meeting of Majhitar Samaj kalayan Samity

9TH APRIL 2012-
a day long monthly meeting of Majhitar Samaj kalayan Samity was organized at the premises of the house of Shri Purna Kumar Majhi, treasurer of the Samity on 8th April 2012.The main objective of the meeting was to analyze the progress & problem of the samity along with making a strategy for future course of action.
The meeting was presided over by the president of Samity Smt. Maya Century & attended by Shri Tika Ram Pradhan, youth president Biswa Gurung H.B Chhetri,D.K Pradhan, P.K Majhi,Ashok Pradhan,Dr. D.S Tewari, Ranjana Subba,Kalpana & other office bearer & members of the samity.The meeting started with the welcome address by Shri A.K Pradhan,wherin he also informed people for maintaining accountiblity,group involvement & decentralization of power & these are crucial in such organization. After this Dr. D. S Tewari deliberated on future course of action. He informed that the Tannery road is also by pass for SMIT Students, lecturers & other delegates coming to this university, so black toping & drainage system construction is the need of the hour. He also aware people to be more environments friendly while in living heterogeneous society like hours. In this context he informed people to observe world environment day on 5th May 2012 at Samity level, with the objective to aware people as regards to balance ecosystem & ecotourism. After this president of the samity informed the house regarding the resolution urgent to resolve by the house at that time. Accordingly the house resolves the following points which are felt necessary for straight away execution.

1- Street light from Dip Hotel to SMIT gate is felt very imperative. & demand has to be placed in the office of Power & Energy Department.
2- Some people residing in & around Rod factory found Tuberculosis positive as per the record of Distt. Hospital singtam, accordingly they are under medication (D.O.T), so the samity felt urgent to guide them to complete the course of medicine & also took the responsibility to aware others to keep away from infected zone/person.
3- The House resolved to appeal Nagar Panchayat to initiate action for developing proper drainage system in lower Majhitar.
4- The House also resolved to request area MLA for Tannery Road carpeting

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Panel orders boy back in class

NIRMAL MANGAR

Gangtok, April 8: The Sikkim State Child Rights Commission has directed Holy Cross School to take back a Class IV student who had been issued a transfer certificate last month on health grounds. The commission also directed the school authorities not to call any student “mentally disoriented” without medical endorsement. The 11-year-old boy will be attending school from Tuesday, commission sources said. School principal Sister Jessy Mathew had labelled the boy of “unsound mind” while issuing a transfer certificate within a month of the start of the new session, insisting that he should study in special schools. The commission had summoned principal Mathew and six members of the school disciplinary committee for a hearing yesterday. During the two-hour session, the commission sought the expert opinion of Dr B.P. Dhakal, the general secretary of the Spastic Society of Sikkim, on the mental state of the child whom he was told to examine. The committee concluded that the boy was “normal” and should be allowed to continue with his studies in the same school. Dhakal is a doctor with the government-run Sir Thutob Namgayal Memorial Hospital in Gangtok. “After listening to both the sides, the commission ordered the school to take back the student. We had Dr B.P. Dhakal to interact with the child. He confirmed that the child had no complications,” said commission chairperson Manita Pradhan. “The doctor said the child was completely fit for mainstream schooling. The child was asked several questions by the doctor on addition, subtraction, names of the (days of the) week by the doctor and he answered the questions promptly,” Pradhan said. The TC was challenged by the boy’s grandmother Shila Devi Rai on April 5 before the commission. She had argued that no doctor had been consulted to declare the child unfit for school. She had also said the boy had been a student of the school for three years and had been promoted to Class IV with good marks. During that time, the authorities had not raised any questions on the child’s health. Principal Mathew had told The Telegraph earlier that the child was “mentally disoriented and mentally unsound. He beats up other students and disturbs the class. The disciplinary committee summoned the boy’s grandmother who took the child away from school”. Shila Devi said she was happy with the decision of the commission whose orders are binding on all Sikkim schools, but feared that the child may be discriminated against when he joined class. “I am very happy that my grandson will go to the same school. I thank the commission for delivering justice to him. However, I fear that he may get discriminated in the school,” she said. In case such a thing happens, the boy’s guardian can lodge another complaint with the commission, sources said. “The school has to comply with the order of the commission. If it fails, a complaint would be lodged with the police. Right to Education is a fundamental right and no one can violate the basic rights of a child,” said an official from the social welfare department. The school authorities refused to talk to The Telegraph after the hearing.(The Telegraph)

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‘Goodwill’ gesture in partial strike - Partha stresses on bandh-free protest, points to land panel

AVIJIT SINHA

Ministers Gautam Deb and Partha Chatterjee (right) at the office of the north Bengal development department in Siliguri on Sunday. Picture by Kundan Yolmo Siliguri, April 8: An anti-hill forum in the Dooars-Terai has scaled down a two-day shutdown to a 24-hour general strike as a “goodwill” gesture after a meeting with industries minister Partha Chatterjee, saying it expected the government to reciprocate. The forum also said the strike has been partially withdrawn — and will now be observed in Darjeeling and Jalpaiguri districts on April 10 — keeping in mind the interest of the business community, specially shopkeepers before the Bengali New Year. Chatterjee, who acted as an emissary of chief minister Mamata Banerjee, urged the forum to refrain from strikes, specially when there were options to make submissions before the government committee looking into the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha’s demand for plains territory to be made part of the hill set-up. “Calling general strikes over the hill issue had become a regular feature in this region. The state government, through its initiatives, could successfully bring the region out of this phase that had deterred development in north Bengal,” the industries minister said. “We have asked the organisations to make submissions before the high-powered committee which has not yet made its recommendations on territory. The joint forum and its constituents can resort to other forms of agitation but they must refrain from strikes, which affect the economy of a region,” he added. The Dooars-Terai Joint Action Committee, a forum of 26 organisations including the Akhil Bharatiya Adivasi Vikas Parishad, Intuc and KPP, is opposed to the Morcha demand to bring Gorkha-dominated mouzas in the foothills under the to-be-formed Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA). Asked after the meeting if he would ask the Morcha too to withdraw its 48-hour strike starting April 18, the minister said: “We will talk to everybody as the state government does not want development to be affected because of strikes.” Another joint action committee led by the Morcha and the John Barla-faction of the Adivasi Vikas Parishad has called the strike to protest the plains forum’s demand. Chatterjee was accompanied by north Bengal development minister Gautam Deb in the first meeting that the government held with the plains outfits opposed to the Morcha. The almost-back-to-back 96-hour bandh calls had made the business community apprehensive and it was looking forward to government intervention. The forum, which had earlier said it would not withdraw the strike till the government gave in writing that not an inch of land from the Dooars and Terai would be added to the GTA, softened today. “Although no concrete assurance has been given by the state, we have decided to partially withdraw the strike and will observe it on April 10 in deference to the minister,” committee convener, the KPP’s Atul Roy said. “Rallies in support of the strike would be held in Siliguri, Nagrakata and Jalpaiguri tomorrow. But we hope the government will reciprocate our goodwill gesture. If the state shows no sign of meeting our demands, then we will decide our next course of action on April 16.” Sources present at the meeting said the forum was also under pressure from traders. “We had to relent a bit as this is the time traders look forward to, ahead of the New Year (April 14) and the Chaitra sale,” said a source. Chatterjee will meet tour operators and the business community tomorrow.(The Telegraph)

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Anti-Morcha forum called to talks table - 96-hour strike calls spurs govt invite

AVIJIT SINHA & SUBHASH CHANDRA BOSE

Partha Chatterjee: the mediator April 6: The state government has for the first time invited a forum of outfits opposed to the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha to the talks table next week after the two rival camps called a almost back-to-back 96-hour strikes to counter each other’s demand on added hill territory. The proposed meeting of the Terai Dooars Joint Action Committee, the forum for 19 organisations, with ministers Partha Chatterjee and Gautam Deb will be in Siliguri on April 8. Tour operators are looking forward to the government intervention, for any form of agitation may hit the number of summer visitors to the Dooars and Terai. But the anti-Morcha committee said it was determined to go ahead with its 48-hour strike starting April 10 and subsequent agitation if the government did not assure in writing that the jurisdiction of the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration would not extend to the plains. The invitation to the talks was sent to forum convener, the KPP’s Atul Roy, by the north Bengal development department headed by Deb. The rival camp led by the Morcha has called a two-day strike from April 18. “The letter, signed by an assistant secretary of the north Bengal development department reached Atul Roy (KPP president and convener of the committee) yesterday. This is the first time that the government has called us to the talks table. State ministers Partha Chatterjee and Gautam Deb will hold a meeting with us at the office of the north Bengal development department in Siliguri on April 8,” said Rajesh Lakra, general secretary of Terai Dooars Regional Unit of the Akhil Bharatiya Adivasi Parishad. “Although no agenda has been fixed, it seems the state representatives will ask us to withdraw the 48-hour strike from April 10 and the agitation that we had planned.” The forum held a meeting of its constituent organisations at Jalpaiguri’s Nagrakata today to decide on the next course of action. “Unless the state gives us in writing that not an inch of the Terai and Dooars will be made part of the GTA, there is no question of withdrawing,” said Lakra. Minister Deb has confirmed the meeting with the forum. “Yes, Partha Chatterjee will be travelling to Siliguri on Sunday to meet members of the Adivasi Vikas Parishad. We believe that in a democracy, talks are the only way to find solutions to problems. He has some other meetings lined up as well.” To counter the move of the forum, the Morcha along with the rebel faction of the Parishad led by John Barla has formed another joint action committee, which has announced a 48-hour strike from April 18 and has lined up rallies and meetings till May 31. To mount pressure on the forum, the Morcha-led committee has demanded that 40 more mouzas of the Terai and Dooars must be added to the GTA. “Recently, we had written to the high-powered (Justice Sen) committee with a list of these 40 mouzas where tribals are the majority. These areas should come under the GTA along with the 399 mouzas for which we had made the initial demand, otherwise we will launch a movement,” said Barla today. The government has appointed a committee led by retired Justice Shyamal Sen to look into the Morcha demand that Gorkha-dominated areas of the Dooars and Terai be brought under the GTA. Tour and travel operators fear that business may be hit like in 2007 when the statehood agitation had engulfed the hills. “For the past one year, tourist movement has shown steady rise in all seasons. But now that organisations and political parties are planning agitation again, we fear a huge loss. An air of uncertainty always pushes away tourists,” said Deepak Gupta, general secretary of Eastern Himalaya Travel & Tour Operators’ Association (EHTTOA). Asked about the footfall in the region at this time, Gupta said it was difficult to give any number. “The concept now is touring in circuits. No one comes to Dooars or Terai or Darjeeling separately. They tour an entire circuit like the Dooars-Terai-Darjeeling-Sikkim.” Nearly 3.5 lakh tourists visit Darjeeling annually and 60 per cent of them prefer the March-June season. Raj Basu, the chairman of the EHTTOA advisory board, said even party meetings and rallies hit businesses. “We will face problems transporting tourists as all vehicles will be booked by the parties,” he said.(The Telegraph)

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