Darjeeling, Sept. 16: Bimal Gurung today accepted donations from hill residents and said the state government was making false allegations that the agitation in the hills was being funded from Nepal and other places.
“The Trinamul-led state government is making false allegations that the agitation is being funded from Nepal and other places. The contribution by the public is an answer to all these false propaganda,” Gurung said while accepting the donations at the Singamari party office.
Badamtam-Lebong, the GTA constituency from where people donated cash today, is 10km from Darjeeling town.
In the last week, four persons from the business community have been arrested.
Police sources have said that all four — among them businessman B.M. Garg — were held because they funded the Morcha and the police believe they also diverted food grains from their godowns to the hill party during the statehood agitation.
The amount handed over to Gurung could not be verified as the cash was given to the Morcha chief in sealed containers.
Gurung had earlier accepted a donation of Rs 50,000 and 14 quintals of rice from party leaders of the Darjeeling Sadar-1 constituency of the GTA.
Party sources said a similar exercise of collecting donations would be undertaken by Morcha leaders in all the GTA constituencies.
Gurung had earlier said the 65,000 tea garden workers in the hills would donate a day’s wage to the party to fund the agitation.
The daily wage of a garden worker is Rs 90 and the Morcha is expected to collect around Rs 60 lakh from the 87 gardens across the hills.
Most of the garden workers in the hills are members of the Morcha-affiliated Darjeeling Terai Dooars Plantation Labour Union.
“We have suspended the agitation till October 20 but after the deadline, the agitation could be intensified. The fact that the public is voluntarily contributing is a clear indication that the hill people want the agitation to reach its conclusion,” Gurung said at the Morcha office in Singamari today.
In 1986, the GNLF had collected donations during its Gorkhaland agitation days.
The ongoing collection is likely to cover the cinchona plantation workers also, whose daily wage is Rs 183. The plantations employ around 5,000 people.
Both the cinchona and tea plantations were kept out of the agitation’s purview.
Recently, the state government had said that “harsh steps” would be taken against those “fuelling (statehood) movements.”
Giving effect to this, on September 11, B.M. Garg, one of the well-known businessmen in Darjeeling, was arrested.
Although, the police have charged him with arson, sources said Garg was believed to be a “financier” of the hill party.
A week back, Ashoke Periwal, a businessman from Kalimpong, was arrested and charged with arson.
Police sources said he, too, was a “fund manager and financier” of the Morcha.
Himangshu Garg, the publicity secretary of the Darjeeling Chamber of Commerce, and Nand Kishore Agarwal, a PDS dealer from Sukhiapokhri, have also been picked up recently.
While Himangshu has been charged with organising a picketing, Agarwal was booked for allegedly diverting PDS ration to the Morcha.
Source : telegraphindia.com
Badamtam-Lebong, the GTA constituency from where people donated cash today, is 10km from Darjeeling town.
In the last week, four persons from the business community have been arrested.
Police sources have said that all four — among them businessman B.M. Garg — were held because they funded the Morcha and the police believe they also diverted food grains from their godowns to the hill party during the statehood agitation.
The amount handed over to Gurung could not be verified as the cash was given to the Morcha chief in sealed containers.
Gurung had earlier accepted a donation of Rs 50,000 and 14 quintals of rice from party leaders of the Darjeeling Sadar-1 constituency of the GTA.
Party sources said a similar exercise of collecting donations would be undertaken by Morcha leaders in all the GTA constituencies.
Gurung had earlier said the 65,000 tea garden workers in the hills would donate a day’s wage to the party to fund the agitation.
The daily wage of a garden worker is Rs 90 and the Morcha is expected to collect around Rs 60 lakh from the 87 gardens across the hills.
Most of the garden workers in the hills are members of the Morcha-affiliated Darjeeling Terai Dooars Plantation Labour Union.
“We have suspended the agitation till October 20 but after the deadline, the agitation could be intensified. The fact that the public is voluntarily contributing is a clear indication that the hill people want the agitation to reach its conclusion,” Gurung said at the Morcha office in Singamari today.
In 1986, the GNLF had collected donations during its Gorkhaland agitation days.
The ongoing collection is likely to cover the cinchona plantation workers also, whose daily wage is Rs 183. The plantations employ around 5,000 people.
Both the cinchona and tea plantations were kept out of the agitation’s purview.
Recently, the state government had said that “harsh steps” would be taken against those “fuelling (statehood) movements.”
Giving effect to this, on September 11, B.M. Garg, one of the well-known businessmen in Darjeeling, was arrested.
Although, the police have charged him with arson, sources said Garg was believed to be a “financier” of the hill party.
A week back, Ashoke Periwal, a businessman from Kalimpong, was arrested and charged with arson.
Police sources said he, too, was a “fund manager and financier” of the Morcha.
Himangshu Garg, the publicity secretary of the Darjeeling Chamber of Commerce, and Nand Kishore Agarwal, a PDS dealer from Sukhiapokhri, have also been picked up recently.
While Himangshu has been charged with organising a picketing, Agarwal was booked for allegedly diverting PDS ration to the Morcha.
Source : telegraphindia.com
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