गोर्खाल्याण्ड सञ्चालन गर्ने क्षमता हामी गोर्खाहरूसित छैन-डा.छेत्रीमनोज वोगटी, कालिमन्युज, कालेबुङ, 8 जून। गोर्खाल्याण्ड नै चॉंही होइन तर गोर्खाल्याण्ड जस्तै व्यवस्था ल्याइएको मोर्चा प्रवक्ता तथा विधायक डा.हर्कबहादुर छेत्रीले आज बताएका छन्। तिनले भने, यसको नाम के हुने छ, त्यो तय भएको छैन। जुन व्यवस्थाको कुरा चलिरहेको छ, त्यो छुट्टैराज्य भन्दा कम छैन। पहिले यो व्यवस्था चलाइने छ अनि त्यसपछि गोर्खाल्याण्डको कुरा अघि बढ्ने छ। जुन प्रस्ताव केन्द्र र राज्य सरकारलाई मोर्चाले बुझाएको थियो त्यसैको आधारमा पहाड़मा नयॉं व्यवस्था हुनेछ, जसमा के के अधिकारहरू छन्, प्रस्ताव पढ्नेहरूलाई थाहा छ।
मोर्चा प्रवक्ता डा.हर्कबहादुर छेत्री कलकत्ताबाट आज कालेबुङ आइपुगेका थिए। आइपुग्ने वित्तिकै पार्टी कार्यालयमा तिनले पत्रकार सम्मेलन डाके। तिनले भने, गोर्खाल्याण्डको मुद्दा छोडिएको छैन। कलकतामा सातबटा बुँदाहरूमाथि सहमति भयो, जसमा हस्ताक्षर पनि भएको छ। सीमानाको निम्ति जुन समिति गठन हुन्छ, यसले 6 महिनासम्ममा रिपोर्ट तयार पार्नेछ। त्यसपछि पहाड़को स्थायी समाधानको सम्झौता हुने छ। तिनलाई नयॉं व्यवस्थाको नाम के हुन्छ भनी प्रश्न गर्दा तिनले पत्रकारहरूलाई नै उल्टा सोधे, के हुनुपर्छ नाम? हामीलाई सुझाइदिनु, हामी त्यसैलाई वार्तामा राख्ने छौं।
त्यसपछि फेरि तिनले भने, गोर्खाल्याण्ड हुन्छ, त्यसको नाम, त्यसपछि अरू पनि जोड़िन्छ। डा.छेत्रीले एकातिर सम्झौता हुने व्यवस्थालाई नै स्थायी व्यवस्था भनी बताए भने अर्कोतिर, यो व्यवस्थापछि नै गोर्खाल्याण्ड हुने बताए। तिनले भने, गोर्खाल्याण्ड सञ्चालन गर्ने क्षमता हामी गोर्खाहरूसित छैन। त्यसकारण कुनै न कुनै व्यवस्थाबाट अघि बड्नैपर्थ्यो।
तिनले अहिले नै राज्य चलाउने क्षमता नभएकोले नै चलाउन सक्ने र पहाड़ र डुवर्सका गोर्खाहरूको आवश्यक्ता पुरा गर्ने धेरै क्षमताशील व्यवस्था ल्याइएको स्पष्ट पारे। तिनले अझ के स्पष्ट पारे भने गोर्खाल्याण्ड अहिले नै हुनै सक्दैन। तर गोर्खाल्याण्ड अथवा राज्यको झैं क्षमताशील व्यवस्था भने हुन सक्ने भएकोले नै यो व्यवस्थामा मोर्चाले हस्ताक्षर गर्ने भएको तिनले जनाए। तौजी विभाग, जो सोही व्यवस्थाको अधीनमा हुने भएकोले, चिया श्रमिकहरूको निम्ति त्यही गोर्खाल्याण्ड समान रहेको पनि तिनले जनाए। अस्थायी कर्माचारीहरूको समस्या पनि समाधान हुने मात्र होइन रोजगारका अनेकौं अवसर निर्माण हुने भएकोले यस क्षेत्रको विकासले ऐतिहासिकरूप लिने समेतको विश्वास मोर्चामा रहेको तिनले बताए। तिनले भने, गोर्खाल्याण्डको निम्ति यो व्यवस्था घड़ेरी हो। घड़ेरी भनेको घर बनाउनकै निम्ति बनाइन्छ।
हाम्रो घर भनेको गोर्खाल्याण्ड नै हो। तिनले अझ भने,वामफ्रण्टले हामीलाई चिया मात्र दिन्थ्यो, ममताले ब्रेक फास्ट पनि दियो अब लञ्च चॉंही हुदैन भन्न ममताले सक्दैन। विवादास्पद् विषयहरूमा सहमति भइसकेको छ। जमीन पनि भयो। अब स्थायी समाधान हुने छ। एकातिर जनताले मोर्चाका नेताहरूलाई गोर्खाल्याण्डको निम्ति जनमत दिएको भए पनि गोर्खाल्याण्ड नभएर किन अन्य कुरामा नै सम्झौता गरिएको हो त भन्ने प्रश्न गर्दा तिनले भने, हामीलाई थाहा छ, जनता के चहान्छन्। पत्रकारलाई भन्दा धेर नेताहरूलाई थाहा छ कि जनाकांक्षा के हो। त्यसैलाई बुझेर नै त यो व्यवस्था ल्याएको। जुन आवश्यकता छ, त्यसलाई आउने व्यवस्थाले कहॉं पुरा गर्दैन अथवा हाम्रो व्यवस्थामा के कमी छ त्यो बताइदेओस्।
तिनले छुट्टैराज्यको आवश्यकता आउने व्यवस्थाले पुरा गर्ने दाबी पनि गरे। यता जनाधार नभएका राजनैतिक दलहरूले टिप्पणी गर्ने कुनै अधिकार नरहेको बताउँदै तिनले भने, जनतालाई जसले मिसलिड गर्यो भन्छ, जनता छ लिड गर। हिजो ममता व्यानर्जीले पहाड़को समस्या स्थायीरूपले समाधान गरेको पत्रकारहरूलाई बताएको सम्बन्धमा प्रश्न गर्दा तिनले यसलाई सोझै नकार्दै यो व्यवस्थापछि गोर्खाल्याण्ड पुगिने बताए। तिनले भने, बाटो बनियो। घड़ेरी बनियो। अब घर बनाउँदैन भन्छ भने उसलाई डाक्टरी जॉंच गर्नुपर्छ। तिनले ममताको सरकारले भन्ने वित्तिकै मोर्चाको कुरा मानेको अनि आफूहरूलाई विश्वास नलागेको समेत बताए।
तिनले भने, ममता सरकारले यति छिटो पहाड़प्रति सोंचेर फटाफट निर्णय गर्नु हाम्रो आन्दोलनको मुख्य फड्को हो। तिनले विजुली, वाहन र टेलिफोनको बील मोर्चाले नै तिरिदिने पनि बताए।
GJM supporters hail Darjeeling agreement
PTI Jun 08,2011: The Akhil Bharatiya Adivasi Vikas Parishad has also welcomed the agreement, but warned that it would not allow a single inch of Terai and Dooars to be included in the new hill council. According to yesterday's agreement, a committee will be set up to go into the GJM's long-standing demand for inclusion of mouzas of the two areas, inhabited mainly by the Adivasis, in the council. The state president of the ABAVP Birsha Tirkey today said he had submitted a memorandum at the chief minister's chamber in the state secretariat in Kolkata demanding that the two regions be included in the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution. Tirkey demanded that the ABAVP should be consulted before any discussion on expansion of territory of the new hill council took place. "We need to be taken into confidence in the crucial exercise," he said.
Adivasis protest land survey- ‘CM has ignored our rights’
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| Asok (centre) at the CPM office in Siliguri on Wednesday. Picture by Kundan Yolmo |
TT, June 8: The Akhil Bharatiya Adivasi Vikas Parishad has opposed the formation of a high-powered committee that will carry out a survey to recommend if Gorkha-dominated areas of the Dooars and the Terai can be brought under the ambit of the new set-up for the hills.
The state government had yesterday announced that the committee would be formed within two weeks to examine the “geopolitical situation” and “regional issues” in the Dooars, the Terai and Siliguri. The recommendations of the panel will form the basis on which the territorial reach of the new administrative set-up would be decided.
But the Parishad today made it clear that it would resist any attempt to identify mouzas in the Terai and the Dooars for their inclusion in the proposed setup for the hills as demanded by the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha.
“The new chief minister has ignored our rights. She cannot hand over areas that are dominated by people of our community to the hill set- up. We are strongly opposing this so-called high-powered committee that will be formed by the state government and the Morcha. We will not allow any kind of survey to be carried out. If there is a law and order situation, the state government would be responsible,” said Tezkumar Toppo, the state general secretary of the Parishad.
The Parishad’s state committee president, Birsa Tirkey, and other leaders handed over a memorandum to the chief minister’s office in Writers’ Buildings today.
Tirkey said over the phone from Calcutta that the Morcha’s demand to bring territories in the Terai and the Dooars under the new authority was absolutely “irrational”. “There are no areas here that are Gorkha-dominated, the Adivasi community is in the majority. If the state government tries to include the areas in the hill set-up, we will begin an intense agitation, we have said this in our letter to the chief minister,” Tirkey said.
He said the Parishad had been demanding autonomy under the Sixth Schedule for the Terai and the Dooars and would continue to do so. “We have been exploited, neglected for long and the state government’s decision that was announced yesterday has hurt us,” he said.
In Siliguri, former state urban development minister Asok Bhattacharya said the process of identifying the Gorkha-dominated areas for the proposed administrative arrangement through a committee would create fresh unrest in the region.
The government has said the committee will be made up of the district magistrates of Darjeeling and Jalpaiguri and four Morcha members.
“We are apprehending that the decision to demarcate the Gorkha-dominated areas in the Dooars and the Terai after forming a committee, where apart from government officials, all the members will be from Morcha, will create further unrest in the region. We think the committee should be formed with the representation from different organisations, or else any recommendation will be one sided,” Bhattacharya, who is also the Darjeeling district Left Front convener, told reporters at the CPM office in Siliguri this afternoon
He also claimed that whatever decision was taken yesterday at Calcutta was the continuation of the series of dialogues that took place between the central and state governments and the Morcha at different levels.
Jibesh Sarkar, a state committee member of the CPM, also echoed Bhattacharya. He said the decision of the government on forming a committee would create a rift among the residents of the region. “We feel such step will create a fresh strife in the region and hamper the peaceful atmosphere here,” Sarkar said.
GJM has betrayed Gorkhaland movement, say hill parties
IANS, Darjeeling, June 8 : A day after the West Bengal government signed an agreement with the Gorkha Janamukti Morcha (GJM) on the issue of a separate Gorkhaland, political parties in the state's northern hills Wednesday accused the GJM of betraying the region's people.
"The GJM has fooled the people of hills by leaving out the demand of separate statehood for the Gorkhas during the meeting. It is now clear that the GJM used Gorkhaland as a platform to win the assembly elections. With the polls over, they have abandoned the issue," Communist Party of Revolutionary Marxists general secretary Taramoni Rai told IANS.
At the core of Tuesday's agreement is the formation of a new autonomous elected Hill Council, which is armed with more powers compared to the Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council (DGHC) formed in the late 1980s.
The new council, to be formed through an enactment of the state assembly, would have administrative and financial powers and can also frame rules related to the hills. The council members will later be chosen through an election, but the body cannot enact any law.
However, Rai said the new administrative setup was even weaker than the Sixth Schedule Council proposed by Gorkha National Liberation Front (GNLF) president Subash Ghising.
Communist Party of India-Marxist leader K.B. Wattar said the "solution" arrived at Tuesday was "nothing new".
"The (earlier) Left Front government also proposed to give the same status but that time, they did not agree," said Wattar.
He alleged that the GJM's decision to leave the demand of a separate Gorkhaland and to resolve the issue after a meeting with Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee clearly pointed towards a nexus.
"The GJM's movement was against the Left Front, not for Gorkhaland," said Wattar, adding that the solution that emerged from Tuesday's meeting was temporary, not permanent.
However, Akhil Bharatiya Gorkha League (ABGL) general secretary Lakshman Pradhan said: "The solution was reached after the state government played the Madan Tamang card. The GJM leadership was blackmailed to agree to setting up the autonomous hill council through elections."
ABGL president Madan Tamang was killed May 21, 2010, and allegations were levelled against the GJM.
"We think that the GJM leaders were threatened that if they did not agree to the state government's proposal for resolving the issue they would be arrested," said Pradhan.
He also said that the formation of the autonomous body could fulfill the aspirations of the GJM but not those of the hill people.
The proposal for setting up a committee to reconsider the GJM's demand of including the Terai (plains) and Dooars (foothills of the Himalayas) region within the territory of the autonomous council has created resentment among the tribal people living in the area.
Adivasi Bikash Parishad general Secretary Tez Kumar Toppa said: "We are against the inclusion of Terai and Dooars areas within the territory of autonomous body. We will prevent bifurcation of the region and demand the Sixth Schedule to be implemented for the two regions. A six-member delegation has already started for Kolkata to meet the chief minister."
The demand for a separate state of Gorkhaland covering parts of northern Bengal gained momentum during the 1980s under the leadership of GNLF supremo Subash Ghising.
But the reins of the movement were later taken over by the Bimal Gurung-led GJM, which forced Ghising out of the hills.
VIVEK CHHETRI with ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY BIRESWAR BANERJEE IN SILIGURI, TT, Darjeeling, June 8: The Gorkha Janmukti Morcha today said the proposed administrative set-up for the hills would be the “most powerful body” ever conceived for Darjeeling, suggesting that the immediate focus would be on “delivering development” to the region rather than bickering over outstanding issues.
After a meeting with party chief Bimal Gurung, where the Morcha president was briefed in detail about the discussions with the state government in Calcutta, party general secretary Roshan Giri said: “The administrative arrangement that has been agreed upon is the most powerful body ever conceived for the hills. It is far superior to the current Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council and the Sixth Schedule (special status now given to tribals in the Northeast).”
Giri said it had been agreed that the new administrative authority would have jurisdiction over 57 departments. They will include fire services, public works department (both roads and construction), forest department barring reserved forests, regional transport authority and motor vehicles department, cinchona plantation and registration of land, marriages and buildings.
At the same time, the Morcha kept alive the hopes of the people of Darjeeling for a separate state. Arriving in Siliguri this morning after meeting state government officials in Writers’ Buildings, the Morcha’s Kalimpong MLA Harka Bahadur Chhetri said: “Signing an agreement for setting up a new administrative arrangement is a path to Gorkhaland. It is like laying the foundation before building a house. We have signed the agreement for achieving our demand of separate state.”
In private, Morcha leaders admitted that they do not “realistically” see a separate Gorkhaland state coming into being, at least not in the immediate future. But they said that the “time was ripe” to deliver to the people of the hills who have stood by the party throughout the agitation.
“The people of the Darjeeling hills have given our party’s candidates a resounding victory in the Assembly elections,” a Morcha leader said. “They have huge expectations from us. Now is not the time to bicker and agitate but the bring development to the hills. We have got an opportunity and we have to seize it with both hands.”
The party now wants to place the agreement signed with the state government as a “major achievement” before the people of the hills, one that is bound to benefit them. But, a Morcha leader said, lest they be seen as betraying the cause of statehood, the party would keep alive the slogan of Gorkhaland.
The Morcha has called a meeting of its central committee on June 14 to discuss how to take forward the process of setting up the new authority.
The Morcha has also started to scout for “experts” from various fields to handle these departments. “Many talented and educated members of our community are outside the hills, in other parts of the country and abroad,” a Morcha leader said. “We must now make all efforts to bring them back so that we can govern the hills effectively and bring prosperity to the people here.” State government officials pointed out that the powers of the new authority had already been agreed upon during the tripartite talks held between the Centre, the Left Front government and the Morcha before the Assembly elections.
“It has to been seen what comes of the additional contentious points that are yet to be resolved,” the official said. “There are difficult issues like the territorial jurisdiction of the new set-up as well as the transfer of the tauzi department (which deals with tea garden land).”
Gorkhaland: Opp slams upbeat GJMM leaders
SNS, SILIGURI/DARJEELING, 8 JUNE: A day after the state government signed an agreement with the Gorkha Jan Mukti Morcha (GJMM) for a new set up on an official level, the Opposition political parties here have accused the GJMM of backstabbing the Hill people and the mandate for which it secured a landslide victory in the last polls.
However, flushing with confidence, the GJMM general secretary, Mr Roshan Giri, today made it clear that the inclusion of the Nepali-majority areas in the Terai-Dooars in the contemplated autonomous council for the Darjeeling Hills is only a matter of time.
“We insisted on this issue during the dialogue in Kolkata yesterday. The positive stance adopted by the Mamata Banerjee government would go a long way in resolving the political crisis plaguing the Darjeeling Hills,” he said at the NJP station today.
The GJMM leader, however, said they had not diluted the Gorkhaland demand. “We have approved the draft agreement after ensuring that the Gorkhaland demand is on record. Neither have we dropped it nor have we kept in the backburner. Its time would come in due course,” he affirmed.
Reacting to the chief minister's decision to constitute a land verification committee, former state urban development minister Mr Asok Bhattacharya today said the state government might stumble on ethnic hurdles resulting in a new phase of ethno-political uncertainty in the Dooars-Terai region.
Though expressing hope that the long dragging Hill logjam would be resolved to the satisfaction of all the parties involved, Mr Bhattacharya said that the GJMM's attempt of territorial expansion of the autonomous council is unwarranted.
The Akhil Bharatiya Adivasi Vikas Parishad (ABAVP) and other anti-Gorkhaland outfits, based in Siliguri and the Dooars, have flayed the state government for the decision to constitute a high powered committee to look into the GJMM's territory demands. “We have already sent a message to the chief minister detailing our reservations over the matter,” said the ABAVP state president, Mr Birsa Tirkey, adding that his outfit would not part with an inch of land spread over the Terai-Dooars for any council for the Darjeeling Hills.
Amraa Bangali, a radical organisation, threatened to launch shutdown agitation in the Terai-Dooars in case the state government went ahead with the decision.
Meanwhile, CPRM president Mr RB Rai said: “The GJMM has betrayed the people of the Hills by accepting agreement with the state government and keeping the Gorkhaland talks out of the purview of the meeting.” Mr KB Wattar, CPI-M leader said the agreement between the state and GJMM is nothing new. However, AIGL president Mrs Bharati Tamang said the people had voted for GJMM for Gorkhaland and now it is up to the party to fulfil the people's aspiration.
The state government had yesterday announced that the committee would be formed within two weeks to examine the “geopolitical situation” and “regional issues” in the Dooars, the Terai and Siliguri. The recommendations of the panel will form the basis on which the territorial reach of the new administrative set-up would be decided.
But the Parishad today made it clear that it would resist any attempt to identify mouzas in the Terai and the Dooars for their inclusion in the proposed setup for the hills as demanded by the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha.
“The new chief minister has ignored our rights. She cannot hand over areas that are dominated by people of our community to the hill set- up. We are strongly opposing this so-called high-powered committee that will be formed by the state government and the Morcha. We will not allow any kind of survey to be carried out. If there is a law and order situation, the state government would be responsible,” said Tezkumar Toppo, the state general secretary of the Parishad.
The Parishad’s state committee president, Birsa Tirkey, and other leaders handed over a memorandum to the chief minister’s office in Writers’ Buildings today.
Tirkey said over the phone from Calcutta that the Morcha’s demand to bring territories in the Terai and the Dooars under the new authority was absolutely “irrational”. “There are no areas here that are Gorkha-dominated, the Adivasi community is in the majority. If the state government tries to include the areas in the hill set-up, we will begin an intense agitation, we have said this in our letter to the chief minister,” Tirkey said.
He said the Parishad had been demanding autonomy under the Sixth Schedule for the Terai and the Dooars and would continue to do so. “We have been exploited, neglected for long and the state government’s decision that was announced yesterday has hurt us,” he said.
In Siliguri, former state urban development minister Asok Bhattacharya said the process of identifying the Gorkha-dominated areas for the proposed administrative arrangement through a committee would create fresh unrest in the region.
The government has said the committee will be made up of the district magistrates of Darjeeling and Jalpaiguri and four Morcha members.
“We are apprehending that the decision to demarcate the Gorkha-dominated areas in the Dooars and the Terai after forming a committee, where apart from government officials, all the members will be from Morcha, will create further unrest in the region. We think the committee should be formed with the representation from different organisations, or else any recommendation will be one sided,” Bhattacharya, who is also the Darjeeling district Left Front convener, told reporters at the CPM office in Siliguri this afternoon
He also claimed that whatever decision was taken yesterday at Calcutta was the continuation of the series of dialogues that took place between the central and state governments and the Morcha at different levels.
Jibesh Sarkar, a state committee member of the CPM, also echoed Bhattacharya. He said the decision of the government on forming a committee would create a rift among the residents of the region. “We feel such step will create a fresh strife in the region and hamper the peaceful atmosphere here,” Sarkar said.
GJM has betrayed Gorkhaland movement, say hill parties
IANS, Darjeeling, June 8 : A day after the West Bengal government signed an agreement with the Gorkha Janamukti Morcha (GJM) on the issue of a separate Gorkhaland, political parties in the state's northern hills Wednesday accused the GJM of betraying the region's people.
"The GJM has fooled the people of hills by leaving out the demand of separate statehood for the Gorkhas during the meeting. It is now clear that the GJM used Gorkhaland as a platform to win the assembly elections. With the polls over, they have abandoned the issue," Communist Party of Revolutionary Marxists general secretary Taramoni Rai told IANS.
At the core of Tuesday's agreement is the formation of a new autonomous elected Hill Council, which is armed with more powers compared to the Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council (DGHC) formed in the late 1980s.
The new council, to be formed through an enactment of the state assembly, would have administrative and financial powers and can also frame rules related to the hills. The council members will later be chosen through an election, but the body cannot enact any law.
However, Rai said the new administrative setup was even weaker than the Sixth Schedule Council proposed by Gorkha National Liberation Front (GNLF) president Subash Ghising.
Communist Party of India-Marxist leader K.B. Wattar said the "solution" arrived at Tuesday was "nothing new".
"The (earlier) Left Front government also proposed to give the same status but that time, they did not agree," said Wattar.
He alleged that the GJM's decision to leave the demand of a separate Gorkhaland and to resolve the issue after a meeting with Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee clearly pointed towards a nexus.
"The GJM's movement was against the Left Front, not for Gorkhaland," said Wattar, adding that the solution that emerged from Tuesday's meeting was temporary, not permanent.
However, Akhil Bharatiya Gorkha League (ABGL) general secretary Lakshman Pradhan said: "The solution was reached after the state government played the Madan Tamang card. The GJM leadership was blackmailed to agree to setting up the autonomous hill council through elections."
ABGL president Madan Tamang was killed May 21, 2010, and allegations were levelled against the GJM.
"We think that the GJM leaders were threatened that if they did not agree to the state government's proposal for resolving the issue they would be arrested," said Pradhan.
He also said that the formation of the autonomous body could fulfill the aspirations of the GJM but not those of the hill people.
The proposal for setting up a committee to reconsider the GJM's demand of including the Terai (plains) and Dooars (foothills of the Himalayas) region within the territory of the autonomous council has created resentment among the tribal people living in the area.
Adivasi Bikash Parishad general Secretary Tez Kumar Toppa said: "We are against the inclusion of Terai and Dooars areas within the territory of autonomous body. We will prevent bifurcation of the region and demand the Sixth Schedule to be implemented for the two regions. A six-member delegation has already started for Kolkata to meet the chief minister."
The demand for a separate state of Gorkhaland covering parts of northern Bengal gained momentum during the 1980s under the leadership of GNLF supremo Subash Ghising.
But the reins of the movement were later taken over by the Bimal Gurung-led GJM, which forced Ghising out of the hills.
Morcha hardsells ‘powerful’ set-up
 |
| Morcha general secretary Roshan Giri (centre) with party supporters at New Jalpaiguri railway station on Wednesday. Picture by Kundan Yolmo |
After a meeting with party chief Bimal Gurung, where the Morcha president was briefed in detail about the discussions with the state government in Calcutta, party general secretary Roshan Giri said: “The administrative arrangement that has been agreed upon is the most powerful body ever conceived for the hills. It is far superior to the current Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council and the Sixth Schedule (special status now given to tribals in the Northeast).”
Giri said it had been agreed that the new administrative authority would have jurisdiction over 57 departments. They will include fire services, public works department (both roads and construction), forest department barring reserved forests, regional transport authority and motor vehicles department, cinchona plantation and registration of land, marriages and buildings.
At the same time, the Morcha kept alive the hopes of the people of Darjeeling for a separate state. Arriving in Siliguri this morning after meeting state government officials in Writers’ Buildings, the Morcha’s Kalimpong MLA Harka Bahadur Chhetri said: “Signing an agreement for setting up a new administrative arrangement is a path to Gorkhaland. It is like laying the foundation before building a house. We have signed the agreement for achieving our demand of separate state.”
In private, Morcha leaders admitted that they do not “realistically” see a separate Gorkhaland state coming into being, at least not in the immediate future. But they said that the “time was ripe” to deliver to the people of the hills who have stood by the party throughout the agitation.
“The people of the Darjeeling hills have given our party’s candidates a resounding victory in the Assembly elections,” a Morcha leader said. “They have huge expectations from us. Now is not the time to bicker and agitate but the bring development to the hills. We have got an opportunity and we have to seize it with both hands.”
The party now wants to place the agreement signed with the state government as a “major achievement” before the people of the hills, one that is bound to benefit them. But, a Morcha leader said, lest they be seen as betraying the cause of statehood, the party would keep alive the slogan of Gorkhaland.
The Morcha has called a meeting of its central committee on June 14 to discuss how to take forward the process of setting up the new authority.
The Morcha has also started to scout for “experts” from various fields to handle these departments. “Many talented and educated members of our community are outside the hills, in other parts of the country and abroad,” a Morcha leader said. “We must now make all efforts to bring them back so that we can govern the hills effectively and bring prosperity to the people here.” State government officials pointed out that the powers of the new authority had already been agreed upon during the tripartite talks held between the Centre, the Left Front government and the Morcha before the Assembly elections.
“It has to been seen what comes of the additional contentious points that are yet to be resolved,” the official said. “There are difficult issues like the territorial jurisdiction of the new set-up as well as the transfer of the tauzi department (which deals with tea garden land).”
Gorkhaland: Opp slams upbeat GJMM leaders
SNS, SILIGURI/DARJEELING, 8 JUNE: A day after the state government signed an agreement with the Gorkha Jan Mukti Morcha (GJMM) for a new set up on an official level, the Opposition political parties here have accused the GJMM of backstabbing the Hill people and the mandate for which it secured a landslide victory in the last polls.
However, flushing with confidence, the GJMM general secretary, Mr Roshan Giri, today made it clear that the inclusion of the Nepali-majority areas in the Terai-Dooars in the contemplated autonomous council for the Darjeeling Hills is only a matter of time.
“We insisted on this issue during the dialogue in Kolkata yesterday. The positive stance adopted by the Mamata Banerjee government would go a long way in resolving the political crisis plaguing the Darjeeling Hills,” he said at the NJP station today.
The GJMM leader, however, said they had not diluted the Gorkhaland demand. “We have approved the draft agreement after ensuring that the Gorkhaland demand is on record. Neither have we dropped it nor have we kept in the backburner. Its time would come in due course,” he affirmed.
Reacting to the chief minister's decision to constitute a land verification committee, former state urban development minister Mr Asok Bhattacharya today said the state government might stumble on ethnic hurdles resulting in a new phase of ethno-political uncertainty in the Dooars-Terai region.
Though expressing hope that the long dragging Hill logjam would be resolved to the satisfaction of all the parties involved, Mr Bhattacharya said that the GJMM's attempt of territorial expansion of the autonomous council is unwarranted.
The Akhil Bharatiya Adivasi Vikas Parishad (ABAVP) and other anti-Gorkhaland outfits, based in Siliguri and the Dooars, have flayed the state government for the decision to constitute a high powered committee to look into the GJMM's territory demands. “We have already sent a message to the chief minister detailing our reservations over the matter,” said the ABAVP state president, Mr Birsa Tirkey, adding that his outfit would not part with an inch of land spread over the Terai-Dooars for any council for the Darjeeling Hills.
Amraa Bangali, a radical organisation, threatened to launch shutdown agitation in the Terai-Dooars in case the state government went ahead with the decision.
Meanwhile, CPRM president Mr RB Rai said: “The GJMM has betrayed the people of the Hills by accepting agreement with the state government and keeping the Gorkhaland talks out of the purview of the meeting.” Mr KB Wattar, CPI-M leader said the agreement between the state and GJMM is nothing new. However, AIGL president Mrs Bharati Tamang said the people had voted for GJMM for Gorkhaland and now it is up to the party to fulfil the people's aspiration.
Opposition cry betrayal over West Bengal-GJM deal
Even the GJM, spearheading a separate state agitation since 2007, lauded the efforts of the chief minister stating “The present state government has shown immense political will to ensure peace and development. We will extend our full cooperation to the new government”
However the hill opposition parties, raising the ante, have cried “betrayal.” “What our leader Madan Tamang had stated three years ago has now been vindicated. He had stated that Bimal Gurung is a counter leader propped by the Government to strangle the demand for Gorkhaland.
"The GJM murdered Madan Tamang and the Government compelled the GJM to compromise on Gorkhaland using the CBI, at present investigating the Madan Tamang murder case in which key GJM leaders have been implicated” alleged Pratap Khati, All India Gorkha League (AIGL) leader.
The AIGL is the oldest political outfit of the Gorkhas in the country.
“Let Mamata Banerjee understand that the Gorkha issue does not stand resolved. We want separation from Bengal. Just by buying off Bimal Gurung and the GJM, the demand for Gorkhaland, which is the aspiration of all the Gorkhas residing in the country cannot be strangled” retorted Khati.
“The Gorkhas have been betrayed once again. It is a rerun of Subash Ghising’s Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council (DGHC) deal. We have always been saying that the GJM are not sincere. Their main objective has been the DGHC and that is what they have proved. The new administrative setup does not have a constitutional guarantee also. However both the Government and the GJM should realize that the people in the Hills gave the mandate for Gorkhaland in this Assembly election. Gurung and the GJM cannot rule for ever. The true voice for Gorkhaland will re emerge” warned Govind Chettri, spokesperson, Communist Party of Revolutionary Marxist (CPRM.)
Asok Bhattacharjee, CPIM leader for North Bengal demanded that CM Mamata Banerjee should spell out in details as to what she means by “Gorkha impasse resolved.”
“When we were in the Government we had proposed a powerful autonomy for the Hills. The Nepali speaking populace had gone against us dubbing us anti-Gorkhaland then. The same arrangement is now being dished out to them. However we do not see a permanent solution as there will always be dissident groups trying to spark a fresh agitation. Thus we had demanded that all Hill parties be taken into confidence while working out an arrangement for the Hills.”
Interestingly, the Subash Ghising led Gorkha National Liberation Front had led a 28 month violent agitation for a separate state in the 1980s which finally paved way for the Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council (DGHC) in 1988.
Bimal Gurung, a dissident GNLF leader broke away from the party folds in 2007 floating the GJM. The GJM finally ousted the GNLF and Ghising, launching a new agitation for Gorkhaland.
Amitava Banerjee, HT, Darjeeling, June 08, 2011: As Mamata Banerjee’s “Switzerland” (development) scored over Bimal Gurung’s “Gorkhaland,” (separate state) with both the state government and the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) lauding it, the hill opposition parties cried betrayal and vowed to continue with the agitation for “Gorkhaland.”
A triimphant Chief minister Mamata Banerjee, addressing media persons in Kolkata stated “Our brothers and sisters in Darjeeling have been agitating. Now the crisis has ended. We will work together to make the Hills into Switzerland.” A deal was signed on Tuesday between the state government and the GJM, with both working out the modalities for a new administrative setup for the Darjeeling Hills in North Bengal. Even the GJM, spearheading a separate state agitation since 2007, lauded the efforts of the chief minister stating “The present state government has shown immense political will to ensure peace and development. We will extend our full cooperation to the new government”
However the hill opposition parties, raising the ante, have cried “betrayal.” “What our leader Madan Tamang had stated three years ago has now been vindicated. He had stated that Bimal Gurung is a counter leader propped by the Government to strangle the demand for Gorkhaland.
"The GJM murdered Madan Tamang and the Government compelled the GJM to compromise on Gorkhaland using the CBI, at present investigating the Madan Tamang murder case in which key GJM leaders have been implicated” alleged Pratap Khati, All India Gorkha League (AIGL) leader.
The AIGL is the oldest political outfit of the Gorkhas in the country.
“Let Mamata Banerjee understand that the Gorkha issue does not stand resolved. We want separation from Bengal. Just by buying off Bimal Gurung and the GJM, the demand for Gorkhaland, which is the aspiration of all the Gorkhas residing in the country cannot be strangled” retorted Khati.
“The Gorkhas have been betrayed once again. It is a rerun of Subash Ghising’s Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council (DGHC) deal. We have always been saying that the GJM are not sincere. Their main objective has been the DGHC and that is what they have proved. The new administrative setup does not have a constitutional guarantee also. However both the Government and the GJM should realize that the people in the Hills gave the mandate for Gorkhaland in this Assembly election. Gurung and the GJM cannot rule for ever. The true voice for Gorkhaland will re emerge” warned Govind Chettri, spokesperson, Communist Party of Revolutionary Marxist (CPRM.)
Asok Bhattacharjee, CPIM leader for North Bengal demanded that CM Mamata Banerjee should spell out in details as to what she means by “Gorkha impasse resolved.”
“When we were in the Government we had proposed a powerful autonomy for the Hills. The Nepali speaking populace had gone against us dubbing us anti-Gorkhaland then. The same arrangement is now being dished out to them. However we do not see a permanent solution as there will always be dissident groups trying to spark a fresh agitation. Thus we had demanded that all Hill parties be taken into confidence while working out an arrangement for the Hills.”
Interestingly, the Subash Ghising led Gorkha National Liberation Front had led a 28 month violent agitation for a separate state in the 1980s which finally paved way for the Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council (DGHC) in 1988.
Bimal Gurung, a dissident GNLF leader broke away from the party folds in 2007 floating the GJM. The GJM finally ousted the GNLF and Ghising, launching a new agitation for Gorkhaland.
Darjeeling tea planters relieved at prospect of peace in the hills
'Santanu Sanyal, TH Business line, Kolkata, June 8: 
The Darjeeling tea planters are relieved at the prospect of an early return to normalcy in the Darjeeling hills. Tuesday's announcement by the Chief Minister, Ms Mamata Banerjee, suggests that the long-drawn conflicts in the Darjeeling hills will be resolved soon as a political settlement is on the anvil.
“Political settlement is the basic prerequisite for peace, development and growth in the Darjeeling hills,” a planter told Business Line, adding, “the earlier the settlement is reached the better.”
Since both Gorkha Janmukti Morcha and the State government agreed to ensure peace in the hills, he hoped that the development work, long neglected, would now receive a boost. The work on setting up of an agri-export zone and other projects would be expedited. There are 87 big tea gardens in the Darjeeling hills producing nearly nine million kg of tea annually
The tea planters, among others, would like to see the proposed body with full administrative, financial and executive powers is formed without delay to start work early in the interests of the hills people.
They are, however, apprehensive of the talk of probable change in land lease status. They seem to favour status quo on the matter. “The change in the present status might create uncertainty,” one planter said.
Small estate owners, however, have a different view. “The present embargo on land acquisition must go so that we can expand our area of operation,” said a spokesman for small tea growers.
“The State government and the Tea Board, which is a central government body, should take steps to promote production of tea by small growers,” he said. There are about 1,000 small tea growers in Darjeeling hills producing a total of five to six lakh kg of green leaf tea, mostly of organic variety.
PTI adds from Jalpaiguri: Hundreds of Gorkha Janmukti supporters today greeted party general secretary Mr Roshan Giri and two other leaders when they arrived here from Kolkata, hailing yesterday's agreement ending the 15-year-old Darjeeling problem.
Raising slogans in support of the ‘positive' agreement, the supporters draped ‘khada' (uttariya) around Mr Giri and the two other leaders Mr Harkabahadur Chettri and Mr Sankar Adhikari when they got down from train at the New Jalpaiguri railway station in the morning.
Mr Chettri, the GJM spokesman, expressed satisfaction at the agreement and said the hills would now witness all-round development, particularly in health, education and water supply.
Mr Chettri said the Gorkhaland demand would be discussed in the tripartite meeting to be called soon. He said the decision to set up two committees — one to look into the territorial composition of the new hill council and the other on tea garden areas — was a welcome development.
Statehood on hold, Didi gets Gorkhaland deal
Subrata Nagchoudhury, IE, Jun 08 2011 :A Bipartite agreement was signed today between the West Bengal government and the Gorkha Janamukti Morcha (GJM), paving the way for resolution of the conflict in the Darjeeling hills, at least for the time being.
The crux of the agreement was that the GJM will assume power in Darjeeling, with its three MLAs being inducted into the Board of Administrators that would run the affairs of the hills till a new Hill Council is formed through elections to be held later.
Although some issues remain unresolved, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee was quick to announce that “the Gorkhaland problem has been solved”. She said Union Home Minister P Chidambaram has been infomed about the “settlement” and a tripartite agreement would be signed in Darjeeling later.
Asked what was the magic formula that resolved the dispute, she replied: “The magic formula is our heart. If the intention is good, there is always a way out and the magic formula is peace.”
According to a senior government official, what clinched the deal was that the GJM put its demand for a separate state on the backburner. Instead, it agreed to be a part of the Board of Administrators till the Council elections are held, for which no time frame has been set for now.
“Most of the contentious issues like transfer of territory in Terai and Dooars region, control over reserve forest areas, status of casual employees and sectoral tribes were discussed at the meeting and many of these were resolved. We are happy with the outcome of today’s meeting,” said GMM general secretary Roshan Giri.
Asked if the Gorkhaland demand has been dropped, Giri said: “The demand for Gorkhaland will always be there but it was not raised right now.”
The deal, said officials, includes other marginal benefits like more legal powers, assured flow of funds, an IIT in Darjeeling, and semi-government employee status to nearly 6,000 casual workers in government offices in Darjeeling.
The more contentious issues have been referred to committees. At least two committees are to be formed — to look into the issue of territorial jurisdiction of the new Hill Council and control over forest areas and tea gardens. The first committee will have nine members, with four each from the government and GJM and one chairman.
Apart from the separate statehood demand, the main stumbling block which could have derailed the negotiations was the territorial jurisdiction of the Hill Council. In a climbdown from its earlier stand, the GJM has now agreed to refer the matter to a high-powered committee.
But despite the euphoria expressed after the meeting and the reported claim of a settlement to the “Gorkhaland problem”, there were voices of discontent. Former MP Dil Kumari Bhandari, who now heads the Bharatiya Gorkha Parishad, a pressure group in favour of the separate statehood demand, said, “I am dismayed if the Gorkhaland issue was not discussed at the meeting. We have lot of hopes on Mamata and her positive attitude to the hills, but we expected the meeting to discuss the Gorkhaland issue.”
Others asked if the settlement was an attempt at “buying temporary peace in the hills or finding a durable solution”. Today’s meeting did not seem to address the larger issue of Gorkha identity, which is at the core of finding a solution to the Darjeeling problem, they said.
Meanwhile, Chief Secretary Samar Ghosh said the legal process for holding elections to the Hill Council would start soon, with the required Bill being brought during the ensuing session of the State Assembly. A delimitation process for the Council areas has to start simultaneously.
46000 teachers to be recruited
TT, Calcutta, June 8: Mamata Banerjee today announced that 46,000 teachers would be recruited to fill up vacancies in Bengal’s 50,000-odd state-aided primary schools.
“The cabinet has approved a decision to recruit 46,000 primary teachers,” the chief minister told reporters at Writers’.
Mamata said 10 per cent of the 46,000 posts would be reserved for degree holders of the primary teachers’ training institutes (PTTI) and para teachers.
Sources in the government said the primary teachers would be recruited within a year. A decision will be taken in the next cabinet meeting on the modalities of absorbing the teachers of sishu siksha kendras and Madhyamik siksha kendras, the sources said.
The teaching community welcomed today’s decision and said the move would ensure that the teacher-student ratio in schools was 1:40.
“There were exactly 46,000 vacancies in the 50,000-odd state-aided primary schools. There are nearly 1.75 lakh teaching posts in these schools,” a source in the school education department said.
Samar Chakraborty, the general secretary of the CPM-controlled All-Bengal Primary Teachers’ Association, said: “One cannot deny that we need more teachers to offer quality education in the primary schools. Enrolment in these schools has increased considerably. The previous government had succeeded in checking dropouts at the primary level. Today’s decision will provide job opportunities to many educated youths. Mamata strikes deal with Gorkhas
Jun 08, 2011 - KAUSHIK PRADHAN and SUBRATA CHATTOPADHYAY, Asian Age, Kolkata, Trinamul supremo Mamata Banerjee had promised she would solve the vexed Darjeeling Hills dispute within three months of coming to power. She appears to have done it in just three weeks.
The West Bengal chief minister managed to do this while keeping the state’s territorial unity intact. The agreement signed Tuesday between Gorkha Janmukti Morcha general secretary Roshan Giri and state home secretary G.D. Gautama did not have any mention of “Gorkhaland”.
The dispute, which had flared alarmingly in the last two years of the Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee government, is a major success for Ms Banerjee. The Left Front sounded sceptical Tuesday. “The state government will have to make the agreement public. On what condition have they reached this deal? The content must be published as people have the right to know,” said Leader of the Opposition Surjya Kanta Mishra.
Ms Banerjee announced Tuesday after a two-day meeting of GJM leaders and state officials: “The Darjee-ling matter has been settled. I informed P. Chidambaram a little while ago.”
She made the announcement at Writers’ Buildings with a beaming Mr Giri and other GJM leaders by her side.
NEW DEAL
Editorial, TT: Mamata Banerjee has proved yet again that she can do what she promises better than her political rivals. She had promised to resolve the political stalemate in Darjeeling within three months of coming to power. The best thing about the agreement signed between her government and the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha is that it has come much sooner than she had promised. She lost no time in creating the right conditions for the dialogue at her first meeting as the chief minister with the Morcha leaders. Once the right note was struck, it was necessary to build on it and take the process forward. The mutual confidence between the two sides has made it possible for both to be flexible on some of the more contentious issues. Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee’s government had similar views to those of the new regime on several of these. Yet if the earlier government had failed to reach an agreement with the Morcha, it was primarily because of an atmosphere of mistrust and a lack of mutual confidence. Even the agreement signed on Tuesday leaves some issues, including the one on the territory of the new administrative set-up for Darjeeling, unsettled. But the big picture is undoubtedly one of hope and a move forward. That this was achieved without any reference to the demand for Gorkhaland makes the agreement particularly laudable.
The challenge now is to give the people of Darjeeling a representative administration as soon as possible. The agreement proposes to initiate the process for the election to the new administrative set-up during the first session of the new legislature. Ms Banerjee has done the right thing in insisting on an elected, rather than a nominated, administrative set-up. A nominated body would not have reflected the popular will or ensured the people’s participation in the administration. Also, it could have caused political and administrative complications in the future. The absence of any credible administration in Darjeeling has left most services and public utilities in the hills in tatters. This has long created a dangerous vacuum in the region. The people of Darjeeling have a legitimate aspiration for a distinctive political identity. But they also want the quality of their lives to improve. The ultimate test for Ms Banerjee is to restore among the people of Darjeeling hopes of a better future.
Singapore firm to develop Sikkim tourism
Amalendu Kundu, TNN , Jun 7, 2011, GANGTOK:: Singapore-based Master Consult Services Pte Ltd (MCSPL) is charting out a long-term master plan to upgrade tourism facilities in Sikkim.
The company is aiming at developing a sustainable roadmap that will uphold the culture and spiritualism of the hill state.
MCSPL will arrange various workshops to train people and develop connectivity through proper roads and enhanced helicopter services.
According to MCSPL managing director Christopher Khoo, the plan will be a 20-year long initiative.
"It will upgrade facilities, including hotel services and building up of proper infrastructure, in 11 towns," he said.
In 1997, Sikkim had initiated a 15-year master plan prepared by Tata Consultancy Services (TCS). TCS had estimated domestic tourist flow to touch at 3.5 lakh by 2012.
The number of foreign tourists, as estimated by TCS, stood at 35000.
But till early 2011, tourist flow surpassed all estimates with 8 lakh domestic tourists visiting the state.
In a programme to release the new master plan, Khoo and state tourism secretary Nim Yethenpa handed over a copy of the plan to the Sikkim chief minister.
While speaking at the conference, Khoo said special emphasis will be laid on tourism marketing, environment development, trekking, agri tourism and maintenance of the tourist sites.
The Darjeeling tea planters are relieved at the prospect of an early return to normalcy in the Darjeeling hills. Tuesday's announcement by the Chief Minister, Ms Mamata Banerjee, suggests that the long-drawn conflicts in the Darjeeling hills will be resolved soon as a political settlement is on the anvil.“Political settlement is the basic prerequisite for peace, development and growth in the Darjeeling hills,” a planter told Business Line, adding, “the earlier the settlement is reached the better.”
Since both Gorkha Janmukti Morcha and the State government agreed to ensure peace in the hills, he hoped that the development work, long neglected, would now receive a boost. The work on setting up of an agri-export zone and other projects would be expedited. There are 87 big tea gardens in the Darjeeling hills producing nearly nine million kg of tea annually
The tea planters, among others, would like to see the proposed body with full administrative, financial and executive powers is formed without delay to start work early in the interests of the hills people.
They are, however, apprehensive of the talk of probable change in land lease status. They seem to favour status quo on the matter. “The change in the present status might create uncertainty,” one planter said.
Small estate owners, however, have a different view. “The present embargo on land acquisition must go so that we can expand our area of operation,” said a spokesman for small tea growers.
“The State government and the Tea Board, which is a central government body, should take steps to promote production of tea by small growers,” he said. There are about 1,000 small tea growers in Darjeeling hills producing a total of five to six lakh kg of green leaf tea, mostly of organic variety.
PTI adds from Jalpaiguri: Hundreds of Gorkha Janmukti supporters today greeted party general secretary Mr Roshan Giri and two other leaders when they arrived here from Kolkata, hailing yesterday's agreement ending the 15-year-old Darjeeling problem.
Raising slogans in support of the ‘positive' agreement, the supporters draped ‘khada' (uttariya) around Mr Giri and the two other leaders Mr Harkabahadur Chettri and Mr Sankar Adhikari when they got down from train at the New Jalpaiguri railway station in the morning.
Mr Chettri, the GJM spokesman, expressed satisfaction at the agreement and said the hills would now witness all-round development, particularly in health, education and water supply.
Mr Chettri said the Gorkhaland demand would be discussed in the tripartite meeting to be called soon. He said the decision to set up two committees — one to look into the territorial composition of the new hill council and the other on tea garden areas — was a welcome development.
Statehood on hold, Didi gets Gorkhaland deal
Subrata Nagchoudhury, IE, Jun 08 2011 :A Bipartite agreement was signed today between the West Bengal government and the Gorkha Janamukti Morcha (GJM), paving the way for resolution of the conflict in the Darjeeling hills, at least for the time being.
The crux of the agreement was that the GJM will assume power in Darjeeling, with its three MLAs being inducted into the Board of Administrators that would run the affairs of the hills till a new Hill Council is formed through elections to be held later.
Although some issues remain unresolved, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee was quick to announce that “the Gorkhaland problem has been solved”. She said Union Home Minister P Chidambaram has been infomed about the “settlement” and a tripartite agreement would be signed in Darjeeling later.
Asked what was the magic formula that resolved the dispute, she replied: “The magic formula is our heart. If the intention is good, there is always a way out and the magic formula is peace.”
According to a senior government official, what clinched the deal was that the GJM put its demand for a separate state on the backburner. Instead, it agreed to be a part of the Board of Administrators till the Council elections are held, for which no time frame has been set for now.
“Most of the contentious issues like transfer of territory in Terai and Dooars region, control over reserve forest areas, status of casual employees and sectoral tribes were discussed at the meeting and many of these were resolved. We are happy with the outcome of today’s meeting,” said GMM general secretary Roshan Giri.
Asked if the Gorkhaland demand has been dropped, Giri said: “The demand for Gorkhaland will always be there but it was not raised right now.”
The deal, said officials, includes other marginal benefits like more legal powers, assured flow of funds, an IIT in Darjeeling, and semi-government employee status to nearly 6,000 casual workers in government offices in Darjeeling.
The more contentious issues have been referred to committees. At least two committees are to be formed — to look into the issue of territorial jurisdiction of the new Hill Council and control over forest areas and tea gardens. The first committee will have nine members, with four each from the government and GJM and one chairman.
Apart from the separate statehood demand, the main stumbling block which could have derailed the negotiations was the territorial jurisdiction of the Hill Council. In a climbdown from its earlier stand, the GJM has now agreed to refer the matter to a high-powered committee.
But despite the euphoria expressed after the meeting and the reported claim of a settlement to the “Gorkhaland problem”, there were voices of discontent. Former MP Dil Kumari Bhandari, who now heads the Bharatiya Gorkha Parishad, a pressure group in favour of the separate statehood demand, said, “I am dismayed if the Gorkhaland issue was not discussed at the meeting. We have lot of hopes on Mamata and her positive attitude to the hills, but we expected the meeting to discuss the Gorkhaland issue.”
Others asked if the settlement was an attempt at “buying temporary peace in the hills or finding a durable solution”. Today’s meeting did not seem to address the larger issue of Gorkha identity, which is at the core of finding a solution to the Darjeeling problem, they said.
Meanwhile, Chief Secretary Samar Ghosh said the legal process for holding elections to the Hill Council would start soon, with the required Bill being brought during the ensuing session of the State Assembly. A delimitation process for the Council areas has to start simultaneously.
46000 teachers to be recruited
TT, Calcutta, June 8: Mamata Banerjee today announced that 46,000 teachers would be recruited to fill up vacancies in Bengal’s 50,000-odd state-aided primary schools.
“The cabinet has approved a decision to recruit 46,000 primary teachers,” the chief minister told reporters at Writers’.
Mamata said 10 per cent of the 46,000 posts would be reserved for degree holders of the primary teachers’ training institutes (PTTI) and para teachers.
Sources in the government said the primary teachers would be recruited within a year. A decision will be taken in the next cabinet meeting on the modalities of absorbing the teachers of sishu siksha kendras and Madhyamik siksha kendras, the sources said.
The teaching community welcomed today’s decision and said the move would ensure that the teacher-student ratio in schools was 1:40.
“There were exactly 46,000 vacancies in the 50,000-odd state-aided primary schools. There are nearly 1.75 lakh teaching posts in these schools,” a source in the school education department said.
Samar Chakraborty, the general secretary of the CPM-controlled All-Bengal Primary Teachers’ Association, said: “One cannot deny that we need more teachers to offer quality education in the primary schools. Enrolment in these schools has increased considerably. The previous government had succeeded in checking dropouts at the primary level. Today’s decision will provide job opportunities to many educated youths. Mamata strikes deal with Gorkhas
Jun 08, 2011 - KAUSHIK PRADHAN and SUBRATA CHATTOPADHYAY, Asian Age, Kolkata, Trinamul supremo Mamata Banerjee had promised she would solve the vexed Darjeeling Hills dispute within three months of coming to power. She appears to have done it in just three weeks.
The West Bengal chief minister managed to do this while keeping the state’s territorial unity intact. The agreement signed Tuesday between Gorkha Janmukti Morcha general secretary Roshan Giri and state home secretary G.D. Gautama did not have any mention of “Gorkhaland”.
The dispute, which had flared alarmingly in the last two years of the Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee government, is a major success for Ms Banerjee. The Left Front sounded sceptical Tuesday. “The state government will have to make the agreement public. On what condition have they reached this deal? The content must be published as people have the right to know,” said Leader of the Opposition Surjya Kanta Mishra.
Ms Banerjee announced Tuesday after a two-day meeting of GJM leaders and state officials: “The Darjee-ling matter has been settled. I informed P. Chidambaram a little while ago.”
She made the announcement at Writers’ Buildings with a beaming Mr Giri and other GJM leaders by her side.
NEW DEAL
Editorial, TT: Mamata Banerjee has proved yet again that she can do what she promises better than her political rivals. She had promised to resolve the political stalemate in Darjeeling within three months of coming to power. The best thing about the agreement signed between her government and the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha is that it has come much sooner than she had promised. She lost no time in creating the right conditions for the dialogue at her first meeting as the chief minister with the Morcha leaders. Once the right note was struck, it was necessary to build on it and take the process forward. The mutual confidence between the two sides has made it possible for both to be flexible on some of the more contentious issues. Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee’s government had similar views to those of the new regime on several of these. Yet if the earlier government had failed to reach an agreement with the Morcha, it was primarily because of an atmosphere of mistrust and a lack of mutual confidence. Even the agreement signed on Tuesday leaves some issues, including the one on the territory of the new administrative set-up for Darjeeling, unsettled. But the big picture is undoubtedly one of hope and a move forward. That this was achieved without any reference to the demand for Gorkhaland makes the agreement particularly laudable.
The challenge now is to give the people of Darjeeling a representative administration as soon as possible. The agreement proposes to initiate the process for the election to the new administrative set-up during the first session of the new legislature. Ms Banerjee has done the right thing in insisting on an elected, rather than a nominated, administrative set-up. A nominated body would not have reflected the popular will or ensured the people’s participation in the administration. Also, it could have caused political and administrative complications in the future. The absence of any credible administration in Darjeeling has left most services and public utilities in the hills in tatters. This has long created a dangerous vacuum in the region. The people of Darjeeling have a legitimate aspiration for a distinctive political identity. But they also want the quality of their lives to improve. The ultimate test for Ms Banerjee is to restore among the people of Darjeeling hopes of a better future.
Singapore firm to develop Sikkim tourism
Amalendu Kundu, TNN , Jun 7, 2011, GANGTOK:: Singapore-based Master Consult Services Pte Ltd (MCSPL) is charting out a long-term master plan to upgrade tourism facilities in Sikkim.
The company is aiming at developing a sustainable roadmap that will uphold the culture and spiritualism of the hill state.
MCSPL will arrange various workshops to train people and develop connectivity through proper roads and enhanced helicopter services.
According to MCSPL managing director Christopher Khoo, the plan will be a 20-year long initiative.
"It will upgrade facilities, including hotel services and building up of proper infrastructure, in 11 towns," he said.
In 1997, Sikkim had initiated a 15-year master plan prepared by Tata Consultancy Services (TCS). TCS had estimated domestic tourist flow to touch at 3.5 lakh by 2012.
The number of foreign tourists, as estimated by TCS, stood at 35000.
But till early 2011, tourist flow surpassed all estimates with 8 lakh domestic tourists visiting the state.
In a programme to release the new master plan, Khoo and state tourism secretary Nim Yethenpa handed over a copy of the plan to the Sikkim chief minister.
While speaking at the conference, Khoo said special emphasis will be laid on tourism marketing, environment development, trekking, agri tourism and maintenance of the tourist sites.
First survey on red panda- Reports say around 300 animals in Sikkim
TT, Jalpaiguri, June 8:The state forest department has announced an afforestation drive in the hills and the plains to restore some of the green cover that suffered because of agitation in the region.
Forest minister Hiten Barman said the weeklong plantation drive would begin in the Darjeeling hills on June 14 and it would start from July 14 in the plains.
Barman said the name of the project, Chalo Jai Jangaley, Aranyer Sandhaney (Let us go to the jungles looking for the greens), was coined by chief minister Mamata Banerjee.
“Through this project we aim to distribute more than 25 lakh saplings and I will be personally present in Darjeeling during the closing ceremony there on June 20 after the weeklong drive,” Barman said
The minister said: “Hundreds of mature trees, more than 50 to 60 years old teak, sal, mahua and mahogany trees, have been cut down during the unrest. Besides that, I have come to know that there is rampant illegal felling in both north and south Bengal. We will not only distribute saplings to the public, our staff will also carry out a massive afforestation drive in and around the sanctuaries and national parks,” he said.
According to the minister, the drive has been made to coincide with the monsoons so that there is a high rate of sapling survival.
Today, a meeting was held at the Aranya Bhavan here, where Barman was present along with senior officers of the Jalpaiguri and Cooch Behar forest divisions.
“I will sit in my chamber at Aranya Bhavan once a month and review the progress of projects and conservation issues with the senior officials of my department. I will also sit with the minister and officials of the tourism department soon to find out ways to improve the eco-tourism infrastructure in the state,” he said.
The minister added that there were many projects that were half finished and needed to be completed quickly. “I have called a review meeting on these projects in Jalpaiguri on June 10. There I will get a better picture of the problems,” Barman said.
Tusker dead, finger at villagers
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| A red panda in the Himalayan Zoological Park in Gangtok. Picture by Prabin Khaling |
TT, Gangtok, June 8: A recent survey conducted by the Sikkim forest department and the World Wildlife Fund has revealed that there are around 300 red pandas in the state.
The project, that started in 2008, was conducted in Pangolakha wildlife sanctuary in East Sikkim and Barsey rhododendron sanctuary in the West district and is the first census on the animals.
Red panda, the state animal of Sikkim and one of the endangered species categorised in the Schedule I of the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972, is found in six protected areas of the state.
The first phase of the project — Long Term Survival of Red Pandas in Sikkim — that began in Pangolakha was completed recently.
A preliminary survey has started at the Barsey sanctuary this year to find out the number of pandas in the forest.
“By combining our findings at Pangolakha and Barsey we have estimated the population of red pandas in Sikkim to be around 300. This is just a rough and conservative estimate and more surveys are needed to come up with the correct number,” said WWF-India’s senior project officer Parthasarathi Ghosh.
He added that around 20-25 red pandas had been spotted at Pangolakha during the survey and two animals were seen at Barsey.
“We will also start our survey along with the forest department in the Kanchenjungha Biosphere Reserve and Kanchenjungha National Park, which covers West and North districts of Sikkim, from next year. The population estimation exercise will help us map out the habitat areas of the red panda in Sikkim and go a long way in conservation and forest management policies,” said forest secretary and principle chief conservator S.T. Lachungpa. He said the census reports would be published after 5-10 years.
“When the new figures come up we will be able to understand whether this is the result growth or a decrease in the population of red pandas in Sikkim. We will also understand the factors responsible for the growth or decline. It will help us in the scientific management of red panda habitats,” said Lachungpa.
The official said the findings would also help foresters take measures to protect the animals.
“Once we get proper findings we can regulate human activities in the red panda habitats and give proper training to our field staff. We can also plant bamboo and wild fruit trees which are food for the red pandas in these areas,” said Lachungpa.
He added that during the survey the foresters have also collected important data on other animals like the Himalayan pheasants, musk deer and ghoral that are found in the two areas.
Tree drive for hills & plainsThe project, that started in 2008, was conducted in Pangolakha wildlife sanctuary in East Sikkim and Barsey rhododendron sanctuary in the West district and is the first census on the animals.
Red panda, the state animal of Sikkim and one of the endangered species categorised in the Schedule I of the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972, is found in six protected areas of the state.
The first phase of the project — Long Term Survival of Red Pandas in Sikkim — that began in Pangolakha was completed recently.
A preliminary survey has started at the Barsey sanctuary this year to find out the number of pandas in the forest.
“By combining our findings at Pangolakha and Barsey we have estimated the population of red pandas in Sikkim to be around 300. This is just a rough and conservative estimate and more surveys are needed to come up with the correct number,” said WWF-India’s senior project officer Parthasarathi Ghosh.
He added that around 20-25 red pandas had been spotted at Pangolakha during the survey and two animals were seen at Barsey.
“We will also start our survey along with the forest department in the Kanchenjungha Biosphere Reserve and Kanchenjungha National Park, which covers West and North districts of Sikkim, from next year. The population estimation exercise will help us map out the habitat areas of the red panda in Sikkim and go a long way in conservation and forest management policies,” said forest secretary and principle chief conservator S.T. Lachungpa. He said the census reports would be published after 5-10 years.
“When the new figures come up we will be able to understand whether this is the result growth or a decrease in the population of red pandas in Sikkim. We will also understand the factors responsible for the growth or decline. It will help us in the scientific management of red panda habitats,” said Lachungpa.
The official said the findings would also help foresters take measures to protect the animals.
“Once we get proper findings we can regulate human activities in the red panda habitats and give proper training to our field staff. We can also plant bamboo and wild fruit trees which are food for the red pandas in these areas,” said Lachungpa.
He added that during the survey the foresters have also collected important data on other animals like the Himalayan pheasants, musk deer and ghoral that are found in the two areas.
TT, Jalpaiguri, June 8:The state forest department has announced an afforestation drive in the hills and the plains to restore some of the green cover that suffered because of agitation in the region.
Forest minister Hiten Barman said the weeklong plantation drive would begin in the Darjeeling hills on June 14 and it would start from July 14 in the plains.
Barman said the name of the project, Chalo Jai Jangaley, Aranyer Sandhaney (Let us go to the jungles looking for the greens), was coined by chief minister Mamata Banerjee.
“Through this project we aim to distribute more than 25 lakh saplings and I will be personally present in Darjeeling during the closing ceremony there on June 20 after the weeklong drive,” Barman said
The minister said: “Hundreds of mature trees, more than 50 to 60 years old teak, sal, mahua and mahogany trees, have been cut down during the unrest. Besides that, I have come to know that there is rampant illegal felling in both north and south Bengal. We will not only distribute saplings to the public, our staff will also carry out a massive afforestation drive in and around the sanctuaries and national parks,” he said.
According to the minister, the drive has been made to coincide with the monsoons so that there is a high rate of sapling survival.
Today, a meeting was held at the Aranya Bhavan here, where Barman was present along with senior officers of the Jalpaiguri and Cooch Behar forest divisions.
“I will sit in my chamber at Aranya Bhavan once a month and review the progress of projects and conservation issues with the senior officials of my department. I will also sit with the minister and officials of the tourism department soon to find out ways to improve the eco-tourism infrastructure in the state,” he said.
The minister added that there were many projects that were half finished and needed to be completed quickly. “I have called a review meeting on these projects in Jalpaiguri on June 10. There I will get a better picture of the problems,” Barman said.
Tusker dead, finger at villagers
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| The elephant carcass at Haripur on Wednesday. Picture by Anirban Choudhury |
TT, Haripur (Alipurduar), June 8: An adult tusker was found dead in a village near Dhumchi forest this morning, raising speculation that it might have been killed by people to save their crops.
While nature lovers said the elephant might have died from either electric shock or poisoning, forest officers refused to speculate the cause of death till they got the post-mortem report.
People of Haripur spotted a male elephant lying in a yam field owned by Kanchha Taman around 5.30am today. Initially, the villagers did not dare to go near the animal as they thought it was alive and would get up and attack them.
“They went to the elephant after half an hour and found that it was dead. We contacted local gram panchayat member Lalita Mongor who in turn informed Madarihat range office. Within an hour, a team of foresters under the leadership of Koushik Banerjee, the additional divisional forest officer of wildlife III division, reached the spot,” said a villager, Vinod Kalikote.
Haripur is under the Madarihat range of wildlife III and is 63km from Alipurduar.
The elephant had an injury on the trunk, but the tusks were intact. The foresters suspect that the animal had come out of Dhumchi forest, 7km away.
According to villagers, a herd of 25 elephants has been rampaging through the area for the past 10 days, destroying crops like rice and corn. “There is a possibility that the villagers had attacked the animal or it died after coming in contact with the illegal electric fence erected by the farmers,” said a resident, who did not want to be named.
Banerjee said the tusker was lying in the field and it had to be turned aside to see if there were injuries on the part which was in touch with the ground. “The injury on the trunk cannot be the cause of the death. We will conduct the post-mortem on the elephant carcass in Dhumchi forest and after that, we will be able to say what caused the death. There is no chance of electrocution.”
Sujit Das, the secretary of the Nature and Adventure Society, said the elephant had been either electrocuted or poisoned to death. “I talked to forest minister Hiten Barman and told him that seven elephants had died under mysterious circumstances in north Bengal in the past five years. The minister told me that he had asked the forest officers to submit to him a report by 4pm today.”
While nature lovers said the elephant might have died from either electric shock or poisoning, forest officers refused to speculate the cause of death till they got the post-mortem report.
People of Haripur spotted a male elephant lying in a yam field owned by Kanchha Taman around 5.30am today. Initially, the villagers did not dare to go near the animal as they thought it was alive and would get up and attack them.
“They went to the elephant after half an hour and found that it was dead. We contacted local gram panchayat member Lalita Mongor who in turn informed Madarihat range office. Within an hour, a team of foresters under the leadership of Koushik Banerjee, the additional divisional forest officer of wildlife III division, reached the spot,” said a villager, Vinod Kalikote.
Haripur is under the Madarihat range of wildlife III and is 63km from Alipurduar.
The elephant had an injury on the trunk, but the tusks were intact. The foresters suspect that the animal had come out of Dhumchi forest, 7km away.
According to villagers, a herd of 25 elephants has been rampaging through the area for the past 10 days, destroying crops like rice and corn. “There is a possibility that the villagers had attacked the animal or it died after coming in contact with the illegal electric fence erected by the farmers,” said a resident, who did not want to be named.
Banerjee said the tusker was lying in the field and it had to be turned aside to see if there were injuries on the part which was in touch with the ground. “The injury on the trunk cannot be the cause of the death. We will conduct the post-mortem on the elephant carcass in Dhumchi forest and after that, we will be able to say what caused the death. There is no chance of electrocution.”
Sujit Das, the secretary of the Nature and Adventure Society, said the elephant had been either electrocuted or poisoned to death. “I talked to forest minister Hiten Barman and told him that seven elephants had died under mysterious circumstances in north Bengal in the past five years. The minister told me that he had asked the forest officers to submit to him a report by 4pm today.”
Timber raid on train injures woman
TT, Cooch Behar, June 8: A drive by the forest department to seize illegal timber from a train went terribly wrong at the Cooch Behar station today when a block of wood fell from a bunk on a woman passenger sitting below.
The incident occurred on the Alipurduar-Bamanhat passenger train, which foresters say, is used by a racket to smuggle expensive sal and teak into Bangladesh.
Angry passengers, joined by timber smugglers, surrounded the forest staff following the incident and demanded an explanation from them for the mishap. None of the smugglers could be caught as they slipped away with the timber in the ruckus. The foresters could seize only 10 cubic feet of timber.
The divisional forest officer of Cooch Behar, Pinaki Mitra, said he and his staff were caught in a tight position during today’s raid. “A lady was injured during the raid and she has been admitted to the MJN Hospital. We could not seize all the timber that was being carried on the train and recovered only a small piece,” said Mitra.
Gautam Dutta, the chief reservation supervisor of the Cooch Behar station, said the passenger train had pulled into the station at 7.50am. The train runs between Alipurduar and Bamanhat, located near the border with Bangladesh.
“The forest staff had started a raid to recover illegal timber and the public caught one of the smugglers. But there was tension after a woman passenger was injured. The train was scheduled to stop at the station for three minutes, but was delayed by about 15 minutes,” said Dutta.
But the forest officers clarified that the man the public had caught hold of was not a timber smuggler. “He was a labourer hired by us to carry the timber from the train. He was caught by other passengers in the compartment when a block of timber fell on the woman. The worker told us that some smugglers had mingled with the passengers and created a ruckus, while others decamped with the timber. They surrounded us to prevent us from recovering the timber,” said a forest officer.
The injured woman, Kamalarai Mahanta, is a resident of Dinhata and was returning from her parents’ house at Baneswar.
“We boarded the train at Baneswar. The train was full of timber and there was hardly any space to sit. People travelling on this train face the problem quite often. When the forest staff were seizing the timber, a heavy block fell on my head and I became unconscious momentarily,” she said from the hospital bed.
Doctors attending to Kamalarai said she had a swelling behind the head and they were waiting for the CT scan report.
Forest minister Hiten Barman said his department would bear the expenses of the woman’s treatment. He said raids would continue to save the forests of the Dooars.
Baby ‘missing’ from womb
TT, Krishnanagar, June 8: A doctor today began operating on a “pregnant” woman and realised she was not expecting, prompting relatives to allege the newborn was stolen and medical experts to explain that it was a rare case of pseudocyesis or false pregnancy.
Doctors said such a case, seen sometimes in dogs and mice, was “extremely rare” in human beings.
Although Subhendu Dutta, the obstetrician at Krishnagar district hospital who performed the Caesarean section on Usha Durlabh, 23, today, tried to explain to her relatives that she was “never pregnant”, they refused to listen.
Usha’s relatives informed local Congress councillor Dilip Das, who arrived at the hospital with 200 party supporters around 9.30am. The relatives and the Congress supporters gheraoed hospital superintendent Kajal Mondal and demanded a probe into the “baby theft”. The agitators left after Mondal assured them that a seven-member panel would be formed to investigate the allegation.
Usha’s mother Sabita said her daughter was wheeled into the operation theatre around 3am today. “The doctor came out of the OT after about an hour. When I asked him about the baby, he told me to ask my daughter,” Sabita said. “When I asked my daughter, she said she did not know what had happened,” she added.
“My daughter was eight months pregnant. We brought her to the hospital around 11.30 last night after she started bleeding. She had started having labour pain,” Sabita said.
Nodey, Usha’s labourer husband, lodged a complaint with Mondal and Krishnagar police station. Nodey said the authorities of the Krishnagar hospital had “initially referred” my wife to Calcutta’s NRS hospital. “But when we repeatedly requested them to admit Usha, they agreed,” Nodey said. He said Usha had “started developing symptoms of pregnancy since November last year”.
Mondal said Usha’s relatives could not furnish any records of pregnancy tests. “She had only taken iron pills prescribed by a local health centre,” he said.
Dutta, the obstetrician, said he “tried to explain to the woman’s relatives that it was a case of false pregnancy but in vain”. “They held me responsible for the baby’s disappearance.”
Dutta said the bleeding was not abnormal. “In cases of pseudocyesis, menstruation stops, just like in pregnancy. Bleeding may start again if there is a slight haemorrhage,” the doctor said. Dutta said he was “certain” it was a case of false pregnancy “after cutting the upper layer of the skin of the lower abdomen”. “It was already past 3am then and there was no way that I could have got an ultrasonography done,” Dutta added
Jayanta Chatterjee, a gynaecologist in Kalyani, said he had last stumbled upon a case of pseudocyesis 10 years ago
The incident occurred on the Alipurduar-Bamanhat passenger train, which foresters say, is used by a racket to smuggle expensive sal and teak into Bangladesh.
Angry passengers, joined by timber smugglers, surrounded the forest staff following the incident and demanded an explanation from them for the mishap. None of the smugglers could be caught as they slipped away with the timber in the ruckus. The foresters could seize only 10 cubic feet of timber.
The divisional forest officer of Cooch Behar, Pinaki Mitra, said he and his staff were caught in a tight position during today’s raid. “A lady was injured during the raid and she has been admitted to the MJN Hospital. We could not seize all the timber that was being carried on the train and recovered only a small piece,” said Mitra.
Gautam Dutta, the chief reservation supervisor of the Cooch Behar station, said the passenger train had pulled into the station at 7.50am. The train runs between Alipurduar and Bamanhat, located near the border with Bangladesh.
“The forest staff had started a raid to recover illegal timber and the public caught one of the smugglers. But there was tension after a woman passenger was injured. The train was scheduled to stop at the station for three minutes, but was delayed by about 15 minutes,” said Dutta.
But the forest officers clarified that the man the public had caught hold of was not a timber smuggler. “He was a labourer hired by us to carry the timber from the train. He was caught by other passengers in the compartment when a block of timber fell on the woman. The worker told us that some smugglers had mingled with the passengers and created a ruckus, while others decamped with the timber. They surrounded us to prevent us from recovering the timber,” said a forest officer.
The injured woman, Kamalarai Mahanta, is a resident of Dinhata and was returning from her parents’ house at Baneswar.
“We boarded the train at Baneswar. The train was full of timber and there was hardly any space to sit. People travelling on this train face the problem quite often. When the forest staff were seizing the timber, a heavy block fell on my head and I became unconscious momentarily,” she said from the hospital bed.
Doctors attending to Kamalarai said she had a swelling behind the head and they were waiting for the CT scan report.
Forest minister Hiten Barman said his department would bear the expenses of the woman’s treatment. He said raids would continue to save the forests of the Dooars.
Baby ‘missing’ from womb
TT, Krishnanagar, June 8: A doctor today began operating on a “pregnant” woman and realised she was not expecting, prompting relatives to allege the newborn was stolen and medical experts to explain that it was a rare case of pseudocyesis or false pregnancy.
Doctors said such a case, seen sometimes in dogs and mice, was “extremely rare” in human beings.
Although Subhendu Dutta, the obstetrician at Krishnagar district hospital who performed the Caesarean section on Usha Durlabh, 23, today, tried to explain to her relatives that she was “never pregnant”, they refused to listen.
Usha’s relatives informed local Congress councillor Dilip Das, who arrived at the hospital with 200 party supporters around 9.30am. The relatives and the Congress supporters gheraoed hospital superintendent Kajal Mondal and demanded a probe into the “baby theft”. The agitators left after Mondal assured them that a seven-member panel would be formed to investigate the allegation.
Usha’s mother Sabita said her daughter was wheeled into the operation theatre around 3am today. “The doctor came out of the OT after about an hour. When I asked him about the baby, he told me to ask my daughter,” Sabita said. “When I asked my daughter, she said she did not know what had happened,” she added.
“My daughter was eight months pregnant. We brought her to the hospital around 11.30 last night after she started bleeding. She had started having labour pain,” Sabita said.
Nodey, Usha’s labourer husband, lodged a complaint with Mondal and Krishnagar police station. Nodey said the authorities of the Krishnagar hospital had “initially referred” my wife to Calcutta’s NRS hospital. “But when we repeatedly requested them to admit Usha, they agreed,” Nodey said. He said Usha had “started developing symptoms of pregnancy since November last year”.
Mondal said Usha’s relatives could not furnish any records of pregnancy tests. “She had only taken iron pills prescribed by a local health centre,” he said.
Dutta, the obstetrician, said he “tried to explain to the woman’s relatives that it was a case of false pregnancy but in vain”. “They held me responsible for the baby’s disappearance.”
Dutta said the bleeding was not abnormal. “In cases of pseudocyesis, menstruation stops, just like in pregnancy. Bleeding may start again if there is a slight haemorrhage,” the doctor said. Dutta said he was “certain” it was a case of false pregnancy “after cutting the upper layer of the skin of the lower abdomen”. “It was already past 3am then and there was no way that I could have got an ultrasonography done,” Dutta added
Jayanta Chatterjee, a gynaecologist in Kalyani, said he had last stumbled upon a case of pseudocyesis 10 years ago
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