May 24: The Gorkha Janmukti Morcha today announced an indefinite strike in the hills from Sunday to protest the arrest of GTA Sabha member Chandra Yonzone, accused of burning down the house of Trinamul leader K.N. Subba last night.
Around 6.30pm today, members of the GTA Sabha, led by Roshan Giri, went to the Darjeeling Sadar police station and demanded that they too be arrested.
“Yonzone is innocent and was arrested by the police who came to his home late last night and aroused him from sleep,” Giri said at the police station. “We are calling an indefinite strike from Sunday and we will hold rallies all over the hills to protest the arrest. We demand that we too be arrested. We are not calling the bandh from tomorrow because of Buddha Purnima,” he said.
The summer tourism season has just begun in Darjeeling and many travellers from the plains and other parts of the country are in the hills now.
Till late in the evening, 14 GTA executive Sabha members and 17 municipality councillors had been put in preventive arrest, among them Asha Gurung, wife of Morcha chief Bimal Gurung. Police officers said the Morcha leaders were booked under Section 151 of the CrPc, a provision for preventive arrest.
In Kalimpong’s Gorubathan late last night, Trinamul leader Subba’s ancestral house, where his sister stayed, was set ablaze.
Subba and his party alleged the Morcha’s hand in it.On Wednesday, when Subba was on his way to Gorubathan, Morcha supporters blocked his way. Subba is the vice-president of the hill committee of the Trinamul Congress.
Yonzone was today produced in the court of the Kalimpong additional chief judicial magistrate Rana Dam, who remanded him in 14 days’ judicial custody.
A police source said Yonzone was charged under Section 436 of the IPC, a non-bailable section. “It concerns causing mischief by use of fire or explosive substance with the intention of causing destruction of human dwelling. If convicted, a person may be handed life imprisonment or imprisonment up to 10 years and a fine, depending on the nature of the offence,” said the source.
Today, as soon as it became known that Yonzone had been denied bail, shops in the town downed shutters.
Stakeholders in the tourism industry have termed the strike announcement “disastrous.” “The timing is disastrous. Tourists had started coming from May 20 and the town is virtually packed till June 10…. With this announcement the tourist season for this period will go for a toss,” said a tour operator on condition of anonymity.
Darjeeling gets about 3.5 lakh domestic tourists annually in addition to around 40,000 foreign travellers in summer.
Subba said this morning: “This (the house burning) is the handiwork of Morcha supporters. They had also ransacked my house in Sombarey Bazar in Gorubathan on Wednesday night…. Are the hills the personal fiefdom of Bimal Gurung?”
At Malbazar, Jalpaiguri, later in the day, he said: “Morcha leaders are apprehensive of losing support in case I enter Gorubathan and stay in my home. That is why they have been trying to stop us and burnt my ancestral house yesterday night. I have filed a complaint with police and have also faxed a letter to our party supremo and chief minister, narrating the entire incident.
On Thursday, 11 people suspected to be from the Morcha were arrested for allegedly preventing Subba from entering his home in Gorubathan.
शिक्षक प्रमुखको लापारवाहीको कारण बेहाल अवस्थामा चम्पामाया प्रथमिक पाठशाला
पहाड़को प्रथमिक पाठशालाहरु एका एक बन्द हुनुमा सरकार पक्ष दोषी छ कि शिक्षक-शिक्षिकाहरुको लापारवाही? किन दार्जीलिङ पहाड़को शैक्षिक स्तर दिनोदिन खस्किन्दै गइरहेको छ? प्रथमिक शिक्षा बाल-बालिकाहरुको निम्ति महत्तवपूर्ण हुँदा-हुँदै पनि किन आजसम्म पहाड़को शिक्षा व्यवस्थामा सुधार आउन सकिरहेको छैन?
राजनीति गर्दिनँ भन्नु पनि अर्को राजनीति होः हर्कबहादुर छेत्री
मेरो अधिकारक्षेत्रभित्र पाँच बर्षको लागि जनताको हितको काम गर् भनेर मलाई भोट हालेको हो नि। मलाई थाहा छ यसले जनताको धेरै हित हुन्छ। यसले जनताको हितसँगै पार्टीको पनि हित हुन्छ, आन्दोलनलाई पनि सहयोग पुर्याउँछ भनेपछि एकदम निसंकोच भनेर अघि बढ्न सक्छु म। म त्यही काम गर्दैछु।
बघिनी फेरि पुरानै खोरमा
‘समयले मानिसलाई कहाँ कहाँ पुर्याउँछ,,,,,,’ कुनै समय रेडियो नेपालबाट बजिरहने यो चर्चित गीतले मान्छेको जीवनमा प्रणयसम्बन्धको आरोह अवरोहले पार्ने प्रभावलाई सुन्दर ढंगले व्याख्या गरेको छ। यो लोकप्रिय गीतको यही एक हरफ कुनै राजनीतिकर्मीको जीवनसँग गाँसेर हेर्दा के उत्तर पाइएला?
साहित्य अनि सर्जकलाई माया गर्ने घिसिङ
80 को दशकमा देशभरिका गोर्खाहरूलाई जातित्वको भावना उत्पन्न गराउने प्रथम नेता सुवास घिसिङको निधनले अहिले घड़ी सम्पूर्ण दार्जीलिङ पहाड़ नै स्तब्ध बनेको छ। गोर्खाहरूका हित अनि अस्तित्वका निम्ति छुट्टै राज्यको बहस लिएर सुवास धिसिङले त्यसताक पहाड़का प्रत्येक गाँऊहरूको भ्रमण गरेका थिए। 22 जुन 1936 सालमा मिरिकको मञ्जु चियाबगानमा जन्म लिएरका सुवास घिसिङले आफ्नो तर्क राख्न एकलै जनसभा गर्थे। घिसिङले सम्पूर्ण गोर्खाहरूलाई एकै शुत्रमा बाँध्न "गोर्खाल्याण्ड" शब्दको जन्म गरेका थिए।
निराश छन् विधायक डा. छेत्री
“बजट सत्रमा के कुराहरू उठान गर्नु पर्ने भन्नेबारे हामीले जीटीएबाट कहिले फिडब्याक पाएका छैनौं” डा छेत्रीले भने। डा हर्कबहादुर छेत्री मोर्चाका प्रवक्ता हुन् अनि कालेबुङका जनप्रतिनिधि। दुइवटा महत्वपूर्ण पदमा बसेका डा छेत्रीलाई अहिलेसम्म जीटीएको बैठकमा निम्ताइएको छैन, पार्टीको राजनैतिक लाइनबारे उनीसँग चर्चा र छलफल नगरिएको त झन कति भयो, उनैलाई हेक्का छैन।
25 May 2013
Govt land reclaim drive
Siliguri, May 24: The Darjeeling district administration has launched a drive to retrieve over 2,000 acres of government land encroached on by “land mafia”.
The exercise started yesterday and a 17-acre plot worth around Rs 16 crore was cleared of an encroacher on the first day at Matigara.
“The records with the land and land reforms department show the total government land in Darjeeling district is 7,826.2797 acres. Of this, 2,281.8124 acres have been encroached on, while 1,889.255 acres are vacant. Our plan is to clear most of the plots of encroachments and get them back,” said an official in the land and land reforms department.
North Bengal development minister Gautam Deb said the “land mafia” was mostly active in areas around Siliguri.
“We are conducting a survey of government land as several acres are being encroached on by land mafia in and around Siliguri. The practice is rampant in two blocks which are close to the town — Matigara in Darjeeling district and Dabgram-Fulbari in Jalpaiguri. The Darjeeling administration, led by the district magistrate, has already started a drive to evict the encroachers from the government land. An instruction has been given to the Jalpaiguri district magistrate also to initiate a similar move,” said Deb.
Darjeeling district magistrate Saumitra Mohan explained the modus operandi of the land mafia.
“Once a vacant government plot is identified, land sharks put up barbed wire fences or build a wall along the boundary. Next, they scout for prospective buyers promoting the land as a private property. Once the deal is struck, the encroachers sell the plot and accordingly, make changes in government records of the land concerned. We suspect some employees in the land and land reforms department are in cahoots with the racket.”
Mohan said a 17-acre plot could be reclaimed on the first day of the drive. “We launched the drive yesterday and evicted an encroacher from a 17-acre plot, whose market value is around Rs 16 crore, at Matigara. Some unscrupulous persons occupied the land and sold it to someone who was running a factory there ”
A district official said the person who was occupying the 17-acre land had been given a few days to remove the factory.
24 May 2013
Sukna base driver held for ISI link
Darjeeling, May 23: A contractual driver who worked at the army base in Sukna has been arrested for alleged ISI links, but the Darjeeling police chief said he did not seem involved with the people caught days back for suspected connections with the Pakistani spy agency.
Kunal Aggarwal, the Darjeeling superintendent of police, said: “Following a complaint from the commanding officer of the civil government transport wing of the army, we have arrested Md Azad, who was on his way to New Jalpaiguri (which has a railway station) around 4pm today.”
Aggarwal said no connection had yet been established between 39-year-old Md Azad and the five alleged ISI agents whom the police arrested on May 19 and 20.
“We have not yet established any connection between Azad and the others arrested earlier. This looks like a separate case,” he said.
The army’s 33 Corps is headquartered in Sukna, where Azad worked, though he was not among the regular army staff.
He worked as a cleaner-cum-driver on contract.
An army clerk posted in Sukna was arrested on May 20 for passing information to the ISI.
Asked what documents were found on Azad, Aggarwal said: “Photographs of the army installation at Sukna were found in his mobile phone. According to the complaint filed by the army, Md Azad was allegedly transferring information to ISI people in Delhi.”
Police sources said investigators had found some phone number of people with whom Azad was in contact in Delhi. Azad has been working with the army’s civil transport wing since 1999 and is a resident of Matigara in Siliguri.
Last Sunday, police arrested four persons for suspected ISI links. They were identified as Meshan Souriya, 54, ex-serviceman Maghan Bahadur Singh, 54, Dhan Kumar Pradhan, 42, of Panighatta bazaar and Gopal Khati, 39.
On May 19, the police also detained a serving army official, Mani Kumar Biswakarma, an upper division clerk at Sukna. The next day, he too was arrested.
Investigators had earlier that some of the documents seized from them showed fighter jet positions in air force bases at Bagdogra and Hashimara.
The police in Darjeeling said the first four arrests happened after Rajasthan police, who had arrested an army official, tipped them off.
Azad will be produced in a Kurseong court tomorrow and has been booked under the Official Secret Act (passing of classified documents to unauthorised persons), like the five others.
The four persons arrested on May 19 have reportedly told investigators that they were paid Rs 25,000 for every information passed on to ISI agents in Kathmandu.
“They would physically go to Kathmandu to supply the information and they always travelled by air through Bhadrapur airport (nearest airport in Nepal from Siliguri). They would be paid a sum of Rs 25,000 for every information passed on to ISI agents and their air fares would also be reimbursed,” said an investigator.
The sleuths have maintained that Souriya was the main agent who had formed the group in 2008 onwards.
“We are looking into the assets of Souriya and we can safely say he has loads of money along with assets like lands,” said another investigator.
SJDA engineer held for graft
Siliguri, May 23: An engineer with the Siliguri Jalpaiguri Development Authority and an employee of a construction firm were arrested today for their alleged involvement in irregularities in the payments for five projects.
Praween Kumar, a contractual sub-assistant engineer with the SJDA, and Amal Krishna Saha, who is with the Eureka Trade Bureau, a Calcutta-based construction firm, were remanded in police custody for five days by a court here. According to a complaint by SJDA CEO Shward Dwivedi, some SJDA officers had paid the construction firm before it had even done the basic work for three crematorium projects.
He levelled allegation of corruption as payment was not made “in consonant with government rules”.
Sources said some of the engineers at the SJDA had paid the firm Rs 27 crore in advance for three crematorium projects.
“Two other SJDA engineers are also involved in the corruption and police are looking for them,” said a source.
23 May 2013
Land return, eye on polls - Mamata to give back 10000 acres
Calcutta, May 22: The Mamata Banerjee government has decided to return nearly 10,000 acres from its land bank to 30,000-odd original owners by the end of the year with an eye on electoral gains, officials said.
No one in the government would go on record but The Telegraph has seen a land and land reforms department order, sent to the departments holding the plots and the district authorities, to start the land-return process at the earliest.
The decision comes at a time land unavailability is being cited as a key factor constraining industrial growth in Bengal, and Mamata’s promise to return the Singur land is tied up in a legal tangle.
Officials said most of the plots to be returned, many of them between 10 and 50 acres, would be prime land for small and medium-scale industries and were located in Haldia, Kalyani, and parts of North and South 24-Parganas and Howrah.
The order says the state will pay a yearly rent on these plots, acquired mostly during the 1970s through the 1990s, at a compound rate of 6 per cent of their price.
“This will require Rs 2,500 crore to Rs 4,000 crore — not a small amount for a cash-strapped state. It’s clear the ruling party wants to send out a message to rural voters,” a senior government official said.
The July rural polls in Bengal may be followed by elections to 13 civic bodies in November before the Lok Sabha polls become due next summer.
The order doesn’t mention how much land is to be returned from the state’s 3 lakh-acre land bank but government sources put it at 10,000 acres.
One official suggested an alternative reason for the government decision, which sources said was taken at a meeting in February.
“Although these plots have been in the government’s possession for decades, the acquisition process was not completed as no compensation was paid. An estimated Rs 15,000 crore needs to be spent to complete the acquisition but the government doesn’t have the money,” the official said.
He said the plots were acquired under the West Bengal Land (Requisition and Acquisition) Act of 1948, which was repealed in 1997 following a prod from the Centre as it ran counter to the central Land Acquisition Act of 1894.
“The 1948 act empowered the state to calculate and declare the compensation years after taking over a plot, without the need to entertain objections and claims from the land-losers,” the official said.
He said this act was used to acquire prime land needed urgently for development while other plots were acquired under the 1894 law. Yet, some 10,000 acres lie unused.
When the 1948 act was repealed in 1997, the then Left Front government acknowledged that acquisition of 15,000 acres involving 5,000 cases was still incomplete in the absence of compensation payment. The Left government brought in a law to prevent the acquisitions lapsing but the high court struck it down in 2010.
The Trinamul government enacted a fresh law to keep the acquisitions alive till March 2015. “It’s true that money is a problem but since most of these plots are prime land, the government could have tried to retain them at least till 2015 had it been keen on using them for industry,” an official said.
Morcha halts hill Trinamul ride
May 22: Over 800 supporters of the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha today stopped Trinamul Congress leader K.N. Subba from entering Kalimpong near Gorubathan, leading to tension in the area after which local traders closed their shops.
The blockade by Morcha supporters also led to disruption in the movement of several tourist vehicles going to Kalimpong, Lava and Loleygaon at the beginning of the peak tourism season in the hills.
Subba, a former DGHC councillor and GNLF leader who joined Trinamul in February this year, was going to his Kalimpong home through Gorubathan from Siliguri.
Around 8.30pm, a Trinamul hill leader took Subba to his house near Gorubathan, after which the Morcha supporters dispersed.
Although the Morcha and Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamul-led government are making efforts to mend fences after almost four months of sparring, the hill party is against Trinamul’s presence on its turf.
Subba, who has always been an anti-Morcha face, with 50-odd Trinamul supporters was going to Kalimpong when he was stopped at Pandara, a kilometre from Gorubathan.
“I had been staying away from Gorubathan since November last year and was returning home today. A section of Morcha supporters intercepted me and denied me entry to Gorubathan…. This is blatant infringement of human rights. I have informed the matter to senior Trinamul leaders and have sought police intervention,” Subba said earlier in the evening.
Gorubathan is around 60km from Siliguri and 70km from Jalpaiguri.
According to local sources, as Morcha supporters came to know about Subba’s return to Gorubathan, they assembled at Pandara around 10am.
Local residents, who learnt about the blockade and the reason behind it, downed shutters of their shops and went indoors, apprehending a political clash.
Hundreds of Morcha supporters blocked the road connecting Gorubathan with Dooars via Damdim and Fagu Tea Estate.
“During his tenure as a DGHC councillor, K.N. Subba had siphoned crores of rupees and not done anything for the development of Gorubathan. We have thus put the blockade,” said Kusha Lama, a local Morcha leader.
After Subba’s convoy of cars stopped, and the Trinamul leader refused to budge, both sides called the police.
Police from Gorubathan and adjoining areas reached the spot and kept vigil on both sides, standing about half-a-kilometre apart.
When neither backed out S. Lepcha, the additional superintendent of police of Kalimpong, dame to the spot at 5.30pm.
She tried to reason with the Morcha agitators, but they did not listen.
“He is the vice-president of Trinamul’s hill committee and was on his way home when the Morcha supporters, in an undemocratic fashion, stopped him. The Morcha is maintaining double standards as it is speaking of democracy on the one hand and stopping our leaders from going to their homes on the other,” said Rajen Mukhia, the convener of Trinamul hill committee.
“We have been in constant touch with the administration but no proper intervention has been witnessed from their side so far.”
The blockade, which commenced at 10am and was on till 7pm, caused harassment to hundreds of tourists who had taken vehicles in Dooars and were heading to Lava, Loleygaon and even Kalimpong.
They could not enter the hills.
They had to wait for hours on the road and most of them preferred to return to Dooars.
Among those who suffered because of the sudden blockade and agitation were Mallika Sarkar, Mousumi Das and Shahjahan Khan from Santoshpur in Calcutta as well as Champak Ghosh and Pradip Ghosh from Howrah.
“We were going to Lava and Loleygaon through Gorubathan but had to stop because of the sudden blockade. Peace has been there across hills for sometime and thousands of tourists are visiting the region,” Pradip Ghosh, a tourist, said, in a disappointing note.
“However, if demonstrations and blockades are held in such a rampant way, tourist inflow would be affected in the region,” he added.
Mallika Sarkar said her group waited for over three hours and finally cancelled the trip to Lava.
“We waited till 2pm and then decided to return to Lataguri (in the Dooars) as the driver said Lava is another 40km drive from Gorubathan and we cannot cover the distance during daylight,” she said.
“With utter disappointment, we had to cancel the trip and will return to Lataguri.”
60 steps, in all possible colours - Check out darjeeling’s rainbow stairs
Darjeeling, May 22: A drab and broken staircase, pounded by hundreds of residents in Darjeeling, has got colour to it, thanks to seven women in this hill town. And what colours they are.
Shatti Seri (meaning the 60 steps) may be the most used flight of stairs in Darjeeling, making it a landmark for hill residents.
The seven women, professionals and students, started a Facebook page called OMG Darj. It soon became the first step to the most colourful public art display in the town.
Smriti Raphel Rai, a professional photographer, speaking on behalf of the women, said: “We had formed a page on Facebook called OMG Darj (OMG stands for Oh my God) to express our feelings when the idea of preserving Darjeeling’s landmarks cropped up during an interaction. We zeroed in on the Shatti Seri as it is the most used staircase in town.”
“We came up with the idea to use different tiles as we came across (on the Net) a similar design in Brazil,” Smriti said. The straircase in Rio de Janeiro that inspired the women were decorated by Chilean artist Jorge Selaron. He tiled more than 200 steps with over 2,000 colourful tiles collected from over 60 countries. The steps are known as Escadaria Selaron (Selaron stairs).
But the women were worried that the tiles would become slippery in the rain.
“We came across anti-slip tiles, which were expensive, but helped solve our problem,” Smriti said.
The anti-slip tiles, which cost the group around Rs 28,000 were sponsored by residents of Darjeeling living in Dubai.
Shatti Seri connects Doranga Bazar with H.D. Lama Road in Darjeeling.
“We approached the municipality to seek permission to beautify the place and Amar Singh Rai, the civic chairman was kind to us,” Smriti said.
The cash-strapped municipality could not fund the project but Rai did request acquaintances to help the group.
Decorating Shatti Seri soon became a community project. “We got most of the things in kind. People came to us with even two tiles when word spread. Some gave us paint, water, cement and sand, almost everything,” Smriti said.
The group collected around Rs 35,000 in cash from hill residents to pay the labourers who fit the tiles.
“Some of the contractors of the Darjeeling civic body gave us Rs 15,000 which we used for labour payment. The rest of the amount was mobilised from the public,” said Smriti.
Some of the residents provided drums to store water, schoolchildren lent a helping hand during holidays.
It took around one and a half months to turn Shatti Seri from dull grey-brown to a riot of colours.
Rai, who cut a ribbon to reopen the staircase for use today, said: “We appreciate the initiative of the young group, especially at a time when we are facing a funds crunch. We hope this initiative will encourage other people to take up similar initiatives to beautify the town. There must be a feeling that public places belong to everyone.”
The OMG Darj group had earlier come up with public art along Nehru Road that leads to the Chowrastha in Darjeeling. The group had also started an initiative among school children to visit public libraries. “We are now planning to place dustbins across the town. We are making an appeal to the residents of Darjeeling to donate mustard oil tin boxes so that we can paint them and convert them into dustbins,” said Smriti.
Couple die on Sikkim trip
Gangtok, May 22: A couple hailing from Bankura died when their taxi skidded off a road near Mangan in north Sikkim and fell almost 350ft below last night.
The deceased are Sujit Kumar Neogi, a 47-year-old former army officer, and his wife Nivedita, 41, who died on the spot.
Among the eight other passengers in the taxi were the Neogi’s daughters, who were injured. The driver, too, was injured.
The daughters — Suchita, 13, and Anandita, 17 — and driver Akhtar Ali, 40, have been admitted to the district hospital in Mangan.
In the SUV with the Neogis were six first- and second-year students of the National Institute of Technology, Raipur.
They have been admitted to Central Referral Hospital in Gangtok.
The injured are: Swapnil Sharma, 19, Nivesh Agarwal, 17, Gulshan Kumar, 19, Vivek Tewari, 19, Saran Agarwal, 19 and Shashank Jramin, 19.
Saran and Nivesh Agarwal are brothers.
Around 8.30pm when the vehicle was returning to Gangtok, it skidded at 4th Mile on the North Sikkim highway, around 42km from Gangtok, while negotiating a turn.
According to the police, information of the accident was given by villagers after they heard the sound of the car rolling down.
“An immediate search-and-rescue operation was launched by Mangan police with the help of the villagers. Later, eight Jawans of Indo-Tibetan Border Police also helped in the rescue operation,” said subdivisional police officer Palden Bhutia.
According to the police, the vehicle rolled almost 350ft down the road.
Vivek Tewari, 19 who suffered head and leg injuries, said the group was to set for a Darjeeling trip today.
“We had come for a three-day trip to Sikkim. The taxi was moving slowly and suddenly there was a complete blackout. I regained consciousness in the hospital,” he said.
The students had reached Gangtok on May 19.
According to the police, they and the family (who got to know each other in Gangtok) had jointly hired the vehicle for the trip to Yumthang in north Sikkim through a local travel agent.
The group had halted at Lachung on May 20.
The doctors treating the patients at the Central Refferral Hospital said apart from Shashank, all others have suffered head and leg injuries.
“Shashank has an injury in the spinal cord and was admitted to the ICU,” said a doctor at the Central Refferal Hospital.
The bodies of the couple were handed over to a relative who reached Mangan today.
“They were very happy and excited for the trip to Sikkim,” said Gurdas Bhushal, the brother of Nivedita.
Suchita had passed her Class XII board exam and Anandita is a Class IX student.
Saradha hand hangs himself
Balurghat, May 22: A 22-year-old former clerk with the Saradha Group allegedly committed suicide, having lost his job and money he had invested in the money-mobilising firm.
Sumit Das, a resident of Bridgekali in Balurghat, was found hanging from the ceiling of his room this morning. This is the first suicide in South Dinajpur after the Saradha default crisis had erupted in the state a month back.
Sumkit ate dinner last night and went to his room. “When he didn’t come out of the room this morning, mother Doli knocked on the door repeatedly. There was no response and when she opened the window, she saw her son hanging from the ceiling,” said a police source.
Balurghat police broke open the door and seized the body for post-mortem.
Sumit’s relatives said he had been a clerk in the company’s office in Balurghat for two years and used to receive a monthly salary of Rs 7,000. His father Samir Das was also an employee in Saradha Group’s same office and both lost their jobs when the company wound up its operations in Balurghat on April 18.
Gopal Mohanta, a maternal uncle of Sumit, said the youth had invested Rs 25,000 in Saradha.
“His family also deposited Rs 1 lakh. After the Saradha scam came to light, Sumit was worried and he never thought that he would get back his deposits.”
Pratima, the wife of Samir’s brother, said the job loss was the main reason for Sumit’s suicide. “Since the office was shut, he became morose and always remained away from home. Sumit wouldn’t speak much to us either.”
Uttam Ghosh, the deputy superintendent of police, (headquarter), Balurghat, said: “Primarily, it seems to be a case of suicide. So far, we have received no information that he had debts. A case of unnatural death was registered. We didn’t recover a suicide note.”
22 May 2013
Parishad tie-up hint
May 21: Trinamul Congress sources in the Dooars and Terai have revealed that the party is in talks with the Akhil Bharatiya Adivasi Vikas Parishad for a poll alliance in the plains tea gardens.
“Last Saturday, around 10.30pm, a meeting was held between Chanda Bhowmik (the Jalpaiguri district Trinamul president)and Parishad regional secretary Rajesh Lakra, who was accompanied by some other leaders in Jalpaiguri. The discussion was effective and both the sides agreed on the need for an alliance for the rural polls. The final deal, however, is yet to be sealed,” a Trinamul source said.
“Deb has held talks with Parishad state president Birsa Tirkey on the issue,” the source added.
Sources in the Parishad, which has a strong union presence in tea gardens, said the party had put some conditions for the alliance. Top-most o that list is that Trinamul should not tie up with John Barla’s JMM, the Gorkha janmukti Morcha or any other pro-Gorkhaland outfit.
Trinamul, which had held talks with Barla, seems to have started to distance itself from the tribal leader in a subtle manner. It has attempted to win supporters by holding a meeting at the Lakkhipara Tea Estate at Banarhat, which is Barla’s backyard.
“Further, the joining of several key Morcha leaders and supporters of Barla has boosted the party’s morale, which, as of now, prefers to move ahead with a safe political strategy of joining hands with the Parishad,” the Trinamul source said.
“Another prime reason behind this prospective alliance is the Parishad’s anti-Gorkhaland stance, which is beyond any doubt,” a Trinamul source said.
Lakra, when asked about his talks with Trinamul, said: “We consider Trinamul as an anti-Gorkhaland force, courtesy the public statements made by party supremo and chief minister Mamata Banerjee. With such a standpoint, there is no problem if we ally with the party. Our candidates, however, will contest as Independents while in Trinamul’s seats, we can extend full-fledged support if the alliance is forged.”
He added: “So far, talks have been conducive and we are looking forward with high hopes.”
Trinamul does not have a strong presence in the garden areas and it is this void they had tried to fill through an alliance with Barla. However, Barla’s stand of wanting to stand by the Morcha as well may have upset the ruling party.
Today, Barla said: “We feel ditched as several proposals were mooted and discussed with Trinamul leaders. Now if they shun us and move ahead with some other party or organisation, we will not leave an open field to them but would contest as a political contender, while maintaining the JMM-Gorkha Janmukti Morcha tie-up.”
21 May 2013
ISI cuffs on army clerk
Darjeeling, May 20: A clerk at the Indian Army’s base in Sukna was arrested today for allegedly stealing defence documents and supplying them to four persons from Kurseong, held yesterday on the charge of working as conduits of Pakistan’s ISI.
“Mani Kumar Biswakarma, aged about 50 years and currently serving as an upper division clerk with the army in Sukna, was arrested today. He has confessed to stealing documents and supplying them to ISI agents,” said Kunal Aggarwal, the Darjeeling superintendent of police.
Biswakarma was detained yesterday for questioning with the four who were arrested.
Investigators have said the documents seized from the four men revealed that national security was compromised.
“The documents include a map and details of installations in army cantonments in the region. There are also documents that specifically show the positions of fighter planes of the air force,” said an investigator. The air force has bases at Bagdogra in Darjeeling district and Hashimari in Jalpaiguri district. The Bagdogra air force station is close to India’s borders with China and Nepal while Hashimara is close to the Bhutan and Bangladesh borders.
Biswakarma worked for the army’s 33 Corps headquarters in Sukna, which is close to India’s border with China at Nathu-la, Sikkim.
His desk job as an upper division clerk could have allowed him some access to official documents.
The police said Biswakarma’s name had cropped up during interrogation of the four men arrested in Kurseong yesterday.
Among the four arrested was an ex-serviceman, 54-year-old Maghan Bahadur Singh. He was a driver with the army but was dismissed from service in 2008 for conduct unbecoming of an army man. That year, he had been arrested in connection with a murder case. Another person, Meshan Souriya, 54, who the police believe was the ring leader, was a member of the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha. The hill party today distanced itself from Souriya saying he was no more with the party.
Both central and state agencies as well as the army’s intelligence wing are interrogating the five as well as two other men alleged to be ISI links. They, too, were arrested yesterday. Souriya allegedly formed a group to work for the ISI in 2008. The investigators claimed that he and Singh had been directly recruited by the Pakistani spy agency.
The alleged ISI links were identified as Dhan Kumar Pradhan, a 42-year-old resident of Panighatta Bazaar, and Gopal Khati, 39, a resident of Naxalbari. Both the places are in Darjeeling district.
Pradhan has a valid passport till 2016 and it was learnt that he had gone to Afghanistan. The police said they were yet to find out if his travel to Afghanistan had anything to do with his ISI activities.
The arrests in Darjeeling were made after a tip-off from the Rajasthan police who had taken into custody an alleged ISI spy, B.K. Sinha, recently. Sinha too was an upper division clerk and was posted in Siliguri till 2011.
The four arrested yesterday were remanded in police custody for 10 days.
Soon after Souriya’s arrest, Roshan Giri, the general secretary of the Morcha, said yesterday: “The Morcha had decided to expel Souriya from the party with immediate effect. We will not tolerate anyone compromising national security.” Today he said the Morcha had learnt that Souriya was no longer actively associated with the party.
Bouncers held for murder outside bar
Gangtok, May 20: Two bouncers of the pub outside which an engineering student was beaten to death early morning yesterday have been arrested for allegedly not preventing a brawl inside the bar preceding the murder.
The death of Rakshit Singh Meena, a third-year civil engineering student of Sikkim Manipal Institute of Technology, forced police to issue an order today, stipulating that all pubs should stop serving alcohol by 11pm and bring down the shutters in another 30 minutes.
The 22-year-old Meena died after he had been assaulted by a group of local youths outside Café Live and Loud at Tibet Road here around 1.30am yesterday. Minutes before the attack, Meena and five of his friends from the college had a fight with the local youths on the dance floor of the pub over a woman who was present there.
Five youths had been arrested yesterday in connection with Meena’s death.
Police said bouncers Phurba Tamang, 29, and Karna Hang Subba, 25, had been arrested yesterday evening.
“The bouncers have been arrested for not taking any action when a brawl took place at the disco. If they had stopped the two groups from fighting, the life of a student wouldn’t have been lost,” said deputy inspector-general (range) Mandeep Tuli.
The bouncers from Gangtok have been charged under Sections 34 (acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention), 201 (giving false information to screen offender or whoever, knowing or having reason to believe that an offence has been committed) and 302 (punishment for murder).
All the seven arrested men were produced in a court here today and remanded in police custody for six days.
Meena’s body was flown to Delhi from Bagdogra this morning.
Family sources said the body had reached Jaipur by road. He was the son of B.S. Meena, the deputy inspector-general of Purnea, Bihar.
To avert incidents like Meena’s death, the police today decided to bring forward the closure time of pubs by 30 minutes. “Most of the pubs are flouting the rule on timings in Gangtok. According to the new order, pubs should stop serving alcohol at 11pm and they should be completely shut down by 11.30pm. We are curtailing the time to keep a check on violent incidents at bars,” said superintendent of police (East), Manoj Tewari.
Earlier, bars had to stop serving liquor by 11.30pm and bring down shutters by 12am. The new rule will come into effect from tonight.
Tewari said the police were trying to find out if Café Live and Loud had violated rules on timing on Saturday night.
The registrar of the Manipal University, Vandana Suhag, said the institution would be more vigilant while issuing out-passes to students. Meena and the other five students had gone out on Saturday night to celebrate the birthday of one of them.
“A disciplinary action like suspension is taken if a student does not come back to hostel by 10pm. In this (Meena’s) case, the students were given night pass with the consent of their parents. We will now ensure that no students flouts the rule,” said the registrar.
20 May 2013
फोहोर व्यवस्थापनको अभावमा शहर दुर्गन्धित
प्रज्ज्वल छेत्री
कालेबुङ, १९ मई|
कालेबुङ शरहबाट दैनिक रुपमा निस्किने फोहोरमैलाको उचित व्यवस्थापन नहुँदा अहिले शहरी क्षेत्रनै प्रदूषित बन्दै गएको छ| यसको मुख्य असर आम मानिसमा पर्न थालेको छ| करीब एक सातादेखि शहर क्षेत्रमा यत्रतत्र फोहोर हुँदासमेत कालेबुङ नरपलिकाले कुनै चासो देखाएको छैन| विशेष गरेर यहॉंको हाटबाजर परिसर, हरिजन रोड, डाकुरबारी, साथै शहरको विभिन्न भागमा फोहोरको डङ्गुर नै हुन थालेको छ| जनसाधरणदेखि लिएर पर्यटकहरूसम्मले सडक किनारमा थुप्रिएको मैला देखेर नाक खुम्चयाउँदै व्यवस्थालाई गाली गर्न सिवाय अर्को विकल्प देख्न सकेका छैनन्| ‘यहॉं मैला थुप्रिएको झण्डै एकहप्ता भइसक्यो| हामीलाई धेरै समस्या भइसक्यो| उनीहरू शहरको मैला फ्यॉंक्ने ठाउँ छैन भन्छन्| मैला फ्यॉंक्ने ठाउँ नहुनु हाम्रो भूल हो?’-हाटबजारको गेटअघि थुप्रिएको मैलाको छेवैमा रहेका एजना दोकानेले भने| मैला फ्यॉंक्ने ठाउँ नभएपछि विभिन्न स्थानहरूमा कैयौं दिनदेखि मैला थुप्रिँदा शहर अहिले दुर्गन्धले भरिएको छ| ‘झिंका भन्किएर यहॉं बसिनसक्नु भइसक्यो’-गाउँबाट सब्जी लिएर हाटबजारमा बेचिरहेकी एक पसले महिलाले भनिन्| ‘मैलाले गर्दा ग्राहकहरूले बाटो फेरिसके| यो हप्ता त हाम्रो समानहरू बिक्री नभएर चौपट भयो’-हाटबजारकै अर्का दोकानेले भने| ‘झिंगाहरू भन्केकोले यो मासु किन्नु हुँदैन रोग लाग्छ भन्छन् मानिसहरू’-मैलाकै थुप्रोअघि कुखाराको मासु बेच्दै आइरहेका अर्का पसलेले भने| एकजना जनस्वाथ्य अधिकारीअनुसार, गर्मी समयको शुरुआतसँगै शहरकोे फोहोरले मानिसहरूमा विभिन्न खालका सरुवा रोग सर्न सक्ने खतरा बढ्ने गर्छ| अधिकारी भन्छन्-‘गर्मीको तापक्रम वृद्धिसँगै फोहोर सडेर कार्बनडाइअक्साइड तथा कार्बोन मनोअक्साइड ग्यास उत्पन्न भई मानव स्वास्थ्यमा प्रत्यक्ष असर गर्छ|’ ‘चॉंडै नै हामी शहरमा थुप्रिएको मैला उठाइसक्छौं| आज नै तीनगाडी मैला उठाइनेछ’-प्रतिक्रिया लिन चाहँदा नगरपालिकाका उपाध्यक्ष गङ्गामाया गुरुङले भनिन्| आकाशको पानीले केही कल्भर्टहरू पुरिएको कारण ठूलो पाइपहरू लगाउने व्यस्तताको कारण मैला उठाउन नसकेको उनको भनाइ छ| वर्षौंदेखिको कहिले सामाधन नहुने समस्याको रुपमा रहेको मैला व्यवस्थापनलाई लिएर कालेबुङ नगरपालिका, राजनैतिक दल, सङ्घ-संस्थाहरूले टाउको नदुखाएका भने होइनन्| मैला व्यवस्थापनलाई लिएर कैयौंचोटी बैठक बसेपनि मैला व्यवस्थापन भने ज्यूँको त्यूँ छ| भालुखोपस्थित नगरपालिकाको पुरानो डम्पिङ ग्राउण्ड जनविरोधको कारण बन्द भएपछि नयॉं डम्पिङ ग्राउण्डको खोजी भयो| यहॉंको दलमानगाउँस्थित नयॉं डम्पिङ ग्राउण्ड बनिने भनेपनि डम्पिङ ग्राउण्डको काम पूर्ण नभइ प्राकृतिक प्रकोप र जनविरोधको कारण यो योजना पनि थॉंतीमै रह्यो| शहरबाट प्रतिदिन निस्किने मैला नगरपालिकाले टिस्टा नदी अनि २७ माइलछेउ फ्याक्न शुरु गरेको थियो| जनविरोधको कारण त्यो कार्य बन्द भएपछि अहिले आएर नगरपालिका अपठ्यारो स्थितिमा परेको छ| मैला व्यवस्थापनलाई सामाधान गर्नहेतु नवगठित नगरपालिकाले विदेशबाट मसिनसम्म ल्याउने योजना बनायो तर यो योजना पनि कागज र फाइलमै सिमित रह्यो| अहिले शहरमा थुप्रिएको मैलाको कारण मानिसहरूको समस्या धेरै छ| कालेबुङ मैलाको समस्या जटिल छ जुन कुरासित जनता पनि अवगत छन्| नगरपालिका अध्यक्ष एलबी परियारअनुसार, भालुखोपस्थित नेवार गाउँमा भर्खरै सॉंडे छ ऐकर जमिन नगरपालिकाले किनेको छ| त्यहॉंसम्म जाने सडक बनाइसकेको छ| चॉंडै त्यँहा मैला फ्यॉंक्न प्रतिश्रुती दिएको पनि करीब दुइ महिना बितिसकेको पनि फोहोरमैला व्यवस्तापनको स्थायी सामाधान भने हुन सकेको छैन|
Hill police claim ISI arrests in Kurseong
Kurseong, May 19: Darjeeling police today arrested two suspected ISI agents along with two of their links from Kurseong.
Police have also detained three other people, one of them an upper division clerk in the army’s 33 Corps stationed at Sukna.
The arrests were made after a tip-off from the Rajasthan police following a recent arrest of an alleged ISI spy, B.K. Sinha, who was working as an upper divisional clerk of the Indian Army in Jaipur.
Sinha was posted in Siliguri till 2011 before being transferred to Jaipur.
Kunal Aggarawal, the superintendent of police of Darjeeling, said: “We have arrested two ISI agents and two other linkmen from the area under the Garidhura police station in Kurseong subdivision this afternoon. The arrests were made after a tip-off from our counterparts in Rajasthan.”
The SP added: “The people have contacts with ISI agents in Nepal.”
Sources in the police said of the four arrested, Maghan Bahadur Singh, 54, and Meshan Souriya, 54, were believed to be ISI recruits.
While Singh originally hailed from Uttar Pradesh, he had married a girl from Chotta Adalpur and was residing in the area ever since he was dismissed from the army in 2008.
Souriya, the other ISI agent, hails from Panighatta tea garden and is suspected to be the ring leader who formed the group in 2008, a police source said.
“One of the arrested is a ex-army driver who had been earlier arrested in a murder case and also for stealing a vehicle by Kurseong police,” said Aggarwal.
Souriya is believed to be involved in smuggling. Panighatta is near the Indo-Nepal border.
An officer investigating the case said: “Souriya seems to have developed the network as he was involved in smuggling. Since the arrests have just been made and five government agencies, including the military intelligence is interrogating them, full details are yet to emerge,” said an official.
Souriya is believed to have recruited Dhan Kumar Pradhan, 42, of Panighatta bazaar and Gopal Khati alias Biswakarma, 39, a resident of Naxalbari as their link.
“The link would physically go to Bhadrapur to meet ISI operatives in Kathmandu to pass on the information. They have told us that the ISI operatives in Kathmandu would pay Rs 25,000 for each information they would provide. We have recovered some documents, which we are verifying along with six mobile phones from the possession of the four arrested,” said another official. “They had been working for the past three years.”
The links had no regular jobs and would sustain their family by doing odd-jobs in their area.
“All the four were arrested from their residence and they had no idea that a raid were being conducted in the area,” Agarrawal said.
Darjeeling district shares international borders with Nepal and Bhutan.
The air force is based in Bagdogra and Hashimara in the plains while the army is stationed at Sukna, Sikkim and Darjeeling among other places of the region.
The police said the four had been booked under various sections of the Official Secrets Act and for sedition.
Sources maintain that the National Investigating Agency has also been informed about the arrests.
An investigating officer said that Mesha was a leader of a ill based political party of the Panighatta area.
“We are still to investigate whether Mesha used his political influence to gather information,” said a source.
Decision on others, Morcha out: Tirkey
Siliguri, May 19: Akhil Bharatiya Adivasi Vikas Parishad leader Birsa Tirkey today ruled out any understanding with the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha for the panchayat polls, but said local leaders in the Dooars would decide on a tie-up with other parties in the region.
Tirkey, the state president of the Parishad, is scheduled to visit the Dooars next week to discuss the outfit’s strategy for the rural polls with regional leaders. He did not reply when asked if there was a possibility of the Parishad aligning with the Trinamul Congress.
“The chief minister’s recent visit to the hills and renewing her party’s relation with the Morcha is nothing but a damage-control exercise ahead of the upcoming panchayat election. We will contest the panchayat polls under any circumstances and are not going to tie up with any party which is an associate of the Morcha,” Tirkey said over the phone from Calcutta.
“We have allowed our leaders in the Dooars to decide on the electoral adjustment with any organisation other than the Morcha and parties which are associated with it. I am likely to visit the Dooars next week and will discuss the strategies for the polls with regional leaders,” the Parishad leader added.
Rajesh Lakra, the secretary of the tribal outfit’s Dooars and Terai regional committee, however, said the Parishad would contest the polls for the socio-economic development of the tribal population of the region.
“There are organisations like the Morcha which will contest the polls to fulfil their political interests. But we are going to participate in the polls to uplift the socio-economic status of the tribal population in the region and we will go in for a tie-up as well. We have received the mandate for this from the state leadership,” Lakra said.
The Progressive Tea Workers’ Union, the Parishad’s labour wing for tea garden labourers, has a strong base in the Dooars and Terai.
John Barla, who had been expelled from the Parishad and joined the JMM, has already announced that his party will contest the polls in alliance with the Morcha in tea gardens and Trinamul in the rural areas.
“We have taken a decision to contest the polls in alliance with the Morcha in tea garden areas. We will also support Trinamul candidates to form rural bodies. We know our support base is in the Dooars and the chief minister’s recent visit to the hills will help us and the Morcha,” Barla said.
Cop son killed in Gangtok brawl
Gangtok, May 19: A Bihar police officer’s son, studying engineering in Sikkim, died last night after he was allegedly beaten up outside a Gangtok pub, a follow-up to a brawl inside it.
Police have arrested five Gangtok youths, one of whom, Gurmey Wangchuk, is the son of a senior Sikkim state official.
A senior police officer said: “There was a scuffle between the two groups, one comprising local youths in Gangtok and the other of the engineering students of Sikkim Manipal Institute of Technology (SMIT) at the local pub (Live and Loud).
“The six engineering students had gone to celebrate the birthday party of one of their friends. While dancing on the floor they had a fight over a woman who was in the pub. Later, the engineering students were beaten up by the youths outside the pub.”
The alleged second round of assault happened around 1.30am outside Live and Loud.
The Manipal students had taken an out pass from the college and reached Gangtok, about 7km from Manipal, yesterday evening.
The boy who died has been identified as Rakshit Singh Meena, a 22-year-old third year civil engineering student Manipal.
His father, B.S. Meena, is the deputy inspector-general of Purnea, Bihar.
The Sikkim police officer said: “The friends of Rakshit took him to a hotel room in Gangtok (they had booked for the night). Rakshit, who was grievously injured, complained of chest and back pain. He was rushed to the STNM Hospital.”
But the hospital told Rakshit’s friends to take him to the Central Referral Hospital because there were no empty beds.
When he was taken to the second hospital, Rakshit was declared dead on arrival, the police said.
The hospital sources informed that the cause of death was internal chest and the back injury.
The body was handed over to the family this evening after a post-mortem.
“He was the only son and had come to Sikkim three years ago to study engineering. He has two school-going sisters aged 15 and eight years,” said a relative who had accompanied the family to take the body from the referral hospital.
The Meenas hail from Rajasthan and “the family has decided to take the body to Japiur on a flight tomorrow”, the relative said.
Superintendent of police (East) Manoj Tewari, said: “Based on the video taken by the engineering students on the dance floor, the five persons were arrested and they confessed to their crime during interrogation.”
The police identified the arrested youths as Loden Sherpa, 32; Bidhan Pradhan, 32; Gurmey Wangchuk, 35; Sonam Namgyal, 31, and Ugyen Namgyal, 21.
All are from Gangtok.
The police are looking for a sixth accused. “The sixth person in the incident is yet to be identified and the police are trying to find the person,” Tewari said.
Deputy inspector-general Mandeep Tuli said all five have been booked on the charges of causing death ad voluntarily causing grievous hurt.
Bihar director-general of police Abhayanand said: “I got an SMS from him (B.S. Meena) on my mobile phone in the morning (Sunday) seeking leave as his son was admitted to a hospital.”
Sources close to the family said the Meenas left Purnea around 11am today for Sikkim by plane.
The boy’s mother fainted in Gangtok after she realised that her son had died.
19 May 2013
ग्राम पञ्चायत चुनाउः पहाडमा कहिले?
प्रज्ज्वल छेत्री
कालेबुङ, 18 मई।
गोरामुमोले जस्तो दुइस्तरीय ग्राम पञ्चायत चुनाउ गोर्खा जनमुक्ति मोर्चाले गराउन चहॉंदैन। मोर्चा त्रिस्तरीय ग्राम पञ्चायत चुनाउ गराउने पक्षमा छ, जो जीटीए सम्झौतामा पनि उल्लेख छ। गोर्खा जनमुक्ति मोर्चा आजसम्म यही सम्झौताको आधारमा पहाडमा त्रिस्तरीय पञ्चायत चुनाउ हुनुपर्छ भन्ने टेक लिएर बसेको छ। यसैले आउँदो जुलाई महिनामा राज्यभरि नै ग्राम पञ्चायत चुनाउ हुने भएपनि त्यसबेला जीटीए क्षेत्रमा चुनाउ हुने सम्भावना छैन। किनभने, हिजो पश्चिम बङ्गाल सरकारद्वारा जारी अधिसूचनामा जीटीएको नाम उल्लेख छैन। यसैले ग्राम पञ्चायत चुनाउलाई लिएर जीटीए क्षेत्रमा अनिश्चितता छाएको छ। जीटीए सम्झौताकै आधारमा पहाडमा त्रिस्तरीय पञ्चायत चुनाउ हुनुपर्ने मोर्चाको टेकको कारण अहिले पहाडमा चुनाउ हुने सम्भावना कम बनेको हो। आजको परिस्थितिमा पहाडमा त्रिस्तरीय ग्राम पञ्चायत चुनाउ हुनु कतिको सम्भव छ, यो महत्वपूर्ण विषय बनेको छ। यदि सिलगडीलाई छोडेर दार्जीलिङ पहाडको तीनवटा महकुमा कालेबुङ, खरसाङ र दार्जीलिङलाई मात्र लिएर त्रिस्तरीय ग्राम पञ्चायत चुनाउ गराउनु असम्भव रहेको एक पुराना राजनैतिज्ञ पीआर प्रधानको मत छ। 1979 देखि 86 सालसम्म जिल्ला परिषद्का सभाधिपति रहिसकेका प्रधानको विचार मान्ने हो भने एउटा पूर्ण जिल्लामा मात्र त्रिस्तरीय ग्राम पञ्चायत चुनाउ सम्भव हुन्छ। जबकी, दार्जीलिङ जिल्लाको एक प्रमुख अङ्ग सिलगढी अहिले जीटीए क्षेत्र बाहिर छ। पहाडको तीन महकुमाको निम्ति दागोपाप अनि सिलगढीकोे निम्ति महकुमा परिषद् दागोपाप ऐन अनुसार नै गठन गरिएको कारणले यदि त्रिस्तरीय पञ्चायत चुनाउ गराउनु हो भने कि सिलगढी दार्जीलिङ जिल्लामा आएको हुनुपर्छ कि सिलगढी छोडेर दार्जीलिङको तीनवटा महकुमालाई मात्र अलग्गै जिल्ला घोषित गरिनुपर्छ भन्ने धारणा उनको हो। अर्कोतिर, पूर्व आइएएस अधिकारी एलबी परियारले केही समयअघिको कुराकानीमा बताएअनुसार, जीटीए क्षेत्रमा त्रिस्तरीय पञ्चायत चुनाउ गर्न कुनै तक्निकी अडचन उत्पन्न हुँदैन। तिनले जीटीएको वैधानिकतालाई गोरामुमो प्रमुख सुवास घिसिङले वकालत गरिरहेको संविधानको धारा 243(एम)-ले पनि त्रिस्तरीय पञ्चायत चुनाउ गराउन बाधा नपुग्ने दाबी गरेका छन। दागोपापको कानून नै रद्द भइसकेको अवस्थामा 243(एम)-को कुनै औचित्य नरहने तिनको तर्क छ। ‘दागोपाप अस्तित्वमा हुँदासम्म यहॉं त्रिस्तरीय पञ्चायत सम्भव थिएन। अहिले राज्य सरकारले दागोपाप रद्द गरी जीटीए अस्तित्वमा ल्याएपछि यहॉं त्रिस्तरीय पञ्चायत चुनाउ गराउन कुनै असुविधा छैन। दागोपाप महत्वपूर्ण र 243(एम) गौण विषय हो। दागोपाप नै खारेज भएपछि 243(एम)-ले सुरक्षा दिएको कुरा स्वतः गौण भएर जान्छ’- परियारको धारणा यस्तो थियो। राज्यको पञ्चायत विभागका सचिवसमेत रहीसकेका परियारले जिल्लाभित्र पर्ने सिलगढी महकुमाको सबै क्षेत्रलाई लिएर पञ्चायत चुनाउ हुनु पर्ने पनि बताएका थिए । यसो गरिँदा जीटीएको क्षेत्र स्वभाविक रुपले बढ्ने उनको भनाइ थियोे। तर सिलगढीबिना त्रिस्तरीय पञ्चायत चुनाउ हुनै नसक्ने स्थिति भने नरहेको तिनको धारणा छ। तिनले सिलगढी महकुमा परिषदलाई भङ्ग गरी दार्जीलिङ जिल्लामा त्रिस्तरीय पञ्चायत हुनसक्ने कुरा साह्रै सम्भव नहुने दिशातिर संकेत गरेका छन। दागोपाप अस्तित्वमा आएपछि तत्कालिन वाममोर्चा सरकारले जिल्ला परिषदकै क्षमताबराबरको महकुमा परिषद गठन गरेको हो। जिल्ला परिषदको बराबरक्षमता वहन गर्ने सिलगढी महकुमा परिषदलाई जलपाइगुडी जिलामा सामेल गरी क्षेत्रमा त्रिस्तरीय पञ्चायत चुनाउ गराउन सकिने विकल्पको बाटोसमेत तिनले देखाएका छन। मोर्चाको बौद्धिक प्रकोष्ठ मानिने स्टडी फोरमका वरिष्ठ सदस्य पनि रहेका एलबी परियारले राज्यभित्रको राज्यको अवधारणाअनुरुप जीटीए ग्रहण गरिएको बताएका छन्। राज्यको प्रशासनिक प्रणालीको सञ्चालन र नियञ्त्रण गर्न सक्ने राइटर्स बिल्डिङले बोक्ने क्षमता पहाडमा जीटीए प्रशासनले बोक्ने बताएका छन। अर्कोतिर,मोर्चा राज्य अनि केन्द्र सरकारमाझ भएको त्रिपक्षीय सम्झौतामा स्पष्ट लेखिएको छ पहाडमा त्रिस्तरीय पञ्चायत चुनाउ गराइनेछ। पहिलेको जस्तो ग्राम पञ्चायत, पञ्चयात समिति अनि त्यसको माथि दागोपाप हुँदैन तर जिल्ला परिषद थपिएको हुन्छ अनि त्यसको माथिबाट जीटीए हुन्छ भन्ने अडान गोजमुमोको छ। यसैले केही महिनाअघि नै राज्यमा ग्राम पञ्चायत चुनाउ हुने हल्ला चलिरहेको बेला मोर्चा अध्यक्ष विमल गुरुङ स्वंयले अहिले नै पहाडमा चुनाउ नहुने बताएका थिए। तर डुवर्समा हुने चुनाउमा मोर्चाले पनि प्रतिद्वन्दिता गर्ने उनको भनाइ थियो। सम्बन्धित व्यक्तिहरूको भनाइलाई आधार मान्ने हो भने आउँदो जुलाई महिनामा राज्यभरि चुनाउ हुने भएपनि पहाडमा ग्राम पञ्चायत चुनाउ अहिले नै हुने स्थिति नरहेको विज्ञहरूको मत छ।
महिला हिंसाविरुद्ध र्याली र सङ्गोष्ठी
कालेबुङ, 18 मई।
अल इण्डिया वुमेन्स कनफेरेन्सको कालेबुङ शाखाले आज महिला हिंसाविरुद्ध विद्यमान कानूनी प्रावधानहरुबारे जानकारी प्रदान गर्न एक सङ्गोष्ठी साथै शहरमा एउटा सचेतना र्यालीको आयोजना गरेको थियो। विभिन्न शैक्षिक संस्थानका शिक्षक अनि विद्यार्थी, सामाजिक संगठनका प्रतिनिधि लगायत शहरका सचेत तप्काका महिलाहरुले र्यालीमा भाग लिएका थिए। महिलाहिंसाविरुद्ध जागरुकतामूलक सन्देश लेखिएको प्लाकार्डहरु बोकेर र्यालीमा सामेल महिला र विद्यार्थीहरुले शहर परिक्रमा गरेपछि कन्या उच्च पाठशाला पुगेर सङ्गोष्ठीमा परिणत भएको थियो। पाठशालाको प्रेक्षागृहमा सम्पन्न सङ्गोष्ठीमा कालेबुङ न्यायलयका न्यायधीशहरुको मुख्य उपस्थिति थियो। सङ्गठनकी उपाध्यक्ष युडेन पेम्पा हिस्सेले अध्यक्षता गरेको यस कार्यक्रममा कालेबुङ कोर्टका एसीजेएम राणा दाम, महकुमा कानूनी सेवा समितिका अध्यक्ष अमलेन्दू भौमिक, सिभिल जर्ज विदूषी छिरिङ लेप्चा विशेषज्ञका रुपमा उपस्थित थिए। यी कानूनविदहरुले महिला हिंसाका कारण र यसविरुद्ध लड्न सकिने कानूनी प्रावधानहरुबारे विस्तृतमा चर्चा गरेका थिए। कानूनवेत्ताहरुले समाजमा महिला हिंसाको घटनामा वृद्धि भएकोमा चिन्ता प्रकट गर्दै यसले सामाजिक मूल्य पनि नष्ट हुँदै गएको विचार व्यक्त गरेका छन। आयोजक पक्षबाट सङ्गठनकी सचिव अरुणा प्रधानले कालेबुङका महिलाहरुलाई आफूविरुद्ध हुने हिंसाका चरित्र र यसका कानूनी लडाईबारे जानकारी प्रदान गर्न अनि जागरुकता फैलाउन संगोष्ठीको आयोजना गरिएको बताइन। महिला हिंसा र अत्यचारविरुद्ध पिडीत र सचेतवर्ग जागरुक नहुञ्जेल समाजबाट यो घटना निर्मूल पार्न चर्को पर्ने कानूनविदहरूको मत छ। महिलाहरु पनि आफ्ना सुरक्षा र हकको निम्ति कानूनले प्रदान गरेको प्रावधानबारे सचेत र जानकार रहनु पर्ने कुरामा कानूनविदहरुले जोर दिएका थिए।
