TT, Darjeeling, July 5: Bimal Gurung has been blowing hot and cold: first daring the government to remove his squad from DGHC buildings and then pleading that it would be difficult to make alternative arrangements for his lathi-wielding volunteers at such a short notice.
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| Gurung at the meeting in Chungtung tea estate on Sunday |
The indication is that whatever venom he may be spewing in public, the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha president’s gestures, which includes offering to pay rent for the DGHC buildings, have a conciliatory undertone. He has even offered Rs 2 lakh to the family of a GNLF sympathiser allegedly killed by Morcha supporters.
“Are these (DGHC buildings) the family properties of B.L. Meena and K.L. Tamta? These properties belong to our people and are made out of our people’s sweat. If the state goes for forcible eviction, there will be a huge uproar,” Gurung told party workers at Chuntung yesterday. While Meena is the DGHC administrator who had filed an FIR against the Morcha occupation of seven DGHC buildings, former inspector-general of police of north Bengal Tamta had promised action against the encroachers.
Moments later, Gurung said the state should lease out these properties to the Morcha. “We will pay the rents. If we have to move out, we will need at least a year. We need time to create structures to house the Gorkhaland Personnel,” said Gurung in a sign of conciliation.
He extended an olive branch to the family members of Pushpa Jung Thapa, who was murdered on April 22 at Chungtung. “There can be differences of opinion but this does not mean that one has to kill. I condemn the incident and I want to offer Rs 2 lakh to the family of the deceased. I would also want his brother to meet me along with the family members,” Gurung said.
Pushpa’s brother Hijjan was the president of the Morcha’s trade union in the area. After his brother’s murder, he had filed an FIR naming five Morcha supporters and resigned from the party. Two of those named in the FIR had been arrested.
Hijjan told The Telegraph that Gurung’s offer had come late. “Money cannot wipe out the wrong done by killing my brother. His (Gurung’s) announcement has come late,” said Hijjan, adding that he would not influence his slain brother’s family. “Let them take their own decision and I will not interfere.” Pushpa’s wife could not be contacted.
The Morcha’s rivals in the hills have ridiculed the party’s 40-day strike threat. “In 1988, the GNLF had called a 40-day strike so that people became tired (of statehood agitation) and Subash Ghisingh could accept the DGHC. The Morcha, too, had similar intentions. It is preparing the ground to accept something less than statehood,” said R.B. Rai, the general secretary of the CPRM. Condemning the politics of strike, ABGL leader Dawa Sherpa said: “We are confident that people will oppose the 40-day strike. We believe that problems can be solved only through dialogues.”
Center offers force for NH 31A
PTI, New Delhi, July 5 : The Centre told the Supreme Court today that it was willing to provide additional paramilitary forces to Bengal to prevent the frequent blockade of National Highway 31A by pro- and anti-Gorkhaland agitators.
Appearing for the Centre, counsel Wasim Ahmed Quadri, however, told the apex court that since law and order was a state subject, it was for the Bengal government to persuade the agitators from laying siege to the highway, Sikkim’s only road link with the rest of the country.
“We have already provided three companies of the CRPF and are willing to provide additional forces, if required. But since law and order is a state subject, the problem can be taken up adequately only by the state of West Bengal by persuading the heads of the agitating groups,” Quadri said.
A three-judge bench of Justices Altamas Kabir, Mukundakam Sharma and A.K. Patnaik, later adjourned the matter for further hearing to July 19.
The apex court had earlier issued contempt notices to three top pro and anti-Gorkhaland leaders for frequently blocking the national highway.
It had also sought responses from the Union government, the chief secretary and the home secretary of Bengal on the petition of O.P. Bhandari, a social activist from Sikkim, to know what steps had been taken to prevent recurrence of such blockades.
The contempt notices were issued to Gorkha Janmukti Morcha Bimal Gurung, the party’s assistant secretary Binay Tamang, besides Mukunda Mazumdar, the chief of anti-Gorkhaland organisation, Bangla O Bangla Bhasha Banchao Samiti.
The petitioner had complained that the two organisations were frequently enforcing blockades on the national highway despite the apex court's two separate orders restraining them from indulging in such activities.
According to the petitioners, in the past two months alone about seven blockades were put up on the highway. This despite the fact that on January 25 this year, the apex court had warned that it would direct “de-recognition” of political parties engaged in such acts and arrest their leaders.
“If anybody causes obstruction on the national highway, the party indulging in it would be de-recognised and their leaders will be arrested,” the apex court had said while citing its July 3, 2008, order to keep the highway free from their agitation.
To work or not: Rs 67 decides- Shutdown defiance: twice in a month
Hills at work, Dooars too pluck leaves
Hills at work, Dooars too pluck leaves
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| Workers at a tea garden in the Dooars on bandh day. (Biplab Basak) |
TT, Siliguri, July 5: A second bandh defiance in a month for Rs 67 has struck at the root of the Left support base in the Dooars where more than 80 per cent of the workforce reported for duty. Of the 227 gardens in the Dooars and the Terai, more than 180 were open.
Most of the workers — once Citu supporters — said they were not ready to forego the Rs 67 they get as daily wage even as the strike called by the Left cost the Bengal government, according to finance department sources, around Rs 970 crore.
“Except for a few tea estates in the Terai and the Dooars, workers reported for duty in about 80 per cent of the gardens. The strike has failed to impact the industry, as workers are no longer interested in parting with their wages. They have realised that participating in the strike will not help them,” said Shukra Munda, chairperson of the Progressive Tea Workers’ Union, the trade union of the Akhil Bharatiya Adivasi Vikas Parishad.
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| Workers line up to get plucked leaves weighed in a Dooars garden on Monday. Picture by Biplab Basa |
The tribal outfit has been making inroads into the Dooars and Terai displacing dominant unions like Citu and the Congress’s Intuc.
Since setting up base in 80 per cent of the gardens, the Parishad had convinced workers not to support any strikes called by the older unions as no bandh had ever been called when the gardens shut down one by one.
According to Munda, the tribal outfit has units in around 80 per cent tea estates of the region. “The workers could not relate themselves with the cause of the strike. Their problems are more basic like lack of drinking water facilities, low wages, dilapidated quarters, delay in disbursement of ration, non-payment of gratuities and PF by a section of employers, lack of employment and educational opportunities. As none of the established political parties are addressing these issues, it is natural that the workers and their families will not join the strike,” he said.
Munda claimed his organisation has been regularly addressing workers issues. “But other political parties don’t. Now and then some trade union leaders make hue and cry about the workers right but in those cases too, they have their own interests on mind. At the last tea strike called on June 7, the workers had reported for duty,” Munda said.
In the hills, tea gardens and cinchona plantations were open, as they had been exempted from the strike.
Somra Baraik, a permanent worker at Atal Tea Estate in the Terai, said: “If we don’t go to work, the management will not pay us. If I don’t earn the minimum amount of Rs 67 that I get everyday, it would be impossible for me to get essential commodities even if prices of these items come down” he said. “People with government jobs can sit idle and enjoy the bandh, we cannot afford it.”
Intuc, which had called the June 7 strike with Citu for an interim wage hike in the gardens, today came down heavily on the Left parties. “The workers defied the bandh as none of their aspirations have been fulfilled by the Left Front during its 34 year rule in Bengal. For a tea worker, earning daily wages is more important that participating in a strike called against the price hike of petroleum products,” said Alok Chakraborty, the Darjeeling district Intuc president.
CPM leaders admitted that most gardens were open but refused to accept that its support base was fast eroding. “The gardens were not open because of any organisational weakness, but because we did not enforce the strike in the brew belt,” said Jibesh Sarkar, a state committee member of the CPM and a Citu leader.
TT, Siliguri, July 5: Eighty per cent of tea garden workers in the Dooars reported for work today because they could not afford to forgo the Rs 67 they earn a day.
More than 180 of the 227 tea gardens in the Dooars remained open with most of the workers, who earlier owed allegiance to Citu, saying they could not afford to give up their day’s wages.
“Except for a few tea estates in the Terai and the Dooars, workers reported for duty in about 80 per cent of the gardens. The strike has failed to impact the industry. The workers have realised that participating in strikes and parting with their wages will not help them,” said Shukra Munda, the chairperson of the Progressive Tea Workers’ Union, the trade union of the Akhil Bharatiya Adivasi Vikas Parishad.
The tribal outfit has been making inroads into the Dooars and the Terai, displacing dominant unions like Citu and the Congress’s Intuc.
Around 80 per cent of the tea gardens in the Dooars and the Terai have Parishad-led workers’ unions. The Parishad has convinced workers not to support strikes called by the two unions because they had not organised strikes to protest the shutdown of tea gardens in the region.
“The workers cannot relate to the cause of today’s strike (the hike in fuel prices). Their problems are more basic, like the lack of drinking water, low wages, dilapidated quarters, delay in disbursement of ration, non-payment of gratuities and provident fund by a section of employers, and the lack of employment and educational opportunities. As none of the established political parties are addressing these issues, it is natural that the workers and their families will not join the strike,” Munda said.
Somra Baraik, a worker at one of the tea estates in the Terai, said: “If we don’t go to work, the management will not pay us. If I don’t earn the minimum amount of Rs 67 I get every day, it will be impossible for me to buy essential commodities even if the prices of these items come down,” he said.
Defunct ATM triggers cash worry
TT, Alipurduar, July 5: The only ATM machine in Jaigaon is out of order for the past two months with tourists having to shell out extra money to reach the next nearest machine 18km away.
Most of the 300 or so tourists who visit the town on the India-Bhutan border everyday are unaware of the ATM’s status. Not that knowledge about the non-functional ATM is helping the local people at the business hub 60km from here who now queue up before the banks long before they open.
A long line of around 50 people at any given time of the day was a common sight when the State Bank of India’s ATM on NS Road was functional.
The machine was damaged about two months ago when some local youths ransacked the booth.
With the counter not working one has to travel 18km to reach Hasimara to avail of the facility. The ATM in Hasimara also belongs to the SBI.
Most people now prefer to travel cash-less, depending on ATMs. Tourists on way to Bhutan often stay at Jaigaon for a day while their permit papers are being prepared.
With visitors having to go back to Hasimara again to withdraw cash, taxi drivers are charging extra.
For a ride from NS Road to Hasimara one has to pay around Rs 200 normally. But now the drivers are charging anything between Rs 350 and 450 for the same distance.
According to a hotel owner in Jaigaon, the tourists are the worst sufferers. “Local people often wait for four to five hours in long queues at banks to withdraw money. But it is difficult for the tourists who are bound by schedules,” he said.
R.S. Gupta, the general secretary of Jaigaon Merchants’ Association, said: “We have to travel 18km to withdraw money and to add to our woes, sometimes the ATM at Hasimara runs out of cash. We have asked the SBI authorities in Jaigaon to restore the ATM service as soon as possible. But it seems that they do not care at all. We also do not feel safe to travel around the town with cash.”
Shekhar Choudhury, regional manager of SBI, north Bengal, said: “ I have talked to the head office in Calcutta and we are trying to restore the service as soon as possible.”
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