देशव्यापी व्यवस्थाको विरोधः विमल गुरूङ मौन
मनोज वोगटी, कालिमन्युज, कालेबुङ,13 जून। मोर्चाकै सचिव रोशन गिरी, प्रवक्ता डा.हर्कबहादुर छेत्री अनि अरू केन्द्रिय सदस्यहरूले देशभरिका गोर्खाहरूले चाहेको छुट्टैराज्यको आवाजलाई क्षेत्रीयतामा 
कुण्ठित गर्दै केवल दार्जीलिङ र केही क्षेत्रको फाइदाको व्यवस्थामा सहमति हुँदै चुक्तिमा हस्ताक्षर गरे पनि दलका अध्यक्ष विमल गुरूङ भने अझ चुपचाप छन्। तिनी जस्तो अचानक मोर्चाले यो के ल्यायो भनेर खुट्याउन नसक्ने जनता पनि मौन छन्। अहिले विस्तारै मोर्चाको कुरा जनताले बुझ्न खोजिरहेका छन्। अर्कोतिर बुझ्नेहहरूले देशभरिबाट विरोध गर्ने क्रम पनि शुरू भइसकेको छ। निक्कै ठुल्ठूलो कुरा गर्ने अनि गोर्खाल्याण्डको माग गोर्खाहरूको चिन्हारीसित जोड़िएको कुराको वकालत गर्ने क्रामाकपाको शीर्ष नेताहरू पनि मौन छन्।
यही मौनतालाई अनुभव गरिरहेकी पूर्व सांसद दिलकुमारी भण्डारीले हिजो भनिन्, यो मौनता कि त स्वीकृति हो कि त आँधीबेह्रीको पूर्व संकेत हो। यसैलाई अध्ययन गरेर भागोपले रणनीति तयार गर्ने छ। यस हिसाबले मोर्चाको व्यवस्था र यसको निम्ति भइरहेको खेललाई अहिले चारैतिरबाट केलाउने र सही-गलत छुट्याउने काम भइरहेको छ। अहिलेसम्म नै गोर्खाल्याण्ड बाहेक कुनै पनि व्यवस्था ल्याउने दलीय स्वार्थको विरोधमा नै पहाड़मा दलहरूबीच मदभेद भएको हो। सुवास घिसिङले गोर्खाल्याण्डको नाममा दागोपाप थापेपछि त्यसको विरोध भएको थियो। विरोध यसकारण भएको थियो कि जनताले चाहेको कुरा थिएन। तरै पनि त्यसबेला जनताले झट्ट कुरा बुझेनन्।
जनताको यही सोझोपन र इमान्दारिताको फाइदा गोरामुमोले उठाएको थियो। अहिले पनि गोजमुमोको व्यवस्थाबारे जनता अन्योलमा नै छन्। स्पष्ट छ, जनताले आफै उठेर यसको विरोध गर्ने छैनन्। निरिह जनताको यही अबोधताको फाइदा अहिलेसम्म दलहरूले उठाइरहेका छन्। देशभरिका गोर्खाहरूले एउटा कुरा त स्वीकारेको छ, दार्जीलिङको विकास हुनुपर्छ, त्यो त सही कुरा हो, तर आन्दोलन विकासको निम्ति भएकै होइन। छुट्टैराज्यको नाममा भएको आन्दोलनको फाइदा दार्जीलिङकाहरूले आफ्नो क्षेत्रको विकासको निम्ति उठाउनु जति दुर्भाग्यजनक हो उति नै अनैतिक पनि हो। दार्जीलिङका नेता र दलहरूलाई अब गोर्खाल्याण्डको सवालमा देशभिका गोर्खाहरूले विश्वास गर्ने आधार हराउँदै गइरहेको छ।
देशभरिका गोर्खाहरूको लागि भनेर आन्दोलन हुन्छ, तर जहिले पनि दार्जीलिङका दल र नेताहरूले आफ्नो घरको फाइदा हेर्छ। दार्जीलिङ बाहिरका गोर्खाहरूले दार्जीलिङका नेता र दलहरूलाई यति विश्वासघाती देखि रहेका छन्, कि त्यसको प्रकट गर्ने शब्द उनीहरूसित छैन। मोर्चाले यो व्यवस्था थाप्नुको कारणहरू स्पष्ट पारेको छ। डा.हर्कबहादुर छेत्री अनुसार अब पहाड़का जनताले लामो आन्दोलन गर्न सक्दैन। गर्यो भने पनि सहभागिता दिन सक्दैन। अर्कोतिर पहाड़ आर्थिकरूपले कमजोर पनि भइसकेको छ। यही कुरालाई ध्यानमा राखेर मोर्चाले यो व्यवस्था थापेको हो। जब मोर्चाबाट यो वयान आयो, तब नै मोर्चाले भाका फेरेको र फेरि पनि गोर्खाल्याण्डको नाममा विश्वासघात हुने प्रष्ट भएको थियो। तर अहिलेसम्म जति पनि विवादास्पद् कुरा आइरहेका छन्, ती केवल वार्तामा जाने दुइजना रोशन गिरी अनि डा.हर्कबहादुर छेत्रीबाट आइरहेका छन्।
मोर्चा प्रमुख अहिलेसम्म पनि चुपचाप छन् अथवा तिनी वार्तामा पनि गएका छैनन्। तिनको चुपचापभित्र के लुकेको छ, त्यो खुलेको दिन नै देशभरिका गोर्खाहरूले मोर्चा सही र गलत रहेको थाहा पाउने छन्। मोर्चाले कुनै व्यवस्था थाप्ने, यसमा मोर्चाका नेताहरू नबस्ने अनि बाहिरबाट ती नेताहरूले आन्दोलन चर्काउने पनि बताइरहेको छ, तर झन्नै गोर्खाल्याण्ड झैं व्यवस्था थापेपछि मोर्चासित छुट्टैराज्यको निम्ति गर्नुपर्ने आन्दोलन र विषय नै रहने छैन। अहिले मोर्चाभित्र नै पनि विद्रोह शुरू भइसकेको छ, त्यो विद्रोह दिल्लीबाट प्रकट भइसकेको छ।
दिल्लीका गोर्खाहरू अनुसार पहाड़को विकास गर्नु ममता व्यानर्जीको कर्तव्य हो। त्यसमा मोर्चाको संलग्नता किन? तिनीहरूको प्रश्न पनि छ, ममता व्यानर्जीले विकास गरेन भने भन्ने काम हो, तर विकासको जिम्मा नै लिएर गोर्खाल्याण्डलाई विसर्जन गर्दै दार्जीलिङ बाहिरका गोर्खाहरूलाई किन धोका दियो? निश्चय नै यसको जवाबदेही विमल गुरूङ हुन्, तर तिनी अहिले नै केही भनिहाल्ने पक्षमा छैनन्। दोस्रोपल्ट फेरि देशभरिका गोर्खाहरूले विमल गुरूङलाई विश्वास गरेका छन्, के विमल गुरूङले त्यो विश्वासलाई कायम राख्न सक्छन् त? कति दिन विमल गुरूङ मौन रहने हुन्? के तिनको मौनता देशभरिका गोर्खाहरूलाई तिनले धोका दिएको कुराको स्वीकृति नै हो? विमल गुरूङले मौनता तोड़ेको दिन नै यसको जवाब पनि प्रकट हुने छ।
नयॉं परिषद् राज्य निर्माण कै पूर्वाधार-मोर्चा
मनोज वोगटी, कालिमन्युज, कालेबुङ,13 जून। मोर्चाले दागोपापको साटो हुनुपर्ने वैकल्पिक व्यवस्थाको निम्ति बुझाएको प्रस्ताव अनुरूप नै मोर्चाले अहिले नै नाम तय नभएको तर अघिल्लोतिर गोर्खाल्याण्ड शब्द भने झुण्डाएको स्थायी व्यवस्थाको निम्ति राज्य सरकारलाई सहमति दिइसकेको छ। दार्जीलिङ बाहिरका गोर्खाहरू मोर्चाको यो सहमतिसित सन्तुष्ट नभए पनि मोर्चाले यो व्यस्थालाई राज्य सञ्चालनको क्षमता विकास गर्ने अनि छुट्टैराज्यको पूर्वाधारहरूको निर्माण गर्ने संसाधनकैरूपमा हेरेको छ। मोर्चा प्रवक्ता डा.हर्कबहादुर छेत्रीले एक राष्ट्रिय संवाद माध्यमलाई बताए अनुसार यो परिषद्लाई दागोपापको तुलनामा अधिक भौगोलिक, आर्थिक अनि प्रशासनिक स्वायत्ता दिइएको छ।
छेत्री अनुसार परिषद्लाई जुन आर्थिक स्वायत्ता अनि प्याकेज दिइएको छ यसले छुट्टैराज्यको निम्ति पूर्वाधारहरूको निर्माण गर्ने छ। तिनले भनेका छन्, अहिलेसम्म राज्य सरकारले पहाड़बाट जतिपनि राजस्व सङ्ग्रह गर्थ्यो, त्यो क्षमता परिषद्लाई हस्तान्तरण गरिएको छ। राज्य सरकारले वर्षेणी 101 करोड़ राजस्व पहाड़बाट सङ्ग्रह गर्थ्यो, त्यो अब परिषद्को अधिकारमा आएको छ। यसबाहेक तौजी विभाग पनि पूर्णरूपले परिषद्लाई हस्तान्तर गरिएको छ। जस अन्तर्गत अब उसो नयॉं परिषद्ले नै चियाबगानहरूलाई जमीन भाड़ामा दिने अनि जमीनको भाड़ा तय गर्ने छ। मोर्चाले यसलाई प्रस्तावित क्षेत्रको निम्ति प्रमुख आर्थिक आधारहरू मानेको छ। अहिलेसम्म प्रति हेक्टर केवल 32 रुपियॉं जमीनको भाड़ा रहेको थियो जसबाट मालिकहरूले 6 लाख रुपियॉं कमाउने गरेको थियो। उप्रान्त यसमा पनि परिषद्ले भाड़ा सम्बन्धमा पुनरावलोकन गर्ने छ जसको कारण भाड़ामा वृद्धि पनि हुन सक्ने छ।
राजस्व वृद्धिको निम्ति परिषद्सित एनएचपीसीको बिजुली पनि छ, जो राज्य सरकारले यसको नियन्त्रण, वितरण र राजस्व संग्रहको अधिकार परिषद्लाई नै दिएको छ। छेत्री अनुसार विकास नै गोर्खाल्याण्डको पूर्वाधार निर्माण गर्ने कड़ी हो। यसैकारण सम्झौता हुन अनिवार्य छ। मोर्चा गोर्खाल्याण्ड आन्दोलनमा जान अघि आर्थिक पूर्वाधारहरू तयार गर्न चहान्छ। राज्यको निम्ति पूर्णरूपले पूर्वाधारहरूको निर्माणपछि नै छुट्टैराज्यको निम्ति अघि बढ्न सकिन्छ। यो परिषदमा नै आन्दोलन सकिएको भने होइन, बरू छुट्टैराज्यको निम्ति नै बलियो आधारभूमिको निर्माण गरिएको हो। यसैकारण राज्यमा नै निर्भर नरहन मोर्चाले विकासमा जोड़ दिने योजना बनाएको छ। जसको कारण स्वनिर्भर बनेर देशभरिका गोर्खाहरूको आकांक्षाको निम्ति शक्ति निर्माण गर्न मोर्चा चहान्छ। सबैपक्षमा बलियो बनेपछि सम्पूर्ण शक्ति लगाएर मोर्चा छुट्टैराज्यको निम्ति अघि बढ्नेछ। दागोपाप र नयॉं परिषदमा सामान्यता देखापरे पनि मोर्चाको भनाइ अनुसार प्रशासनिक, आर्थिक र भौगोलिक क्षमताको हिसाबमा परिषद् धेरै बलियो छ। भौगोलिक मजबुतिको निम्ति मोर्चाले तराई र डुवर्समा 302 वटा मौजाहरूको दाबी गरेको छ, जसको निम्ति हाइपावर कमिटी बनाइने छ।
यो कमिटीले रिपोर्ट नबुझाइञ्जेल एउटा अस्थायी प्रशासनिक मण्डली बनाइने छ। जब रिपोर्ट बुझाएर त्यसमाथिको सहमति चुडान्त हुन्छ तब मात्र नयॉं परिषद् सञ्चालनमा आउने छ। रिपोर्टमाथि त्रिपक्षीय सहमति नआइञ्जेल नयॉं परिषद्को मुद्दा अल्झिएर नै बस्नेछ। मोर्चाको विकास योजनाले मुख्यरूपले शिक्षा, रोजगार र स्वास्थ्यलाई प्रमुखता दिएको छ। शिक्षाको निम्ति पनि नयॉं परिषद्ले आफ्नै बोर्ड बनाउने छ। प्रशासनिक, आर्थिक अनि भौगोलिकरूपले बङ्गालबाट बाहिर भएपछि छुट्टैराज्यको निम्ति अघि बढ्न सकिने मोर्चाको धारणा देखिएको छ। नयॉं परिषद्को नाम निर्णय भएको छैन तर यसमा 50 जना परिषद् सदस्य रहने अनि एकजना अध्यक्ष रहने छन्। मोर्चाले अध्यक्षको निम्ति पनि उम्मेद्वार छनौट भइसकेको अनि तिनी नयॉं अनुहारको हुनसक्ने संकेत पनि दिएको छ।
GJM is holding all units and frontal organisation meeting at Gymkhana Club Hall on 14 June. After the dissatisfaction expressed by GJM Delhi state unit members GJM has called all state unit meeting on 23 June in Darjeeling.
ABAVP is meeting on 15 June in Kalchini to sort out its programme for mobilising the Dooars people and draw the attention of the TMC led WEB Government for its demand of inclusion of Dooars in accordance to Sixth schedule of the constitution.
Trinamool minister may meet Gurung
Deep Gazmer, TNN , Jun 14, 2011, DARJEELING: Senior Trinamool Congress leader Dinesh Trivedi was on sudden visit to Darjeeling on Monday and is expected to meet Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) chief Bimal Gurung on Tuesday.
However, district officials have expressed their ignorance about the itinerary of the Union minister of state. "We have not got the programme for the minister. All we can say is that he will put up in a hotel and is also expected to visit the district hospital," said an official on condition of anonymity. Trivedi is also expected to inspect the district hospital during his visit. Eden hospital, as the district hospital is also known, went on a clean-up overdrive when information about the minister's visit arrived.
Trivedi and Gurung will participate in a panel discussion in Shruberry Park in Darjeeling. "Our president has asked all the frontal organizations to assemble tomorrow for a meeting," said a senior GJM leader. Gurung has called a meeting to apprise them about what transpired in the meeting with Mamata Banerjee. With the GJM leadership showing lenience towards an interim setup, voices of resentment have cropped up from various quarters.
The All India Gorkha League (AIGL) has already sent a letter to the Bengal CM expressing their dissatisfaction on being left out of the meeting. "Whatever arrangement that has been made between the GJM and the Bengal CM is only temporary and is not acceptable. In fact, the CM should have invited all the stakeholders for a meeting," said Laxman Pradhan, the AIGL secretary. The Communist Party of Revolutionary Marxist (CPRM), too, has opposed the settlement saying it was against the wishes of the people. "It is a betrayal of people's trust. The GJM was given such an unprecedented mandate only because of a separate state and nothing else," said Govind Chhetri, a CPRM spokesperson.
The Bharatiya Gorkha Parisangh (BGP) also said a temporary arrangement would neither fulfill nor provide identity to the Gorkhas living in the country.
Home truths before Trivedi
Vivek Chhetri, TT, Darjeeling, June 13: Kamala Biswakarma, a middle aged woman who is desperate to get her daughter-in-law treated properly at the Darjeeling district hospital, took just 10 minutes to paint a clear picture of the health care in the hills for union minister of state for health Dinesh Trivedi.
The minister has come to Darjeeling “to get a report on the health care system in the hills under express direction from Mamata Banerjee”.
The woman approached the minister when he was about to leave the Darjeeling district hospital.
“Sir, mein ek baat bataun? (Sir, shall I tell you something?)”, she started narrating the plight of her daughter-in-law Sukmati to the minister. Sukmati had to be taken to Siliguri after collecting money through donations to get a CT scan done.
“After coming from Siliguri (after getting the CT Scan report) I am again being told that I should take her to Siliguri and I do not have any money. There are no medicines available here and I am being unable to do anything to save her life,” said Kamala, who works as a labourer at Rangbull, 12km from here.
The minister, who had not come across much complaints from the patients during the hospital tour till then, suddenly faced a volley of grievances from the crowd that gathered around Kamala.
“What is her problem? Please, explain it to me immediately and I don’t want her to suffer just because she does not have enough money,” said Trivedi, offering financial help “from my own pocket” to treat the patient. “I know the infrastructure here is crumbling but her problem must be redressed immediately,” said the minister.
The doctors present alongside the minister explained that the condition of Sukmati was serious. “She has a brain haemorrhage and the blood clot is more than 60ml. Her condition is very serious. We have given medicines and only two drugs are unavailable here,” said a doctor.
Trivedi asked the doctor if he should pay for the medicines also.
The conversation not just guaranteed the doctors’ attention for Sukmati but also opened up muted voices.
Yogen Rai, a resident of the Happy Valley tea garden said: ‘There is nothing to talk about as far as health care is concerned. Every time, there is some reason for the authorities to cite to refer serious patients to Siliguri. Many have to share beds with other patients and no drugs are available here.”
A visibly upset Trivedi said: “We have to start from the very beginning. Everything has been destroyed in the past 35 years. I found out that there are no facilities for heart patients and they have to be taken to Siliguri in case of emergencies. There are no ICUs here. This is unacceptable.”
The minister also found that “everything was gloomy” inside the hospital. “The doctors and the nurses are trying their best but the hospital is understaffed. Hygiene is a major problem here and the place does not give you the confidence,” he said.
The minister while inspecting the hospital kitchen was surprised that lentils were being cooked in a 5 litre pressure cooker for 275 patients. “You are not feeding the patients properly,” he told the staff.
Perhaps after meeting Kamala, the minister must have understood that the hills are being starved for want of proper health care.
CM Mamata Banerjee,reviews plan for N Bengal
ENS, Jun 14 2011, Kolkata:Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday reviewed development plans with the the ministers of Sports, Tourism and North Bengal Development.
“She was very keen to know the problems faced by us in our respective departments so that they can be overcome and new ideas can be implemented. I submitted her a detailed report on the poor condition of stadiums of the state,” said Madan Mitra, Minister of State (Independent Charge), Sports and Youth Affairs.
North Bengal Development Minister Goutam Deb said his department is already working on preparing a roadmap for an overall development programme of the region and the CM has assured all possible help.
By claiming to have solved the hill problem, the new chief minister has shown an imperfect grasp of the situation.
Vivek Chhetri, TT, Opinion: An euphoric chief minister of West Bengal, Mamata Banerjee, announced that “the Darjeeling problem has been solved”. The statement merely underlines the new chief minister’s immaturity in dealing with hill politics, as even the greatest optimists in the hills would find it difficult to empathize with the chief minister’s statement.
At best, the new government has signed “an agreement” with one political party which has given hope of defusing the present imbroglio for some time. One need not be an expert on hill affairs to understand that solving the Darjeeling issue is as difficult for the state government as achieving statehood is for the hill people.
Credit should be given to Banerjee for having shown flexibility in solving contentious issues, unlike the Left Front, in order to chart a roadmap to end the present administrative impasse in the hills. But even in this agreement there are many loose ends that need to be tied — the most important being territorial jurisdiction of the new administrative body.
Even if this territorial issue is amicably solved — which is not likely to be easy given the opposition from the adivasis — Banerjee will have to understand that the problem of Darjeeling would be far from being permanently resolved.
The new chief minister was able to clinch a deal with the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha largely because of the cordial relationship they had nurtured over the past year. The GJM, too, has its own compulsions, ranging from its need to be in power to stay afloat to removing the Damocles’ sword that is hanging over their leaders’ heads regarding the murder of the Akhil Bharatiya Gorkha League leader, Madan Tamang.
Banerjee is confident that when she comes up to the hills to ink the deal later this month she will be able to sit with the GJM leadership for a good feast. In fact, she did ask Roshan Giri, the GJM general secretary, whether the party would organize a feast for the Calcutta team in Darjeeling when they come up to sign the deal.
The chief minister must, however, understand that in the past three years it is the GJM leadership which has been climbing uphill trying to achieve Gorkhaland, and all weary travellers negotiating rough hilly terrains are always a little hungrier.
The new government has to remain cautious if its agreement to bring peace in the region is to work for long. Lessons must be learnt from the Left Front’s dealings with the then undisputed leader of the hills, Subash Ghisingh.
Ghisingh, too, had inked the Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council deal after becoming weary of leading a 28-month-long bloody agitation. He needed some rest on his uphill trek and the Left Front government was only too obliging, and gave him a cosy nesting place.
And the Gorkha leader always made a noise if his resting place was disturbed. The Left Front government soon found out it was best to leave the hills to Ghisingh.
There was no accountability, no transparency, in the functioning of the DGHC. Ghisingh’s acolytes were suitably rewarded. There was no roadmap to alleviate the hill people’s poverty, no vision for a move forward. The state government did not bother one bit.
Ghisingh asked for the council to be extended without elections and the state government agreed without protest. He asked for the resignation of all his councillors and they, too, agreed without protest. Ghisingh was the sole “caretaker- administrator”, whose tenure would be “automatically” extended every six months by the state. The leader was the ringmaster of every show in Darjeeling, whether political, cultural or religious.
This, Banerjee must realize, was an outcome of the “cordial” relationship Ghisingh shared with the Left Front government. Even after the Gorkha National Liberation Front president was made to resign as the caretaker-administrator of the council on March 10, 2008, and Bimal Gurung started a popular movement, there was no inquiry into the financial mess of the council. There were no answers as to why the council was allowed to function without the framing of proper rules and regulations.
It now needs to be seen whether Banerjee will make a distinction between being cordial and ensuring that the new body works within the framework of the law of the land.
The state government must also be sincere in devolving genuine power to the autonomous setup. The Left Front took Ghisingh for a ride and it also thought that it could take the hill people for a ride, only to find that Ghisingh, its pointsman for the hills, had been overthrown even before it had realized what had happened. Despite calling the DGHC an autonomous setup, the state refused to hand over revenue generating departments, such as motor vehicles, or those needed for the devolution of power, like municipalities.
If the new chief minister continues with the GJM as the earlier government had done with Ghisingh, it is only a matter of a few years before the circle of unrest in the hills comes to hound her government.
The GJM has already said on record that it is not letting go of the statehood demand despite the new arrangement being put in place. The statehood issue has resonated in the hills despite Jyoti Basu forcing Ghisingh to sign an agreement which clearly stated that the demand for Gorkhaland “was being dropped in the overall national interest”. Banerjee must be on her toes at all times and not rest on the laurels of having “solved the Darjeeling issue”.
Three years ago, Bimal Gurung had been able to rally the hill people around him against Ghisingh, not just because the people wanted a change after 21 years of misrule but also because of their desperate need for identity. This need has found resonances in the hill psyche since 1907 — the first time that the Hillmen’s Association placed their demand for a separate administrative unit before the British — and anyone familiar with hill thoughts will second the fact that development bonanzas have not managed to erase this sentiment till date.
Mamata Banerjee must now be ready to face constant challenges from the Darjeeling hills despite having “solved the Darjeeling problem”.
कुण्ठित गर्दै केवल दार्जीलिङ र केही क्षेत्रको फाइदाको व्यवस्थामा सहमति हुँदै चुक्तिमा हस्ताक्षर गरे पनि दलका अध्यक्ष विमल गुरूङ भने अझ चुपचाप छन्। तिनी जस्तो अचानक मोर्चाले यो के ल्यायो भनेर खुट्याउन नसक्ने जनता पनि मौन छन्। अहिले विस्तारै मोर्चाको कुरा जनताले बुझ्न खोजिरहेका छन्। अर्कोतिर बुझ्नेहहरूले देशभरिबाट विरोध गर्ने क्रम पनि शुरू भइसकेको छ। निक्कै ठुल्ठूलो कुरा गर्ने अनि गोर्खाल्याण्डको माग गोर्खाहरूको चिन्हारीसित जोड़िएको कुराको वकालत गर्ने क्रामाकपाको शीर्ष नेताहरू पनि मौन छन्। यही मौनतालाई अनुभव गरिरहेकी पूर्व सांसद दिलकुमारी भण्डारीले हिजो भनिन्, यो मौनता कि त स्वीकृति हो कि त आँधीबेह्रीको पूर्व संकेत हो। यसैलाई अध्ययन गरेर भागोपले रणनीति तयार गर्ने छ। यस हिसाबले मोर्चाको व्यवस्था र यसको निम्ति भइरहेको खेललाई अहिले चारैतिरबाट केलाउने र सही-गलत छुट्याउने काम भइरहेको छ। अहिलेसम्म नै गोर्खाल्याण्ड बाहेक कुनै पनि व्यवस्था ल्याउने दलीय स्वार्थको विरोधमा नै पहाड़मा दलहरूबीच मदभेद भएको हो। सुवास घिसिङले गोर्खाल्याण्डको नाममा दागोपाप थापेपछि त्यसको विरोध भएको थियो। विरोध यसकारण भएको थियो कि जनताले चाहेको कुरा थिएन। तरै पनि त्यसबेला जनताले झट्ट कुरा बुझेनन्।
जनताको यही सोझोपन र इमान्दारिताको फाइदा गोरामुमोले उठाएको थियो। अहिले पनि गोजमुमोको व्यवस्थाबारे जनता अन्योलमा नै छन्। स्पष्ट छ, जनताले आफै उठेर यसको विरोध गर्ने छैनन्। निरिह जनताको यही अबोधताको फाइदा अहिलेसम्म दलहरूले उठाइरहेका छन्। देशभरिका गोर्खाहरूले एउटा कुरा त स्वीकारेको छ, दार्जीलिङको विकास हुनुपर्छ, त्यो त सही कुरा हो, तर आन्दोलन विकासको निम्ति भएकै होइन। छुट्टैराज्यको नाममा भएको आन्दोलनको फाइदा दार्जीलिङकाहरूले आफ्नो क्षेत्रको विकासको निम्ति उठाउनु जति दुर्भाग्यजनक हो उति नै अनैतिक पनि हो। दार्जीलिङका नेता र दलहरूलाई अब गोर्खाल्याण्डको सवालमा देशभिका गोर्खाहरूले विश्वास गर्ने आधार हराउँदै गइरहेको छ।
देशभरिका गोर्खाहरूको लागि भनेर आन्दोलन हुन्छ, तर जहिले पनि दार्जीलिङका दल र नेताहरूले आफ्नो घरको फाइदा हेर्छ। दार्जीलिङ बाहिरका गोर्खाहरूले दार्जीलिङका नेता र दलहरूलाई यति विश्वासघाती देखि रहेका छन्, कि त्यसको प्रकट गर्ने शब्द उनीहरूसित छैन। मोर्चाले यो व्यवस्था थाप्नुको कारणहरू स्पष्ट पारेको छ। डा.हर्कबहादुर छेत्री अनुसार अब पहाड़का जनताले लामो आन्दोलन गर्न सक्दैन। गर्यो भने पनि सहभागिता दिन सक्दैन। अर्कोतिर पहाड़ आर्थिकरूपले कमजोर पनि भइसकेको छ। यही कुरालाई ध्यानमा राखेर मोर्चाले यो व्यवस्था थापेको हो। जब मोर्चाबाट यो वयान आयो, तब नै मोर्चाले भाका फेरेको र फेरि पनि गोर्खाल्याण्डको नाममा विश्वासघात हुने प्रष्ट भएको थियो। तर अहिलेसम्म जति पनि विवादास्पद् कुरा आइरहेका छन्, ती केवल वार्तामा जाने दुइजना रोशन गिरी अनि डा.हर्कबहादुर छेत्रीबाट आइरहेका छन्।
मोर्चा प्रमुख अहिलेसम्म पनि चुपचाप छन् अथवा तिनी वार्तामा पनि गएका छैनन्। तिनको चुपचापभित्र के लुकेको छ, त्यो खुलेको दिन नै देशभरिका गोर्खाहरूले मोर्चा सही र गलत रहेको थाहा पाउने छन्। मोर्चाले कुनै व्यवस्था थाप्ने, यसमा मोर्चाका नेताहरू नबस्ने अनि बाहिरबाट ती नेताहरूले आन्दोलन चर्काउने पनि बताइरहेको छ, तर झन्नै गोर्खाल्याण्ड झैं व्यवस्था थापेपछि मोर्चासित छुट्टैराज्यको निम्ति गर्नुपर्ने आन्दोलन र विषय नै रहने छैन। अहिले मोर्चाभित्र नै पनि विद्रोह शुरू भइसकेको छ, त्यो विद्रोह दिल्लीबाट प्रकट भइसकेको छ।
दिल्लीका गोर्खाहरू अनुसार पहाड़को विकास गर्नु ममता व्यानर्जीको कर्तव्य हो। त्यसमा मोर्चाको संलग्नता किन? तिनीहरूको प्रश्न पनि छ, ममता व्यानर्जीले विकास गरेन भने भन्ने काम हो, तर विकासको जिम्मा नै लिएर गोर्खाल्याण्डलाई विसर्जन गर्दै दार्जीलिङ बाहिरका गोर्खाहरूलाई किन धोका दियो? निश्चय नै यसको जवाबदेही विमल गुरूङ हुन्, तर तिनी अहिले नै केही भनिहाल्ने पक्षमा छैनन्। दोस्रोपल्ट फेरि देशभरिका गोर्खाहरूले विमल गुरूङलाई विश्वास गरेका छन्, के विमल गुरूङले त्यो विश्वासलाई कायम राख्न सक्छन् त? कति दिन विमल गुरूङ मौन रहने हुन्? के तिनको मौनता देशभरिका गोर्खाहरूलाई तिनले धोका दिएको कुराको स्वीकृति नै हो? विमल गुरूङले मौनता तोड़ेको दिन नै यसको जवाब पनि प्रकट हुने छ।
नयॉं परिषद् राज्य निर्माण कै पूर्वाधार-मोर्चा
मनोज वोगटी, कालिमन्युज, कालेबुङ,13 जून। मोर्चाले दागोपापको साटो हुनुपर्ने वैकल्पिक व्यवस्थाको निम्ति बुझाएको प्रस्ताव अनुरूप नै मोर्चाले अहिले नै नाम तय नभएको तर अघिल्लोतिर गोर्खाल्याण्ड शब्द भने झुण्डाएको स्थायी व्यवस्थाको निम्ति राज्य सरकारलाई सहमति दिइसकेको छ। दार्जीलिङ बाहिरका गोर्खाहरू मोर्चाको यो सहमतिसित सन्तुष्ट नभए पनि मोर्चाले यो व्यस्थालाई राज्य सञ्चालनको क्षमता विकास गर्ने अनि छुट्टैराज्यको पूर्वाधारहरूको निर्माण गर्ने संसाधनकैरूपमा हेरेको छ। मोर्चा प्रवक्ता डा.हर्कबहादुर छेत्रीले एक राष्ट्रिय संवाद माध्यमलाई बताए अनुसार यो परिषद्लाई दागोपापको तुलनामा अधिक भौगोलिक, आर्थिक अनि प्रशासनिक स्वायत्ता दिइएको छ।
छेत्री अनुसार परिषद्लाई जुन आर्थिक स्वायत्ता अनि प्याकेज दिइएको छ यसले छुट्टैराज्यको निम्ति पूर्वाधारहरूको निर्माण गर्ने छ। तिनले भनेका छन्, अहिलेसम्म राज्य सरकारले पहाड़बाट जतिपनि राजस्व सङ्ग्रह गर्थ्यो, त्यो क्षमता परिषद्लाई हस्तान्तरण गरिएको छ। राज्य सरकारले वर्षेणी 101 करोड़ राजस्व पहाड़बाट सङ्ग्रह गर्थ्यो, त्यो अब परिषद्को अधिकारमा आएको छ। यसबाहेक तौजी विभाग पनि पूर्णरूपले परिषद्लाई हस्तान्तर गरिएको छ। जस अन्तर्गत अब उसो नयॉं परिषद्ले नै चियाबगानहरूलाई जमीन भाड़ामा दिने अनि जमीनको भाड़ा तय गर्ने छ। मोर्चाले यसलाई प्रस्तावित क्षेत्रको निम्ति प्रमुख आर्थिक आधारहरू मानेको छ। अहिलेसम्म प्रति हेक्टर केवल 32 रुपियॉं जमीनको भाड़ा रहेको थियो जसबाट मालिकहरूले 6 लाख रुपियॉं कमाउने गरेको थियो। उप्रान्त यसमा पनि परिषद्ले भाड़ा सम्बन्धमा पुनरावलोकन गर्ने छ जसको कारण भाड़ामा वृद्धि पनि हुन सक्ने छ।
राजस्व वृद्धिको निम्ति परिषद्सित एनएचपीसीको बिजुली पनि छ, जो राज्य सरकारले यसको नियन्त्रण, वितरण र राजस्व संग्रहको अधिकार परिषद्लाई नै दिएको छ। छेत्री अनुसार विकास नै गोर्खाल्याण्डको पूर्वाधार निर्माण गर्ने कड़ी हो। यसैकारण सम्झौता हुन अनिवार्य छ। मोर्चा गोर्खाल्याण्ड आन्दोलनमा जान अघि आर्थिक पूर्वाधारहरू तयार गर्न चहान्छ। राज्यको निम्ति पूर्णरूपले पूर्वाधारहरूको निर्माणपछि नै छुट्टैराज्यको निम्ति अघि बढ्न सकिन्छ। यो परिषदमा नै आन्दोलन सकिएको भने होइन, बरू छुट्टैराज्यको निम्ति नै बलियो आधारभूमिको निर्माण गरिएको हो। यसैकारण राज्यमा नै निर्भर नरहन मोर्चाले विकासमा जोड़ दिने योजना बनाएको छ। जसको कारण स्वनिर्भर बनेर देशभरिका गोर्खाहरूको आकांक्षाको निम्ति शक्ति निर्माण गर्न मोर्चा चहान्छ। सबैपक्षमा बलियो बनेपछि सम्पूर्ण शक्ति लगाएर मोर्चा छुट्टैराज्यको निम्ति अघि बढ्नेछ। दागोपाप र नयॉं परिषदमा सामान्यता देखापरे पनि मोर्चाको भनाइ अनुसार प्रशासनिक, आर्थिक र भौगोलिक क्षमताको हिसाबमा परिषद् धेरै बलियो छ। भौगोलिक मजबुतिको निम्ति मोर्चाले तराई र डुवर्समा 302 वटा मौजाहरूको दाबी गरेको छ, जसको निम्ति हाइपावर कमिटी बनाइने छ।
यो कमिटीले रिपोर्ट नबुझाइञ्जेल एउटा अस्थायी प्रशासनिक मण्डली बनाइने छ। जब रिपोर्ट बुझाएर त्यसमाथिको सहमति चुडान्त हुन्छ तब मात्र नयॉं परिषद् सञ्चालनमा आउने छ। रिपोर्टमाथि त्रिपक्षीय सहमति नआइञ्जेल नयॉं परिषद्को मुद्दा अल्झिएर नै बस्नेछ। मोर्चाको विकास योजनाले मुख्यरूपले शिक्षा, रोजगार र स्वास्थ्यलाई प्रमुखता दिएको छ। शिक्षाको निम्ति पनि नयॉं परिषद्ले आफ्नै बोर्ड बनाउने छ। प्रशासनिक, आर्थिक अनि भौगोलिकरूपले बङ्गालबाट बाहिर भएपछि छुट्टैराज्यको निम्ति अघि बढ्न सकिने मोर्चाको धारणा देखिएको छ। नयॉं परिषद्को नाम निर्णय भएको छैन तर यसमा 50 जना परिषद् सदस्य रहने अनि एकजना अध्यक्ष रहने छन्। मोर्चाले अध्यक्षको निम्ति पनि उम्मेद्वार छनौट भइसकेको अनि तिनी नयॉं अनुहारको हुनसक्ने संकेत पनि दिएको छ।
Headlines: KalimNews
Union Health Minister Dinesh Trivedi unhappy with Darjeeling Sadar Hospital.GJM is holding all units and frontal organisation meeting at Gymkhana Club Hall on 14 June. After the dissatisfaction expressed by GJM Delhi state unit members GJM has called all state unit meeting on 23 June in Darjeeling.
ABAVP is meeting on 15 June in Kalchini to sort out its programme for mobilising the Dooars people and draw the attention of the TMC led WEB Government for its demand of inclusion of Dooars in accordance to Sixth schedule of the constitution.
Trinamool minister may meet Gurung
Deep Gazmer, TNN , Jun 14, 2011, DARJEELING: Senior Trinamool Congress leader Dinesh Trivedi was on sudden visit to Darjeeling on Monday and is expected to meet Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) chief Bimal Gurung on Tuesday.
However, district officials have expressed their ignorance about the itinerary of the Union minister of state. "We have not got the programme for the minister. All we can say is that he will put up in a hotel and is also expected to visit the district hospital," said an official on condition of anonymity. Trivedi is also expected to inspect the district hospital during his visit. Eden hospital, as the district hospital is also known, went on a clean-up overdrive when information about the minister's visit arrived.
Trivedi and Gurung will participate in a panel discussion in Shruberry Park in Darjeeling. "Our president has asked all the frontal organizations to assemble tomorrow for a meeting," said a senior GJM leader. Gurung has called a meeting to apprise them about what transpired in the meeting with Mamata Banerjee. With the GJM leadership showing lenience towards an interim setup, voices of resentment have cropped up from various quarters.
The All India Gorkha League (AIGL) has already sent a letter to the Bengal CM expressing their dissatisfaction on being left out of the meeting. "Whatever arrangement that has been made between the GJM and the Bengal CM is only temporary and is not acceptable. In fact, the CM should have invited all the stakeholders for a meeting," said Laxman Pradhan, the AIGL secretary. The Communist Party of Revolutionary Marxist (CPRM), too, has opposed the settlement saying it was against the wishes of the people. "It is a betrayal of people's trust. The GJM was given such an unprecedented mandate only because of a separate state and nothing else," said Govind Chhetri, a CPRM spokesperson.
The Bharatiya Gorkha Parisangh (BGP) also said a temporary arrangement would neither fulfill nor provide identity to the Gorkhas living in the country.
Home truths before Trivedi
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| Trivedi at the Darjeeling district hospital on Monday. Picture by Suman Tamang |
The minister has come to Darjeeling “to get a report on the health care system in the hills under express direction from Mamata Banerjee”.
The woman approached the minister when he was about to leave the Darjeeling district hospital.
“Sir, mein ek baat bataun? (Sir, shall I tell you something?)”, she started narrating the plight of her daughter-in-law Sukmati to the minister. Sukmati had to be taken to Siliguri after collecting money through donations to get a CT scan done.
“After coming from Siliguri (after getting the CT Scan report) I am again being told that I should take her to Siliguri and I do not have any money. There are no medicines available here and I am being unable to do anything to save her life,” said Kamala, who works as a labourer at Rangbull, 12km from here.
The minister, who had not come across much complaints from the patients during the hospital tour till then, suddenly faced a volley of grievances from the crowd that gathered around Kamala.
“What is her problem? Please, explain it to me immediately and I don’t want her to suffer just because she does not have enough money,” said Trivedi, offering financial help “from my own pocket” to treat the patient. “I know the infrastructure here is crumbling but her problem must be redressed immediately,” said the minister.
The doctors present alongside the minister explained that the condition of Sukmati was serious. “She has a brain haemorrhage and the blood clot is more than 60ml. Her condition is very serious. We have given medicines and only two drugs are unavailable here,” said a doctor.
Trivedi asked the doctor if he should pay for the medicines also.
The conversation not just guaranteed the doctors’ attention for Sukmati but also opened up muted voices.
Yogen Rai, a resident of the Happy Valley tea garden said: ‘There is nothing to talk about as far as health care is concerned. Every time, there is some reason for the authorities to cite to refer serious patients to Siliguri. Many have to share beds with other patients and no drugs are available here.”
A visibly upset Trivedi said: “We have to start from the very beginning. Everything has been destroyed in the past 35 years. I found out that there are no facilities for heart patients and they have to be taken to Siliguri in case of emergencies. There are no ICUs here. This is unacceptable.”
The minister also found that “everything was gloomy” inside the hospital. “The doctors and the nurses are trying their best but the hospital is understaffed. Hygiene is a major problem here and the place does not give you the confidence,” he said.
The minister while inspecting the hospital kitchen was surprised that lentils were being cooked in a 5 litre pressure cooker for 275 patients. “You are not feeding the patients properly,” he told the staff.
Perhaps after meeting Kamala, the minister must have understood that the hills are being starved for want of proper health care.
CM Mamata Banerjee,reviews plan for N Bengal
ENS, Jun 14 2011, Kolkata:Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday reviewed development plans with the the ministers of Sports, Tourism and North Bengal Development.
“She was very keen to know the problems faced by us in our respective departments so that they can be overcome and new ideas can be implemented. I submitted her a detailed report on the poor condition of stadiums of the state,” said Madan Mitra, Minister of State (Independent Charge), Sports and Youth Affairs.
North Bengal Development Minister Goutam Deb said his department is already working on preparing a roadmap for an overall development programme of the region and the CM has assured all possible help.
Fire devours hill tea factory- Rs 2 crore loss in blaze, FIR filed against estate management
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| The charred remains of the factory at Nagri on Monday. Picture by Suman Tamang |
Vivek Chhetri, TT, Darjeeling, June 13: The factory of Nagri Farm Tea Estate was razed to the ground in a fire early this morning, causing a loss of more than Rs 2 crore at a time the garden was about to recover from years of financial constraints.
The fire department has lodged an FIR against the management of the garden and said most of the commercial institutions in the hills pay scant respect to fire safety norms.
“The blaze started at the factory around 12.15am and fire brigade reached the spot around 2.15am. Even though all documents were lost in the fire, preliminary estimates suggest we have incurred a loss of anything between Rs 2 and 2.5 crore,” said T.C. Sharma, the general manager of the garden, 40km from here.
The estate, spread over 570 hectares, has 813 workers and produces around 1 lakh kg of made tea annually.
Around 13,000 kg of made tea stored in the three-storied factory and the withering room were reduced to ashes in the fire.
The first and second floors of the factory were made of wood.
Garden sources said the documents could have given more accurate figures of the stock and the loss from the blaze. By the time a fire engine from Darjeeling reached the spot, the structure had almost become a heap of ashes.
Fire officers have started an inquiry into the incident. They, however, refused to say the cause of the blaze at the moment.
“We have just started the investigation and it will be difficult to pinpoint the cause of the fire immediately,” said D. Lepcha, the officer-in-charge of the Darjeeling fire station.
The garden was set up in 1883. “The factory which caught fire today had been rebuilt in1962 after it had been razed to the ground by a blaze,” said Sharma.
shok Lohia, the owner of the garden, said the fire had occurred when the company was about to be out of the woods after years of financial crisis.
“We took over the garden in 2001 and since then, our production has been less than 1 lakh kg of made annually. The decline in the production was because of bad weather and other natural vagaries. We were trying to break even this year and had started reviving the fortunes by undertaking uprooting (of old bushes) and replanting. But the fire has dealt a major blow to our efforts.”
In the FIR lodged with the Sukhiapokhri police station, the fire department accused the garden management of violating Sections 11 C and 12 of the West Bengal Fire Services Act 1950.
“Section 11 C states that a no-objection certificate has to be obtained from the fire station. The fire station will grant the certificate after it makes sure that safety procedures like a 2,000 litre overhead tank and a smoke and fire detection system are in place. Tea gardens also have to get their fire licences renewed under Section 12 every year as they store hazardous material like diesel and coal,” said a fire officer.
The fire brigade officials said most of the tea gardens or other commercial institutions like hotels and educational institution in the hills hardly follow these rules.
Sandeep Mukherjee, the secretary of the Darjeeling Tea Association, however, denied the allegations.
“Tea garden factories are set up only after obtaining the one time NOC from the fire department. It may be true to some extent that a few gardens might not have renewed their annual licences. But it is wrong to say all gardens have flouted the norms.”
Indranil Ghosh, an official of the Nagri Farm Tea Company, said the factory had adhered to all fire safety norms.
“We have got our factory inspected by a certified agency only in March this year and had also organised training on fire safety for our workers. All factory documents have been destroyed but we have duplicate copies in our headquarters to show that we have got necessary permissions.”
Diversion plan for traffic on NH55 after monsoonThe fire department has lodged an FIR against the management of the garden and said most of the commercial institutions in the hills pay scant respect to fire safety norms.
“The blaze started at the factory around 12.15am and fire brigade reached the spot around 2.15am. Even though all documents were lost in the fire, preliminary estimates suggest we have incurred a loss of anything between Rs 2 and 2.5 crore,” said T.C. Sharma, the general manager of the garden, 40km from here.
The estate, spread over 570 hectares, has 813 workers and produces around 1 lakh kg of made tea annually.
Around 13,000 kg of made tea stored in the three-storied factory and the withering room were reduced to ashes in the fire.
The first and second floors of the factory were made of wood.
Garden sources said the documents could have given more accurate figures of the stock and the loss from the blaze. By the time a fire engine from Darjeeling reached the spot, the structure had almost become a heap of ashes.
Fire officers have started an inquiry into the incident. They, however, refused to say the cause of the blaze at the moment.
“We have just started the investigation and it will be difficult to pinpoint the cause of the fire immediately,” said D. Lepcha, the officer-in-charge of the Darjeeling fire station.
The garden was set up in 1883. “The factory which caught fire today had been rebuilt in1962 after it had been razed to the ground by a blaze,” said Sharma.
shok Lohia, the owner of the garden, said the fire had occurred when the company was about to be out of the woods after years of financial crisis.
“We took over the garden in 2001 and since then, our production has been less than 1 lakh kg of made annually. The decline in the production was because of bad weather and other natural vagaries. We were trying to break even this year and had started reviving the fortunes by undertaking uprooting (of old bushes) and replanting. But the fire has dealt a major blow to our efforts.”
In the FIR lodged with the Sukhiapokhri police station, the fire department accused the garden management of violating Sections 11 C and 12 of the West Bengal Fire Services Act 1950.
“Section 11 C states that a no-objection certificate has to be obtained from the fire station. The fire station will grant the certificate after it makes sure that safety procedures like a 2,000 litre overhead tank and a smoke and fire detection system are in place. Tea gardens also have to get their fire licences renewed under Section 12 every year as they store hazardous material like diesel and coal,” said a fire officer.
The fire brigade officials said most of the tea gardens or other commercial institutions like hotels and educational institution in the hills hardly follow these rules.
Sandeep Mukherjee, the secretary of the Darjeeling Tea Association, however, denied the allegations.
“Tea garden factories are set up only after obtaining the one time NOC from the fire department. It may be true to some extent that a few gardens might not have renewed their annual licences. But it is wrong to say all gardens have flouted the norms.”
Indranil Ghosh, an official of the Nagri Farm Tea Company, said the factory had adhered to all fire safety norms.
“We have got our factory inspected by a certified agency only in March this year and had also organised training on fire safety for our workers. All factory documents have been destroyed but we have duplicate copies in our headquarters to show that we have got necessary permissions.”
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| Work in progress to repair the road at Paglajhora. File picture |
TT, Siliguri, June 13: The public works department has decided to divert a stretch of NH55 near the landslide-prone area at Paglajhora after the monsoons.The department, however, has not yet come up with a road map and plan to divert the traffic on the highway that connects Siliguri to Kurseong and Darjeeling.
Subrata Saha, the minister of state for PWD, said the government had received reports from the Geological Survey of India on Paglajhora, also considered a sinking zone, and has decided to divert traffic on NH55 or the Hill Cart Road.
“We are aware of the problem of landslide and the closure of NH55 near Paglajhora. Over the years this has caused inconvenience to thousands of hill residents. The GSI report is with us and it indicates that it is tough to maintain the road on the existing route as the problem of landslide or the sinking of a stretch on the road would persist due to the nature of the rocks in Paglajhora,” he said.
The minister added that the project would be undertaken after the monsoons. “It would take time to make designs and maps and build some kilometres of the new road. We plan to take up this project after the rainy season. The proposed diversion has to be made a few kilometres ahead of Paglajhora because in the hills a road cannot be diverted abruptly right from the spot,” Saha said.
Traffic will be diverted between Tindharia and Kurseong, the officials said.
The highway that passes through Sukna, Rongtong, Tindharia, Gayabari and Mahanadi before entering Kurseong remained shut for almost 10 months because of the sinking of a 500-metre stretch at Paglajhora, 35km from here, on June 16 last year. The road was opened for traffic on April 14.
“The road has been open since mid-April and we have successfully built an embankment. However, due to the persistent problem of landslides, falling of boulders, pebbles and mud, sometimes the road is closing down. We have machinery and men posted there. They are clearing debris on an emergency basis to avoid traffic congestion on the road,” Nirmal Mondal, an executive engineer of the PWD, said.
The landslip at Paglajhora had also halted the DHR services between New Jalpaiguri and Kurseong and the joy rides on the route have not resumed till date as the DHR officials are yet to repair the tracks that run parallel to NH55.
“Whenever we take the task to divert the stretch, the DHR authorities and all others concerned would be informed and suggestions would be sought from them,” Saha said.
According to him, the state is also planning to construct a bridge over the Teesta near Sevoke to smoothen traffic movement. “We plan to build a bridge in the plains connecting both banks of the Teesta to improve road communication with the Dooars,” Saha said.
THE HEART OF THE MATTERSubrata Saha, the minister of state for PWD, said the government had received reports from the Geological Survey of India on Paglajhora, also considered a sinking zone, and has decided to divert traffic on NH55 or the Hill Cart Road.
“We are aware of the problem of landslide and the closure of NH55 near Paglajhora. Over the years this has caused inconvenience to thousands of hill residents. The GSI report is with us and it indicates that it is tough to maintain the road on the existing route as the problem of landslide or the sinking of a stretch on the road would persist due to the nature of the rocks in Paglajhora,” he said.
The minister added that the project would be undertaken after the monsoons. “It would take time to make designs and maps and build some kilometres of the new road. We plan to take up this project after the rainy season. The proposed diversion has to be made a few kilometres ahead of Paglajhora because in the hills a road cannot be diverted abruptly right from the spot,” Saha said.
Traffic will be diverted between Tindharia and Kurseong, the officials said.
The highway that passes through Sukna, Rongtong, Tindharia, Gayabari and Mahanadi before entering Kurseong remained shut for almost 10 months because of the sinking of a 500-metre stretch at Paglajhora, 35km from here, on June 16 last year. The road was opened for traffic on April 14.
“The road has been open since mid-April and we have successfully built an embankment. However, due to the persistent problem of landslides, falling of boulders, pebbles and mud, sometimes the road is closing down. We have machinery and men posted there. They are clearing debris on an emergency basis to avoid traffic congestion on the road,” Nirmal Mondal, an executive engineer of the PWD, said.
The landslip at Paglajhora had also halted the DHR services between New Jalpaiguri and Kurseong and the joy rides on the route have not resumed till date as the DHR officials are yet to repair the tracks that run parallel to NH55.
“Whenever we take the task to divert the stretch, the DHR authorities and all others concerned would be informed and suggestions would be sought from them,” Saha said.
According to him, the state is also planning to construct a bridge over the Teesta near Sevoke to smoothen traffic movement. “We plan to build a bridge in the plains connecting both banks of the Teesta to improve road communication with the Dooars,” Saha said.
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| Mamata Banerjee with Bimal Gurung, May 30, 2011 |
Vivek Chhetri, TT, Opinion: An euphoric chief minister of West Bengal, Mamata Banerjee, announced that “the Darjeeling problem has been solved”. The statement merely underlines the new chief minister’s immaturity in dealing with hill politics, as even the greatest optimists in the hills would find it difficult to empathize with the chief minister’s statement.
At best, the new government has signed “an agreement” with one political party which has given hope of defusing the present imbroglio for some time. One need not be an expert on hill affairs to understand that solving the Darjeeling issue is as difficult for the state government as achieving statehood is for the hill people.
Credit should be given to Banerjee for having shown flexibility in solving contentious issues, unlike the Left Front, in order to chart a roadmap to end the present administrative impasse in the hills. But even in this agreement there are many loose ends that need to be tied — the most important being territorial jurisdiction of the new administrative body.
Even if this territorial issue is amicably solved — which is not likely to be easy given the opposition from the adivasis — Banerjee will have to understand that the problem of Darjeeling would be far from being permanently resolved.
The new chief minister was able to clinch a deal with the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha largely because of the cordial relationship they had nurtured over the past year. The GJM, too, has its own compulsions, ranging from its need to be in power to stay afloat to removing the Damocles’ sword that is hanging over their leaders’ heads regarding the murder of the Akhil Bharatiya Gorkha League leader, Madan Tamang.
Banerjee is confident that when she comes up to the hills to ink the deal later this month she will be able to sit with the GJM leadership for a good feast. In fact, she did ask Roshan Giri, the GJM general secretary, whether the party would organize a feast for the Calcutta team in Darjeeling when they come up to sign the deal.
The chief minister must, however, understand that in the past three years it is the GJM leadership which has been climbing uphill trying to achieve Gorkhaland, and all weary travellers negotiating rough hilly terrains are always a little hungrier.
The new government has to remain cautious if its agreement to bring peace in the region is to work for long. Lessons must be learnt from the Left Front’s dealings with the then undisputed leader of the hills, Subash Ghisingh.
Ghisingh, too, had inked the Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council deal after becoming weary of leading a 28-month-long bloody agitation. He needed some rest on his uphill trek and the Left Front government was only too obliging, and gave him a cosy nesting place.
And the Gorkha leader always made a noise if his resting place was disturbed. The Left Front government soon found out it was best to leave the hills to Ghisingh.
There was no accountability, no transparency, in the functioning of the DGHC. Ghisingh’s acolytes were suitably rewarded. There was no roadmap to alleviate the hill people’s poverty, no vision for a move forward. The state government did not bother one bit.
Ghisingh asked for the council to be extended without elections and the state government agreed without protest. He asked for the resignation of all his councillors and they, too, agreed without protest. Ghisingh was the sole “caretaker- administrator”, whose tenure would be “automatically” extended every six months by the state. The leader was the ringmaster of every show in Darjeeling, whether political, cultural or religious.
This, Banerjee must realize, was an outcome of the “cordial” relationship Ghisingh shared with the Left Front government. Even after the Gorkha National Liberation Front president was made to resign as the caretaker-administrator of the council on March 10, 2008, and Bimal Gurung started a popular movement, there was no inquiry into the financial mess of the council. There were no answers as to why the council was allowed to function without the framing of proper rules and regulations.
It now needs to be seen whether Banerjee will make a distinction between being cordial and ensuring that the new body works within the framework of the law of the land.
The state government must also be sincere in devolving genuine power to the autonomous setup. The Left Front took Ghisingh for a ride and it also thought that it could take the hill people for a ride, only to find that Ghisingh, its pointsman for the hills, had been overthrown even before it had realized what had happened. Despite calling the DGHC an autonomous setup, the state refused to hand over revenue generating departments, such as motor vehicles, or those needed for the devolution of power, like municipalities.
If the new chief minister continues with the GJM as the earlier government had done with Ghisingh, it is only a matter of a few years before the circle of unrest in the hills comes to hound her government.
The GJM has already said on record that it is not letting go of the statehood demand despite the new arrangement being put in place. The statehood issue has resonated in the hills despite Jyoti Basu forcing Ghisingh to sign an agreement which clearly stated that the demand for Gorkhaland “was being dropped in the overall national interest”. Banerjee must be on her toes at all times and not rest on the laurels of having “solved the Darjeeling issue”.
Three years ago, Bimal Gurung had been able to rally the hill people around him against Ghisingh, not just because the people wanted a change after 21 years of misrule but also because of their desperate need for identity. This need has found resonances in the hill psyche since 1907 — the first time that the Hillmen’s Association placed their demand for a separate administrative unit before the British — and anyone familiar with hill thoughts will second the fact that development bonanzas have not managed to erase this sentiment till date.
Mamata Banerjee must now be ready to face constant challenges from the Darjeeling hills despite having “solved the Darjeeling problem”.
Garden work halted for home repair nod
 |
| Garden workers block NH31 at Damdim on Monday. Picture by Biplab Basak |
TT, Jalpaiguri, June 13: The Akhil Bharatiya Adivasi Vikas Parishad-affiliated trade union today stopped all operations on Damdim Tea Estate to protest the management’s refusal to grant no-objection certificates to labourers to repair houses under the Indira Awas Yojana.
The workers also disrupted traffic on NH31 for two hours today and locked up the gram panchayat office.
The Malbazar block secretary of the Progressive Tea Workers’ Union, Chandan Lohar, said the garden had 1,954 workers and 200 of them were BPL card holders. “For more than one-and-a-half years, these BPL card holders have been waiting for a no-objection certificate from the management to repair their houses under the Indira Awas Yojana. The Damdim gram panchayat and the Malbazar block administration had submitted a list of beneficiaries to the garden authorities in 2009, but they have been sitting on it and that is why we stopped all works today in protest,” said Lohar.
The Congress panchayat pradhan, Manoj Das, said he had submitted a list of 80 beneficiaries of the scheme to the garden management in 2009. “The management had assured us verbally that the NOCs would be issued to the workers. But nothing has been done so far. There is now a list of 200 labourers who will get their homes renovated under the scheme,” said Das.
The Malbazar BDO, Prembibhash Kasari, visited the garden and told the workers that he would convene a meeting of trade union leaders, panchayat functionaries and the garden managers in his office on Friday.
“I have information that the management had agreed to issue the NOCs to a few of those whose names figure in the list and termed the others as outsiders. But the PTWU is not willing to accept it. We will try to find a way out in Friday’s meeting,” said Kasari.
After the BDO’s intervention, the trade union lifted the blockade and opened the panchayat office. Leaders of the tribal trade union held a meeting in the evening to discuss their next course of action.
The garden is about 70km from Jalpaiguri.
While the manager of the Damdim Tea Estate, A. Kapoor, was not available for comment, the secretary of the Dooars Branch Indian Tea Association, Prabir Bhattacharya, said all tea estates had come up on land taken on lease from the government. “As far as I know, the garden management has approached the high court in order to know whether government schemes could be implemented on leased land. They have not yet got the court’s reply,” said Bhattacharya.
The garden was earlier owned by the Tatas. “They have 20 per cent stake in the Amalgamated Plantations Pvt Ltd which owns the estate now. Tata Global Beverages is currently only into packaging and branding. They are not involved in the day-to-day management of the garden,” said a Tata Global Beverages official in Calcutta.
Funds under the Indira Awas Yojana are released by the central government and the work is done through the zilla parishad.
The additional district magistrate of Jalpaiguri, Utpal Biswas, said if there were any objections from the garden management, the beneficiaries could approach the panchayats and air their grievances. The zilla parishad will carry out the work.
“About a year ago, the district magistrate and the sabhadhipati and other officials took a resolution on this and most gardens were allowing work under the Indira Awas Yojana,” he added.
Tourist drowns in Sikkim
TT, Gangtok, June 13: A 17-year-old boy from Siliguri drowned while swimming in a river at Rimbi near Pelling in West Sikkim today.
Police said Sunny Bakshi had come for a sightseeing trip in West Sikkim with his parents. Around noon the teenager went to the river along with two of his friends. Sunny’s body has been recovered and sent to the West district hospital at Geyzing. The police said an unnatural death case had been registered and an investigation had started.
Father killed
TT, Jaigaon: Bandhan Oraon Thakur, 55, was killed by his son after a quarrel at their house on Manabari Tea Estate near Malbazar on Sunday. Police said Oraon, a worker of the garden, had a spat with his son Chanchal. Both were intoxicated and during the brawl Chanchal hit him with a wooden plank. Oraon died on the spot. Chanchal was arrested on Monday.
Protest plan
TT, Siliguri: SFI supporters will demonstrate outside 12 colleges in and around Siliguri to protest an alleged attack on their members by the Trinamul Congress Chhattra Parishad and the Chhattra Parishad supporters. Saurav Das, the SFI district secretary, said the demonstrations would begin from June 14 and continue till the administration took steps to stop the attacks.
Three dead
TT ,Islampur: Three unnatural deaths were reported in Islampur in the past 24 hours. Md Mujammil, 32, hanged himself at his house at Madhya Kachna on Sunday night. Police said he was facing financial crisis because of which he took the step. In another incident, eight-year-old Priya Sarkar of Sialtore died when she choked on a towel that she was playing with on Monday. Priya was taken to the subdivisional hospital where doctors declared her “brought dead”. Munna Rajen, 19, died when he was hit on the head by a moving truck at Gunjaria on NH-31 on Sunday night. Rajen, a cleaner, was looking out of the window of a truck when the vehicle coming from the opposite direction hit him. The driver managed to escape with the truck.
FINDING NEVERLAND
ANUSUA MUKHERJEE, TT : I wondered why I felt so numb when my car left behind the dazzling, sun-baked plains at last and entered the shadow lands of mist as it made its way to Darjeeling. It was not the cold — which, if anything, was delightfully comforting after the heat of Calcutta in May — that was occasioning the sinking feeling. I was going back to Darjeeling after five long years of separation, during which period I have become a laughing stock to my family for making reservations in Darjeeling hotels only to cancel them again and again, as the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha waged its battle in the hills. Notwithstanding the disappointment, I was steadfast in my resolve to go back to the place to which I have long pledged my troth. So as soon as Didi came to power, I tried again, and this time, miraculously, the booking stayed in place. I set out exhilarated. Yet where I had expected the pure joy of reunion, I felt only blankness as I tried to match the Darjeeling of my memory with the Darjeeling I now encountered.
More alarmingly, I soon realized that this was not merely a case of losing the aching joys and dizzy raptures of thoughtless youth. My heart was aching all right, but with a drowsy numbness as I saw the crumbling, lichen-covered buildings, piles of garbage by the wayside, sickly pieces of chicken or pork hanging from meatshops, and felt the craters on the road in my bones each time the car jumped. Suddenly the place seemed to have become real, which is to say, ugly. The toy train chugged past, looking less like a fairy wagon than like a vehicle whose time is up. The mountainsides were strangely bare, with clumps of greenery hacked away. To top it all, the people did not look the same. They seemed to move around with an invisible burden, which gave them a wary, sceptical look. This was not quite how I remembered the bright-faced denizens of this fey place.
The change was even more apparent when I reached Darjeeling. As I looked out of my hotel window, the clouds shifted just a bit to reveal rows of ramshackle shops in the bazar below. The colourful wares displayed in the shop-fronts made an odd contrast to the decrepitude of the buildings. Yet Darjeeling now boasts of a Big Bazaar outlet and a multiplex, which are proudly pointed out to tourists by car drivers. The Keventer’s and Glenary’s of yore stay in place, but the pervading spirit of ennui seems to have somehow touched them as well. Traffic crawls on the roads, and the sound of horns and motorcars drowns out the songs of the clouds and cicadas. Darjeeling now looks like Calcutta, I realized slowly to my utter dismay.
What calamity has befallen the place in the last five years to take Darjeeling’s charm away? The apathy of the previous Left Front government to issues great and small has, of course, worked its magic throughout West Bengal, and Darjeeling has not been exempted. But perhaps this hill town has been worse affected because it has remained out of sight of the erstwhile rulers, who have, as a result, found it easy to forget it. Even for a tourist like me, Darjeeling has always been that heavenly place, unreachable in its beauty, somewhere out there. Clinging on to its glorified image preserved in memory, I have never quite considered Darjeeling as a real place with very real problems that need to be addressed. My engagement with the Gorkhaland agitations began and ended with the uncertainty they created in my travel plans. All these years, while I have been thinking of Darjeeling with romantic yearning, the place has slowly been rotting away and suffering irreversible damage.
At the same time, I wondered whether all is lost. In my last two days in Darjeeling, tourists started trickling in steadily until the Mall Road began to resemble the streets of Calcutta during the Durga Puja days. Shop- and hotel-keepers no longer had the dazed look, and the place throbbed with life. Seeing the throng, I should have been happy for Darjeeling’s sake, but instead I panicked. Wrapping myself up in the gathering mists, I headed straight for the bench on which Karuna Banerjee had sung “E porobashe robe ke” in Ray’s Kanchenjungha. Sitting there, with the plaintive call of mountain birds for company, I settled into the familiar Darjeeling of my childhood. I was assured that there is still a Darjeeling that no change, for better or for worse, can ever touch. It’s the Darjeeling of flitting lights, bubbling pigeons and piercing, forest-scented rains — old as time and new as the day.
THE DEATH OF FAITH
Malvika Singh, TT. Opinion:Do all babas believe that they are above the law because they have declared themselves to be religious leaders? We have had many who have dabbled actively in politics, using and manipulating the leaders who believed in them and in their supernatural powers. Images of Dhirendra Brahmachari and Chandraswami — their antics and business dealings in the name of ‘religion’ and ‘charity’ — keep returning, even as younger babas enter the fray. Maybe it is the blind support for these ‘holy’ men that nurtures their mammoth egos and drives them into the realm of politics, merging the dividing line between religion and State. If these men were truly holy, why would they behave like VIPs, allowing cars and devotees to meet them on the tarmac of airports, thereby breaking all rules, like I have witnessed Sri Sri Ravi Shankar doing? Why would they get land at throwaway prices for ashrams or not declare donations and their sources?
To preach one thing and practise another make a mockery of such discourses. The threat of a fast-unto-death is akin to suicide, which is a criminal offence in the statute books. Why would a religious leader want to defy the law when he preaches that the people must abide by it? Why would a person with an enormous following and clout not negotiate his demands across the table? Surely an intellectual intervention makes more sense than what we see happening around us at this time.
We seem to be demeaning all democratic institutions by becoming victims of a frightening, confused populism. This is clearly the result of decades of malgovernance and faulty, corrupt administration, but it is, by no stretch of the imagination, the solution to the grave reality. These tamashas only dilute the urgent need for a radical reform of the operating and delivery systems of our polity and give a handle to the ruling, but isolated, dispensation to become even more insular. Frankly, this is suicidal for India and its future as a liberal democracy.
Old hat
The ruling class in India has brought this upon itself and does not seem to have the intellectual and political wherewithal to handle the people’s ballooning sense of betrayal. It has to find an appropriate and creative solution to restore some semblance of dignity in the public space. We need intelligent and proactive responses to the churning in society. We need elected parliamentarians to stop bickering with one another. They should cease evading responsibility by not permitting Parliament to function, and come together in an emergency baithak to rewrite the rules themselves rather than abdicate the space to babas looking for a place in the sun.
Since the Congress is in the saddle at the Centre, it should set an example and order a reshuffle of the cabinet and negotiate to send some senior leaders back to the states to prepare for the next general elections. Madhya Pradesh needs serious attention, as does Maharashtra. The Congress needs to be proactive in Andhra Pradesh and Orissa: it should induct fresh faces and adopt a new strategy.
The service-sector ministries need to have young blood at the helm. Tourism, information and broadcasting, environment, external affairs, information technology, commerce and industries — each ministry should have men and women who hail from the same generation as their counterparts in Britain and the United States of America. We have a cabinet where the majority of members belong to a forgotten age, carrying the baggage of a forgettable past. The seemingly rudderless Central dispensation and a non-inclusive Congress need to act now if they want to survive the onslaught of the people’s anger and their sense of betrayal.
The workers also disrupted traffic on NH31 for two hours today and locked up the gram panchayat office.
The Malbazar block secretary of the Progressive Tea Workers’ Union, Chandan Lohar, said the garden had 1,954 workers and 200 of them were BPL card holders. “For more than one-and-a-half years, these BPL card holders have been waiting for a no-objection certificate from the management to repair their houses under the Indira Awas Yojana. The Damdim gram panchayat and the Malbazar block administration had submitted a list of beneficiaries to the garden authorities in 2009, but they have been sitting on it and that is why we stopped all works today in protest,” said Lohar.
The Congress panchayat pradhan, Manoj Das, said he had submitted a list of 80 beneficiaries of the scheme to the garden management in 2009. “The management had assured us verbally that the NOCs would be issued to the workers. But nothing has been done so far. There is now a list of 200 labourers who will get their homes renovated under the scheme,” said Das.
The Malbazar BDO, Prembibhash Kasari, visited the garden and told the workers that he would convene a meeting of trade union leaders, panchayat functionaries and the garden managers in his office on Friday.
“I have information that the management had agreed to issue the NOCs to a few of those whose names figure in the list and termed the others as outsiders. But the PTWU is not willing to accept it. We will try to find a way out in Friday’s meeting,” said Kasari.
After the BDO’s intervention, the trade union lifted the blockade and opened the panchayat office. Leaders of the tribal trade union held a meeting in the evening to discuss their next course of action.
The garden is about 70km from Jalpaiguri.
While the manager of the Damdim Tea Estate, A. Kapoor, was not available for comment, the secretary of the Dooars Branch Indian Tea Association, Prabir Bhattacharya, said all tea estates had come up on land taken on lease from the government. “As far as I know, the garden management has approached the high court in order to know whether government schemes could be implemented on leased land. They have not yet got the court’s reply,” said Bhattacharya.
The garden was earlier owned by the Tatas. “They have 20 per cent stake in the Amalgamated Plantations Pvt Ltd which owns the estate now. Tata Global Beverages is currently only into packaging and branding. They are not involved in the day-to-day management of the garden,” said a Tata Global Beverages official in Calcutta.
Funds under the Indira Awas Yojana are released by the central government and the work is done through the zilla parishad.
The additional district magistrate of Jalpaiguri, Utpal Biswas, said if there were any objections from the garden management, the beneficiaries could approach the panchayats and air their grievances. The zilla parishad will carry out the work.
“About a year ago, the district magistrate and the sabhadhipati and other officials took a resolution on this and most gardens were allowing work under the Indira Awas Yojana,” he added.
Tourist drowns in Sikkim
TT, Gangtok, June 13: A 17-year-old boy from Siliguri drowned while swimming in a river at Rimbi near Pelling in West Sikkim today.
Police said Sunny Bakshi had come for a sightseeing trip in West Sikkim with his parents. Around noon the teenager went to the river along with two of his friends. Sunny’s body has been recovered and sent to the West district hospital at Geyzing. The police said an unnatural death case had been registered and an investigation had started.
Father killed
TT, Jaigaon: Bandhan Oraon Thakur, 55, was killed by his son after a quarrel at their house on Manabari Tea Estate near Malbazar on Sunday. Police said Oraon, a worker of the garden, had a spat with his son Chanchal. Both were intoxicated and during the brawl Chanchal hit him with a wooden plank. Oraon died on the spot. Chanchal was arrested on Monday.
Protest plan
TT, Siliguri: SFI supporters will demonstrate outside 12 colleges in and around Siliguri to protest an alleged attack on their members by the Trinamul Congress Chhattra Parishad and the Chhattra Parishad supporters. Saurav Das, the SFI district secretary, said the demonstrations would begin from June 14 and continue till the administration took steps to stop the attacks.
Three dead
TT ,Islampur: Three unnatural deaths were reported in Islampur in the past 24 hours. Md Mujammil, 32, hanged himself at his house at Madhya Kachna on Sunday night. Police said he was facing financial crisis because of which he took the step. In another incident, eight-year-old Priya Sarkar of Sialtore died when she choked on a towel that she was playing with on Monday. Priya was taken to the subdivisional hospital where doctors declared her “brought dead”. Munna Rajen, 19, died when he was hit on the head by a moving truck at Gunjaria on NH-31 on Sunday night. Rajen, a cleaner, was looking out of the window of a truck when the vehicle coming from the opposite direction hit him. The driver managed to escape with the truck.
FINDING NEVERLAND
 |
ANUSUA MUKHERJEE, TT : I wondered why I felt so numb when my car left behind the dazzling, sun-baked plains at last and entered the shadow lands of mist as it made its way to Darjeeling. It was not the cold — which, if anything, was delightfully comforting after the heat of Calcutta in May — that was occasioning the sinking feeling. I was going back to Darjeeling after five long years of separation, during which period I have become a laughing stock to my family for making reservations in Darjeeling hotels only to cancel them again and again, as the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha waged its battle in the hills. Notwithstanding the disappointment, I was steadfast in my resolve to go back to the place to which I have long pledged my troth. So as soon as Didi came to power, I tried again, and this time, miraculously, the booking stayed in place. I set out exhilarated. Yet where I had expected the pure joy of reunion, I felt only blankness as I tried to match the Darjeeling of my memory with the Darjeeling I now encountered.
More alarmingly, I soon realized that this was not merely a case of losing the aching joys and dizzy raptures of thoughtless youth. My heart was aching all right, but with a drowsy numbness as I saw the crumbling, lichen-covered buildings, piles of garbage by the wayside, sickly pieces of chicken or pork hanging from meatshops, and felt the craters on the road in my bones each time the car jumped. Suddenly the place seemed to have become real, which is to say, ugly. The toy train chugged past, looking less like a fairy wagon than like a vehicle whose time is up. The mountainsides were strangely bare, with clumps of greenery hacked away. To top it all, the people did not look the same. They seemed to move around with an invisible burden, which gave them a wary, sceptical look. This was not quite how I remembered the bright-faced denizens of this fey place.
The change was even more apparent when I reached Darjeeling. As I looked out of my hotel window, the clouds shifted just a bit to reveal rows of ramshackle shops in the bazar below. The colourful wares displayed in the shop-fronts made an odd contrast to the decrepitude of the buildings. Yet Darjeeling now boasts of a Big Bazaar outlet and a multiplex, which are proudly pointed out to tourists by car drivers. The Keventer’s and Glenary’s of yore stay in place, but the pervading spirit of ennui seems to have somehow touched them as well. Traffic crawls on the roads, and the sound of horns and motorcars drowns out the songs of the clouds and cicadas. Darjeeling now looks like Calcutta, I realized slowly to my utter dismay.
What calamity has befallen the place in the last five years to take Darjeeling’s charm away? The apathy of the previous Left Front government to issues great and small has, of course, worked its magic throughout West Bengal, and Darjeeling has not been exempted. But perhaps this hill town has been worse affected because it has remained out of sight of the erstwhile rulers, who have, as a result, found it easy to forget it. Even for a tourist like me, Darjeeling has always been that heavenly place, unreachable in its beauty, somewhere out there. Clinging on to its glorified image preserved in memory, I have never quite considered Darjeeling as a real place with very real problems that need to be addressed. My engagement with the Gorkhaland agitations began and ended with the uncertainty they created in my travel plans. All these years, while I have been thinking of Darjeeling with romantic yearning, the place has slowly been rotting away and suffering irreversible damage.
At the same time, I wondered whether all is lost. In my last two days in Darjeeling, tourists started trickling in steadily until the Mall Road began to resemble the streets of Calcutta during the Durga Puja days. Shop- and hotel-keepers no longer had the dazed look, and the place throbbed with life. Seeing the throng, I should have been happy for Darjeeling’s sake, but instead I panicked. Wrapping myself up in the gathering mists, I headed straight for the bench on which Karuna Banerjee had sung “E porobashe robe ke” in Ray’s Kanchenjungha. Sitting there, with the plaintive call of mountain birds for company, I settled into the familiar Darjeeling of my childhood. I was assured that there is still a Darjeeling that no change, for better or for worse, can ever touch. It’s the Darjeeling of flitting lights, bubbling pigeons and piercing, forest-scented rains — old as time and new as the day.
THE DEATH OF FAITH
Malvika Singh, TT. Opinion:Do all babas believe that they are above the law because they have declared themselves to be religious leaders? We have had many who have dabbled actively in politics, using and manipulating the leaders who believed in them and in their supernatural powers. Images of Dhirendra Brahmachari and Chandraswami — their antics and business dealings in the name of ‘religion’ and ‘charity’ — keep returning, even as younger babas enter the fray. Maybe it is the blind support for these ‘holy’ men that nurtures their mammoth egos and drives them into the realm of politics, merging the dividing line between religion and State. If these men were truly holy, why would they behave like VIPs, allowing cars and devotees to meet them on the tarmac of airports, thereby breaking all rules, like I have witnessed Sri Sri Ravi Shankar doing? Why would they get land at throwaway prices for ashrams or not declare donations and their sources?
To preach one thing and practise another make a mockery of such discourses. The threat of a fast-unto-death is akin to suicide, which is a criminal offence in the statute books. Why would a religious leader want to defy the law when he preaches that the people must abide by it? Why would a person with an enormous following and clout not negotiate his demands across the table? Surely an intellectual intervention makes more sense than what we see happening around us at this time.
We seem to be demeaning all democratic institutions by becoming victims of a frightening, confused populism. This is clearly the result of decades of malgovernance and faulty, corrupt administration, but it is, by no stretch of the imagination, the solution to the grave reality. These tamashas only dilute the urgent need for a radical reform of the operating and delivery systems of our polity and give a handle to the ruling, but isolated, dispensation to become even more insular. Frankly, this is suicidal for India and its future as a liberal democracy.
Old hat
The ruling class in India has brought this upon itself and does not seem to have the intellectual and political wherewithal to handle the people’s ballooning sense of betrayal. It has to find an appropriate and creative solution to restore some semblance of dignity in the public space. We need intelligent and proactive responses to the churning in society. We need elected parliamentarians to stop bickering with one another. They should cease evading responsibility by not permitting Parliament to function, and come together in an emergency baithak to rewrite the rules themselves rather than abdicate the space to babas looking for a place in the sun.
Since the Congress is in the saddle at the Centre, it should set an example and order a reshuffle of the cabinet and negotiate to send some senior leaders back to the states to prepare for the next general elections. Madhya Pradesh needs serious attention, as does Maharashtra. The Congress needs to be proactive in Andhra Pradesh and Orissa: it should induct fresh faces and adopt a new strategy.
The service-sector ministries need to have young blood at the helm. Tourism, information and broadcasting, environment, external affairs, information technology, commerce and industries — each ministry should have men and women who hail from the same generation as their counterparts in Britain and the United States of America. We have a cabinet where the majority of members belong to a forgotten age, carrying the baggage of a forgettable past. The seemingly rudderless Central dispensation and a non-inclusive Congress need to act now if they want to survive the onslaught of the people’s anger and their sense of betrayal.
very logical bluff good use of study for rum....
ReplyDeleteJunai jodi aye pani kaan nai chireko ..........Bimal Gurung lay Gorkha land lai bechi sakyo....sarap lagcha hai bimal daju jasari Subash Gishing lai pahar dekhi khede ko thiyo afnu chela haru sanga tyasari khednu naparos hai..Bujew ke ta......malai tokney kukur ley talai pani tokcha....
ReplyDelete