DMs to scan contours of plains mouzas - Morcha cites adivasi support to argue against demographic profiling of plains pockets

VIVEK CHHETRI

Darjeeling, Jan. 18: The Justice Shyamal Sen Committee today decided to ask the district magistrates of Darjeeling and Jalpaiguri to prepare a map to see if the mouzas the Gorkha Janmutki Morcha wanted as part of the hill set-up were contiguous.

“This would be a first step,” said Shankar Adhikari, the Morcha’s convener of the Terai unit who is on the committee.

“Then would follow the more complex task of verifying whether they (the mouzas) are Gorkha dominated or not. Unless these areas are contiguous it would be difficult to include them in the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration. So we shall first study this aspect and then move forward. The district magistrates will be given 10 days to complete the map,” he added.

The committee’s decision comes a day after Morcha chief Bimal Gurung threatened to re-start the statehood agitation unless the GTA was implemented by March 27.

Sources in the state government doubted whether the committee could achieve the task of verifying if the mouzas were Gorkha-dominated before that. The government had initially given the committee a deadline of six months to submit its report. As the deadline will expire in February, the committee is expected to ask the government for more time.

“The verification (if the mouzas are Gorkha dominated) would be time-consuming process and we have not even started it yet. In fact, it is the verification process that is becoming one of the biggest stumbling blocks in the formation of the GTA,” another Morcha leader who is on the committee said. “What is good, however, is that a start has been made and we can only go forward from here.”

The Morcha has asked for the inclusion of 196 mouzas in the Dooars and an equal number in the Terai in the GTA. The hill party has maintained that it would not accept the new administrative arrangement unless the territorial status was firmed up.

The committee is headed by retired judge Shyamal Sen and consists of four Morcha representatives, the district magistrates of Darjeeling and Jalpaiguri, a representative of the state home department, the director of census (representing the Centre) and the administrator of the Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council.

Adhikari said the Morcha representatives argued today that it was not necessary to get the demographic profile of these mouzas as most of the adivasi leaders of the Dooars and the Terai had said they were willing to be part of the GTA.

“They have even signed a pact with the Morcha on this,” Adhikari said. “After this, getting a democratic profile of the mouzas is a futile exercise.”

Adhikari said after the committee was formed, the government had invited submissions from people to know if they wanted the areas to be brought under the GTA.

“Of the 719 public submissions made before the committee, 696 applications were in favour of being part of the GTA. Although the rest of the applications were against the merger of the mouzas with the GTA, eight of them were from various political parties,” said Adhikari.

Government sources said only 392 mouzas initially demanded by the Morcha would be considered and not the entire Dooars and the Terai that was subsequently demanded by the hill party.

The next meeting of the committee is likely to be held in February, though the date has not been fixed.(Telegraph)

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10 injured, SFI points assault finger at rivals

Siliguri, Jan. 17: Ten SFI supporters, six of them girls, were allegedly beaten up by Trinamul Congress and Chhatra Parishad members at Siliguri College today.

The SFI alleged that its supporters were attacked when they were coming out of the campus after collecting nomination forms for the student union election. The CPM’s student wing has been the dominant union in the college for 16 years.

“The Trinamul Chhatra Parishad members, most of them outsiders, did not even spare our girls. A number of them were assaulted. We have informed police about it in detail,” said Sourav Das, the district secretary of the SFI.

The clash is the latest in campus violence reported across the state and in north Bengal in particular. On January 5, the principal of Raiganj University College in North Dinajpur was beaten up allegedly by Trinamul supporters.

Trinamul and Chhatra Parishad have denied the charges. They said they had protested when an SFI supporter, who is not a student of the college, entered the campus violating election rules laid down by the institution. They said SFI kicked up a fuss because of their protest.

The atmosphere charged up minutes after the college had started distributing the nomination forms around 10.30am. Supporters of the SFI and Trinamul and CP had assembled on either side of the gate shouting slogans against each other. Only students of the college who will collect nomination forms were being allowed to enter after showing their identity cards.

The election to the 45 seats of the students’ union has been scheduled for February 4.

The SFI alleged that the Trinamul and the Congress’s student wing — the two parties are partners in the state and allies at the Centre — had initially prevented one of their supporters from collecting nomination form.

“Trinamul and CP supporters threatened him with dire consequences if he contested the election as an SFI candidate. When we asked the police to intervene, they spoke to Trinamul supporters who did not let the boy go. He felt so intimidated by their gherao that he refused to collect the form later,” said Sagar Sharma, the unit secretary of SFI in the college.

Around 50 policemen and combat personnel had been posted on the campus since morning.

“After the distribution of the forms ended at 2am, our supporters were coming out of the gate when a group of around 50 Trinamul and CP supporters attacked them. They were punched and beaten up,” said SFI leader Das.

The police separated the two groups and barricaded the area in front of the gate.

“But some of the Chhatra Parishad and Trinamul supporters broke the barricade and attacked us again. They know they will not be able to win the election, so they have resorted to the tactics of violence,” Das added.

The SFI blocked Hashmi Chowk for 45 minutes demanding the arrest of the culprits. An FIR has been filed against the attackers.

Trinamul claimed that the SFI was levelling “baseless allegations” to cover up an outsider’s entry.

“All allegations levelled against us are false. The SFI has no supporters in the college and they are forcing students to contest election as their candidates. Today when we spotted an outsider queuing up for the form, we protested. The SFI then started shouting that we had assaulted them. We have lodged an FIR against the SFI worker from outside,” said Nirnay Roy, the district president of the Trinamul Chhatra Parishad.

Additional superintendent of the police Amit P. Javalgi said he was looking into the charges levelled by both sides.

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GTA by March or state cry: Morcha - Deadline set before territory panel meet

VIVEK CHHETRI

A Morcha fair at Jamuni on Tuesday. Jamuni is 17km from Darjeeling town. Picture by Suman Tamang

Darjeeling, Jan. 17: The Gorkha Janmukti Morcha today said it would wait till March for the implementation of the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration and would start a fresh agitation for statehood if the Bengal government failed to meet the deadline.

Morcha chief Bimal Gurung has set a deadline of March 27, though he has not given any reason for choosing the particular date.

The pressure tactics came a day before the high powered territorial committee headed by Justice (retired) Shyamal Sen is scheduled to hold a meeting in Calcutta.

One of the major problems for the early implementation of the GTA is the delay by the committee in submitting its report on the Morcha’s demand for the inclusion of the Gorkha dominated areas of the Dooars and the Terai in the hill arrangement. The GTA cannot be implemented unless the territorial jurisdiction of the new body is firmed up.

Earlier in the day, a central committee member of the Morcha said: “We will wait only till March end. There is no question of waiting further.” He said the decision had the full endorsement of the Morcha president.

“If the agreement is not implemented by March 27 this year, we will reject it and begin a fresh agitation for Gorkhaland,” Gurung said in the evening.

Morcha general secretary Roshan Giri had raised the issue of the slow functioning of the territorial committee during a review meeting between the Centre, state and the Morcha in New Delhi on January 9. “The Union home ministry has directed state home secretary G.D. Gautama to look into our grievances and has directed him to ensure that the process is expedited,” Giri had said after the meeting.

The Morcha’s stand seems to be well-timed as rebel adivasi leader John Barla had said in Darjeeling yesterday that his community would launch an agitation from February end for the early settlement of the territory issue and the formation of the GTA.

“We along with the tea trade union of the Morcha are creating public awareness of the benefits of the GTA. If there is delay in forming the GTA, we will start an agitation from the plains by holding public meetings across the Dooars and Terai from February end,” said Barla.

That both the Morcha and Barla’s supporters are working in tandem was evident from the fact that the adivasi leader’s claim that all agitations would be held in consultation with each other.

In the wake of today’s development, the territorial meeting scheduled to be held tomorrow has also assumed much significance. Till date, the 10-member committee, which also consists of four Morcha representatives, had been finding it difficult to get the demographic break-up of the plains population. Sources said the director of census, who is also a member of the committee, has been asked to come up with a solution on this.

The other issue, which is delaying the formation of the GTA, is the Presidential assent to the GTA Bill that was passed in the Assembly on September 2.

Giri had earlier said: “The home ministry is waiting for an inter-ministerial report, which is expected to be submitted by January 16, 2011, following which the bill will be sent for Presidential assent.” Asked if the report had been submitted, Giri said: “I don’t have any intimation.”

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जनजातिको दर्जा दिनु पर्ने राई समुदयको माग

16 जनवरी (कालेबुङ):- राई समुदायका मानिसहरुले आफूहरुलाई जनजातिको दर्जा दिनु पर्ने माग गर्दै सरकारमाथि दवाउ बनाउन शुरु गरेका छन। लामो समयदेखि जनजातिको दर्जाको माग गर्दै आइरहेका राईहरुको प्रतिनिधि संगठन किराँती खम्बु राई सांस्कृतिक संस्थानले आज कालेबुङमा एउटा र्‍यालीको आयोजना गरी आफ्नो आवाज बुलन्द गरेको छ। संगठनको कालेबुङ महकुमा समितिले आयोजना गरेको र्‍यालीमा हजारौंको संख्यामा विभिन्न क्षेत्रका राई समुदायका मानिसहरु सहभागी बनेका थिए। किराँतीहरुको नयाँ बर्ष यलोम सम्वत 5072को अवसर पारेर निकालिएको सो र्‍यालीमा सामेल राईहरुले आफूहरुलाई अबिलम्व जनजातिको दर्जा दिनु पर्ने माग गर्दै व्यापक नाराबाजी गरेका थिए। कालेबुङ शहरको परिक्रमापछि  महकुमा अधिकारीको कार्यालय पुगेर पनि जुलुशले नाराबाजी गरेको थियो। आफ्नो मागबारे सरकारलाई स्मरण गराउन संगठनको प्रतिनिधि टोलीले महकुमा अधिकारी एल एन शेर्पालाई एउटा ज्ञापन पनि दिएको छ। क्षेत्रका राई समुदायले सन 1994देखि आफूहरुलाई जनजातिको दर्जा दिनु पर्ने माग गर्दै केन्द्र अनि राज्य सरकारसँग पत्रचार गर्ने कार्य जारी राखेको छ। हाल यस जातिलाई ओबीसीको दर्जा प्राप्त छ। समान सांस्कृतिक अनि धार्मिक चरित्र भएको तामाङ अनि सुब्बालाई  जनजातिको दर्जा प्राप्त भई सके पनि राई जातिलाई जनजातिको सहुलियतबाट बञ्चित राखिएको उनीहरुको भनाई छ। आफ्नो यस मागलाई लिएर लामो अंतरालसम्म मौन बसेका राई समुदायका मानिसहरु आफ्नो हक अधिकारको निम्ति पुन संगठित र सक्रिय बनेका छन। आफ्ना मागलाई लिएर सरकारी तौरमा कुनै सकारात्मक पहल नभए आगामी दिनमा सडक आन्दोलन गर्ने संगठनको योजना छ। संगठनको महकुमा समितिका उपाध्यक्ष मेघराज राईले यसबारे थप जानकारी दिएका छन। 

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