bid to tap its hydel capacity for long term revenue generation has suffered a major blow with the Centre directing the state government not to proceed with construction of six projects with projected capacity of 1047 MW, according to official sources.

    Various formalities like land acquisition and survey works by the developers at the six projects have been stopped after the union environment ministry wrote a terse letter last month suggesting that these projects were unviable citing a study report by an independent body, the sources told here.

    The environment ministry has taken the report by the New Delhi-based Centre for Inter-Disciplinary Studies of Mountains and Hill Environment (CISME) and derailed six proposed hydel projects in north Sikkim, they said, adding that the state government has no option but to put the project on hold.

    The projects affected by the Centre's directive include Teesta stage I (280 MW), Teesta Stage II (330 MW), Lachen (120 MW), BOP (99 MW) and Bimkyong (99 MW) and Lachung (99MW).

    Incidentally, the National Hydro Power Corporation Ltd (NHPC) whose Initial Public Offering (IPO) is expected to hit the equity market next month is one of the developers to lose out with its proposed Lachen project (99 MW) being among the six projects affected by the Centre's directive.

    Maoist claims Lalgarh presence

TT, July 19: The presence of 50 companies of security forces has apparently done little to scare away the Maoist guerrillas from Lalgarh.

In a telephone interview with The Telegraph, rebel leader Bikash said he was moving around freely in the area with his comrades. “We are very much in Lalgarh. How can we leave the poor and deprived in the face of state oppression?”

The man who has been overseeing the outlawed outfit’s Lalgarh movement had emerged in front of the media with an AK-47 before the joint operation of central and state forces started on June 18.

He refused to speak on the whereabouts of Kishanji, the guerrilla squad chief who is believed to have fled the area after the forces moved in.

Bikash said he was speaking from the core area of Lal- garh and that the tribal people of the region were still with them. “The development work that the government has initiated after 32 years will not be able to erode our support base. People know what they are getting now is because of our movement,” he said. “The police haven’t been able to arrest any one of our comrades yet.”

Bikash issued a warning to CPM leaders. “We will continue wiping out the corrupt CPM men. They have changed their class and earned lakhs at the cost of poor people’s tears. They will have to pay for this.”

Six CPM men have been killed in the region since the forces moved in. A leader was shot dead in Jhargram yesterday and a supporter in Goaltore.

Pritam Mullick, the deputy chief of the Manikpara gram panchayat in Jhargram, today pasted posters in the village saying he was “severing all links with my party”.

His name had featured on a Maoist hit list circulated yesterday.

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