Test for Mamata and hill deal

April 23: The Mamata Banerjee government is facing a sensitive test in the Dooars after a little over a dozen shops and a truck were burnt today to enforce an indefinite bandh.

The shutdown was called by the spearheads of a campaign to bring some pockets in the plains under the jurisdiction of a council that will run the Darjeeling hills.

The violence was controlled before it could spiral — a trader and three policemen were injured — but the spark was a reminder of the tricky terrain that lay ahead as the date nears for the submission of a key report on territories. (See chart on left)

The administration has so far displayed a resolve not to yield to threats. It has stood its ground on not allowing meetings in the Dooars and the Terai where speeches in favour of territorial inclusion in the proposed Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA) could inflame passions.

Mamata added her voice to the efforts to maintain law and order. The chief minister made a fervent appeal for peace but added that meetings would not be allowed till normality returned.

The Gorkha Janmukti Morcha, the principal force in the hills that spearheaded the bandh call in a possible attempt to gauge its influence in the plains after allying with a breakaway group, appeared to soften somewhat tonight after the lukewarm response.

The Morcha “relaxed the strike for 12 hours tomorrow, keeping in mind the inconvenience of the local people and tourists”. The bandh coincided with the peak tourist season and several holidaymakers were held up.

The strike drew little spontaneous response. Tea labourers, who make up the bulk of the working class in the Dooars, turned up in most gardens.

Mamata is sending panchayat minister Subrata Mukherjee to the Dooars to find a “long-term solution” to the unrest among the tribals there, especially in the tea gardens.

The “short-term strategy” will be to open back-channel discussions with the Morcha leadership to persuade it to shun violence in the Dooars and let the Shyamal Sen committee, which is looking into its territory demand, submit its recommendations.

The government’s argument is that violence in the Dooars would only result in the Sen committee delaying in submitting its report which in turn would delay the formation of the GTA.

Mukherjee, who is leaving for Siliguri on Wednesday, said the prime reason for his visit would be to see how the benefits provided by the gram panchayats could be reached to the tea gardens since 90 per cent of the adivasis of the Dooars and the Terai are dependent on the tea gardens.

“The previous Left Front government had brought the tea gardens under the jurisdiction of gram panchayats. Those living in the workers’ lines of the tea gardens enjoy voting rights but they cannot be provided any facility,” Mukherjee said.

Officials said the tea gardens were set up on land leased out to the owners of the tea gardens. The workers do not possess the land on which they live in the gardens. Once they get possession rights of the land that they live on, they can tap benefits like getting dwellings under the Indira Awas Yojana.

For this to happen, the Tea Estate Act, under which the land has been leased to the gardens, will have to be amended. “The state government is considering getting in touch with the Centre on this issue,” an official said.

North Bengal development minister Gautam Deb was already holding talks with the Morcha leadership, which probably made the government feel earlier there won’t be violence and held it back from imposing prohibitory orders in the morning itself.(TT)