Low Lepcha turnout at Darj meet Six protesters in hospital

Feb. 11: A Lepcha association that supports the creation of the community’s development board under the GTA today attracted only 150 people to its meeting, denting the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha’s hopes of sending a strong message to the state government on the issue.

The Darjeeling meeting of the All India Lepcha Association had assumed importance as the Morcha was hoping to use this meeting to send a message to the Mamata Banerjee-led government that many of the community were in favour of the creation of the development board under the GTA. A source in the hills, who did not want to be named, said: “The attendance has come as a major blow and the Morcha has been given the message that the Lepcha community in the hills is with the agitators in Kalimpong. The thin attendance has also cornered the Morcha, which is at a loss to evolve a strategy to end the impasse from the day the Lepcha community started the hunger strike in Kalimpong.” The All India Lepcha Association, which is Darjeeling-based, is not known to have much influence in Kalimpong, where most of the 1.5 lakh Lepchas of the hills reside. In Kalimpong, six of the protesters on a fast unto death to protest the opposition to the board’s formation in the hills, took ill and had to be hospitalised and put on saline. A team of the Lepcha Rights Movement, which is spearheading the protest in Kalimpong, today met the home secretary in Calcutta. The leaders said they had gone to Calcutta at the invitation of the government and had conveyed their concerns regarding the “politicisation” of the impending formation of the Lepcha development board. “We came here to tell the state government that we are appealing to all political parties to not politicise the board’s formation,” said one of the leaders in the team. The Lepcha leaders said they told the home secretary about the fasting protesters and sought the government’s help. The state government has not committed anything yet, the Lepcha leader said. The Morcha has said it is not against a Lepcha development board but it has to be under the GTA. The state government, however, has announced the formation of the board under the state’s backward classes welfare department. In Darjeeling, Duk Tshering Lepcha, the president of the All India Lepcha Association’s youth wing, said the public meeting today was not against the agitators in Kalimpong. “We are neither opposing the Lepcha development board nor those who are on an indefinite hunger strike in Kalimpong. Our agitation is only against the Mamata Banerjee-led state government which is trying to divide the hill people,” he said. “All Lepchas must understand that the state government is trying to drive a wedge between these two communities but we need to stand up against this policy and we need to uphold this unity. A parallel body in the hills will not help things.” At today’s meeting, one elected GTA member from the Lepcha community was present. Dawa Lepcha, who was one of the last speakers, also told the 150-odd gathering at Chowrastha that a parallel authority in the hills would not be a good thing. Asked about the thin attendance, Karma Lepcha, the general secretary of the association, said: “Most of our community members stay in villages and transportation is a problem.” A senior Morcha leader on condition of anonymity said: “The Lepchas have the right to make their demand. There is no denying this fact. However, we as a party also have a stand and this is to oppose the state government’s interference in departments transferred to the GTA. We, too, have the right to defend our stand.” In Kalimpong, a doctor said the six protesters of Tricone Park who were put on saline on the fifth day of the fast unto death “are okay”. “They are being given intravenous saline. They are okay,” said Sonam Bhutia, the superintendent of the Kalimpong sub-divisional hospital. Thirty more persons joined the indefinite fast today, taking the number of fasting protesters to 321. Lepcha Rights Movement coordinator N.T. Lepcha clarified today that the figure of 900 given yesterday included people who sat on fast for a few hours or a day to express solidarity. Asked if the community leaders were rethinking on the indefinite fast, N.T. Lepcha said there was no talk on how long the fast should continue. “This (fast) is an expression of our deep sense of hurt on the opposition to the formation of the development council,” he said. When asked what would create the right situation for the Lepcha Rights Movement to review their protest, he refused to give a direct reply. He said the demand was always for the formation of a development board under the state government. The CPRM, one of the Morcha’s rivals, called for an early formation of the board and asked both the state government and the GTA to put an end to the “unwarranted” stand-off. (TT)

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Cong leader & Gurung meet

Siliguri, Feb. 11: Darjeeling district Congress president Shankar Malakar met Gorkha Janmukti Morcha chief Bimal Gurung in Darjeeling for an hour this afternoon to assure him of Congress help “in case they face any problem in running the GTA”. The timing of the meeting is important as the Congress had been mum since Roshan Giri had announced the “final fight” for Gorkhaland on January 16 but decided to send a leader to Gurung when the Morcha and Trinamul state government are not on the best of terms.

Malakar said: “It was a one-to-one discussion with Bimal Gurung, who is an old friend of ours, on the state of affairs in hills. I have urged him to make the GTA function at its best and to ensure that the hill people, who have contributed in forming this autonomous body, witness development.” Malakar said he counselled Gurung “not to step out of the GTA but instead to head it as GTA was achieved through rigorous toil of the hill residents”. Malakar said he spoke of his appreciation that the Morcha had backed him and other candidates of the Trinamul-Congress alliance during the Assembly polls in 2009. He said: “The cordial relation between us continues to exist which is why, we have made it clear to the Morcha president that the Congress is ready to help the Morcha in case they face any problem in running the GTA.” Sources in Siliguri said the Congress’s move was a strategy to widen the rift between Trinamul and Morcha and to ensure that the Morcha extends support to the party in the Terai for the panchayat polls. “We have advised Bimal Gurung that in case they confront any problem with the state government in running the GTA, they can always approach the Centre for suggestions. The Centre can help the GTA representatives in sorting out such problems. We, on behalf of Congress, are also ready to help them…,” he said. “The response we got was spontaneous and cordial and was different from the response articulated by the Morcha during the recent visit of a state minister,” Malakar said without mentioning Gautam Deb, the Trinamul minister who had stayed in the hills last Saturday during the Morcha’s 12-hour strike but could not speak to any hill party leader. Malakar declined to elaborate on the panchayat elections. “Several issues were discussed in detail and I would prefer not to speak on all of them,” he said. “The Morcha has a dislike for the Left, and right now it has a rift with Trinamul. Though they have voted the BJP in the general election of 2009, the state or district leaders of the BJP in plains have never negotiated with Morcha leaders and also lack organisational base. The Congress is the only party which has no differences with the Morcha and has a base in the rural areas of Siliguri sub-division. It is an ideal opportunity for the party to strengthen its ties with the Morcha, may be in a formal manner,” the source said. “This is also a breather for the Morcha as the party was not getting back-up from any national level party in a formal manner since its differences with Trinamul.” The district Congress president, after having the closed-door talks, said he has also told Gurung that the party is ready to hold talks with the Morcha on any agenda and at any time. “There is nothing wrong in having discussions for the interests of hills,” he said. Senior Morcha leaders, who said they were not aware of the meeting, said they are looking at the move as a positive step forward. “If you are telling that the Centre is exploring the possibility of looking at solving the impasse then that is a welcome move as the state government has shown no inclination to redress our grievances,” a Morcha leader said on condition of anonymity. “The Centre has the right to intervene as they are also a signatory to the GTA memorandum of agreement,” he said. State Congress president Pradip Bhattacharya and Union minister Deepa Das Munshi said tonight Malakar had spoken to Morcha leaders “as per directive from the Congress leadership”. “Shankar Malakar was asked to talk to Morcha leaders by the Congress leadership to have an understanding of their problems,” Deeps said. She said the AICC leaders “are aware of Malakar’s overtures to Morcha leaders”. Bhattacharya said Malakar had spoken to him before speaking to Gurung. “Malakar is justifiably worried because 50,000 of his electorate will be affected if the problem erupts in the hills. This is why, we approved of his overtures to Morcha leaders,” he said.(TT)

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Girl burns to death in haystack storeroom - Child playing with matchstick triggers blaze, fire destroys 4km forest area

Gangtok, Feb. 11: A five-year-old girl in West Sikkim was charred to death in a fire that engulfed a storeroom made of wood and mud when her friend, a three-year-old girl, allegedly lit a match and threw it in a haystack this afternoon. The tragedy occurred at Kageythang village this afternoon when four children were playing near the victim’s house located at the edge of a forest. The blaze also spread 4km inside the forest and was doused by the fire brigade in two hours. Hangma Subba’s three other friends could get out of the storeroom, but she got trapped in the fire and died.

Police said her body was beyond recognition and sent to Geyzing district hospital for post-mortem. Based on the statement of the other three children, the police said a three-year-old girl among them had brought the matchbox. “The deceased girl was playing with her friends near the house. They slipped into the store room and one of the children who is only three years old lit a matchstick triggering a fire. The other three children managed to get out of the storeroom, but Hangma couldn’t and was burnt to death,” said a police officer. Police sources said the storeroom, located close to the girl’s house, was used to stock hay and her parents were away in a field when the fire broke out around 1pm. She was the only child of the farmer couple. When the fire broke out, the children raised the alarm, which caught the attention of the villagers and the parents. By the time they reached the spot, Hangma had been devoured by the flames. The police said they were trying to find out how the three-year-old child had got hold of the matchbox. The other two children who were playing inside the storeroom were boys aged six and eight. The people of Kageythang were in a state of shock after the tragedy. “The girl was supposed to sit for an admission test tomorrow at a private school near her village,” said a relative of the victim. Kageythang is 20km from West district headquarters of Geyzing. The storeroom was in the periphery of the Sakyong forest and the fire spread to the woods in no time. The flames consumed dry bushes spread over 4km and a quick response team and a fire tender from Geyzing fire station were pressed into service after the information was received by the West District administration. “It took almost two hours to put out the fire which had spread across an area of 4km. The area is dry and the fire spread quickly” said the West district collector L.P. Chettri. “An ex gratia will be given to the victim’s family since it is a case of unnatural death. I have called the family members to my office tomorrow,” said D.C. Chettri.(TT)

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morcha strike affected NH31A and sikkim too.

SANJAY AGARWAL –RANGPO-9TH FEBRURY 13 The 12 hours strike called by gorkha janmukti morcha in Darjeeling hills has badly affected the Sikkim too .

though the GJMM was not stopping vehicles of Sikkim number the less number of vehicles was seen plying in national highway 31 a in compersation of normal days .from early in the morning the picketers was seen in the street of national highway 31 a but was stopping only west Bengal number vehicles. Sikkim number vehicles was free to ply .no taxi or big vehicles was plying in the national highway 31 a .Sikkim nationalized transport has suspended their service but west Bengal government bus has provide service and bus reached Sikkim. All the shop establishment was closed from Rangpo ,to malli ,tista ,rambi ,lohapuul etc .no any type of incident was listened from any side still news send .the vehicles was not plied between Sikkim and kalimpong ,Darjeeling khaersang .during the today’s strike gjmm has called the strike in prior so the passengers of long route bus ,train and flight was reached yesterday siliguri in suspect that the strikers shall disturb the national highway 31 a too so no any passengers was seen in the road today .

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