Roshan Giri's Effigy burnt in Darjeeling

3:05 PM

•

Roshan Giri

DARJEELING 24 Aug 2016 More than 200 voluntary teachers of primary schools in the hills today burned the effigy of Gorkhaland Territorial Administration Sabhasad Roshan Giri in Darjeeling town and submitted a mass resignation from the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha, the party they were linked to.

Five hundred and nineteen teachers are presently serving voluntarily in 129 junior, high and higher secondary schools in the hills over the last 10-15 years. Now, these teachers, under the aegis of the Janmukti Insecure Secondary Teachers' Organisation (JISTO), want to be regularised. On July 8, the GJM disbanded the JISTO’s ‘movement committee’, a sub-unit that was spearheading the  regularisation demand after it went vocal about the party leadership’s inability to solve the issue.

The JISTO had issued an ultimatum to the GJM and the GTA to find a permanent solution failing which the unit had threatened to leave the party. “He (Giri) should quit as a Sabhasad on moral grounds, as he has failed to help us. Of what use is the GTA if it cannot even solve small issues like ours?” said Amit Gurung, spokesperson for the voluntary teachers.

Giri is the GTA Sabhasad in-charge of the education department and is also the GJM general secretary. A rally was organised by the voluntary teachers after which Giri’s effigy was burnt in Chowk Bazar  in protest.

The GJM general secretary though, was unfazed and said it was up to the voluntary teachers to do what they wanted. “If they (JISTO) want to burn my effigy, then who am I to stop them? If burning my effigy will fulfill them their demand, they are most welcome to do so,” retorted Giri when asked to comment.

On June 5, the GTA Sabhasad had met state education minister Partha Chatterjee in Kolkata and got an assurance that the process to regularise the voluntary teachers would be started as soon as the  state’s chief secretary gave direction to that effect. However, before that, on May 20, the joint secretary of the state school education department wrote to the home and hill affairs department saying  regularisation, absorption and appointment of voluntary teachers in the GTA could not be entertained until they secure their candidature through the West Bengal School Service Commission (SSC). But the SSC  has remained non-functional since 2003 in the hills.

Meanwhile, seven members of the Gorkha Janmukti Vidhyatrhi Morcha (GJVM) started an indefinite relay hunger strike today in Darjeeling in support of the demand for a separate state. The youth front has said this is to send a message to the central government. “We have nothing to do with the state government as the matter of giving a separate state lies with the Centre. Modiji has already said that the dreams of the Gorkhas were his too. So we want the central government to fulfill our demand,” said Satyam Lama, the GJVM president.

(EOIC)

READ MORE

62 teachers resigned from Janmukti Insecure Secondary Teachers' Organisation (JISTO)

10:20 AM

•

JISTO

Writes Vivek Chhetri

62 teachers resigned from Janmukti Insecure Secondary Teachers' Organisation (JISTO) and formed an apolitical front called the Hill Secondary Temporary Teachers' Organisation (HSTTO).

Darjeeling, July 17: Sixty-two voluntary teachers resigned from the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha-affiliated Janmukti Insecure Secondary Teachers' Organisation today and formed an apolitical organisation, in a move that is being seen as a blow to the hill party.

The newly-formed Hill Secondary Temporary Teachers' Organisation, which mostly has members from Kalimpong, has said it would welcome the support of any political outfit that will fight for its cause.

"Sixty-two members tendered their resignations from the JISTO today and the letter has been sent to Morcha president Bimal Gurung. Earlier, 15 JISTO members had quit," Roshan Chhetri, the chief-co-ordinator of the new outfit, said.

Members celebrate the formation of the new teachers' organisation in
 Kalimpong on Sunday. (Chinlop Fudong Lepcha)

"We have formed an apolitical front called the Hill Secondary Temporary Teachers' Organisation (HSTTO). A 10-member working committee has also been formed, including representatives from Jhaldhaka, Mungpoo, Gorubathan, Rungli-Rungliot, Rambi, Bagracote, Lava, Barbote and Kalimpong. This week, we will go to Kurseong and Darjeeling where more members of the JISTO will join us," he said.

"There are around 170 voluntary teachers from Kalimpong subdivision and 80 of them have joined us (including the 15 who had quit JISTO earlier). We will remain apolitical but welcome the support of any party. Even if Morcha takes up our cause, we will welcome the move," Chhetri said.

Around 500 voluntary teachers in the hills have been demanding job regularisation for almost a year and on November 19, 2015, Morcha formed the JISTO Movement Committee to spearhead the agitation. But on July 8, this year, the committee, which had recently been critical of the Morcha general secretary and GTA executive Sabha member in charge of education, Roshan Giri, for the hill body's failure to solve their problem, was dissolved. The JISTO, however, continued to operate.

Asked about the development, Giri said: "I do not want to make any comment."

Chhetri said, in 2012, the GTA and the state had appointed 269 teachers. "We were appointed as voluntary teachers by the school managing committees before 2014. The NCTE rules came into force only after 2014. We believe that the NCTE guidelines should not be applicable to us," he said.

An observer said this is the first time in the recent past that so many members of a Morcha front have quit to form a new outfit."This could be worrisome for the party," he said.

Via Telegraph

READ MORE

JISTO critical of Roshan Giri's handling of regularisation issue

12:24 AM

•

Roshan Giri

Darjeeling, July 8: The Gorkha Janmukti Morcha today dissolved the JISTO Movement Committee that was spearheading an agitation for regularisation of over 500 voluntary teachers in hill schools and was critical of Roshan Giri's handling of the issue.

The movement committee had criticised GTA executive sabha member in charge of education Giri for quite sometime for his alleged failure to solve the issue. The committee had set a deadline of 20 days to fulfil the demand that ended today.

Binay Tamang, the assistant general secretary of the Morcha, today said the party's central committee was dissolving the JISTO Movement Committee. "Bimal Gurung has decided to dissolve the JISTO Movement Committee, which had been formed from our frontal organisation, JISTO, to spearhead their movement. The frontal organisation, JISTO, however, will not be dissolved," Tamang said. The claim has been contested by the committee.

Asked about the reason for dissolving the committee, Tamang said: "It is being dissolved for various reasons," but gave none of the reasons.

A demonstration by the JISTO Movement Committee.

The Janmukti Insecure Secondary Teachers' Organisation (JISTO), a frontal organisation of the Morcha, has been demanding that more than 500 voluntary teachers in six junior high schools (till Class VIII), 52 high schools (up to Class X) and 71 higher secondary schools in the hills be made permanent. The School Service Commission (hills), which essentially is to cover the present GTA area, has been defunct since 2003 and that is why the schools had to appoint the voluntary tea-chers.

A demonstration by the JISTO Movement Committee. File picture
Amit Gurung, the co-ordinator of the JISTO Movement Committee, denied Tamang's claim that the JISTO and the committee were different entities. "It is the same entity. The JISTO central committee was dissolved by Bimal Gurung and the JISTO Movement Committee was formed in the Morcha's Patlabas office on November 19, 2015."

"It is because we expressed our displeasure over Roshan Giri's inability to solve the problem that the committee is being dissolved. It only proves that the Morcha is running away from the problem rather than solving it. Efforts are being made to break our unity but all teachers are together and we will continue our agitation," he added.

Asked about the next step, Amit said: "Since they dissolved the committee only today, time will tell what move we will take."

On July 5, Giri had met state education minister Partha Chatterjee and demanded that an ad hoc selection board be formed to make 519 voluntary teachers permanent.

Amit today said Giri was not aware of the number of the voluntary teachers. "At times, he talks about 500-odd teachers. At other times, he states there are 519 teachers. But from the GTA secretariat, we have found out that there are 570 voluntary teachers," he said.

After the Calcutta meeting on July 5, Chatterjee had said there were several part-time (voluntary) teachers who did not fulfil the eligibility criteria recommended by the National Council for Teacher Education, the apex body that regulates teachers' education in the country. He said the government would consider absorbing the teachers with required qualifications.


Telegraph

READ MORE

Roshan Giri's peal to state education minister Partha Chatterjee

1:25 PM

•

West Bengal

DARJEELING 5 July 2016 Gorkhaland Territorial Administration sabhasad Roshan Giri today said the state government has given a positive response to the demand for regularising teachers serving on voluntary basis in various high schools and higher secondary schools in the hills.

Today, Giri and the three MLAs from the hills called on state education minister Partha Chatterjee in Kolkata and served a memorandum of demand following which they got the assurance. Speaking from Kolkata, Giri said, “We met the state education minister today and submitted a memorandum of our demands regarding regularising the voluntary teachers. The minister gave us a patient hearing and positive assurance.”

At present, 519 teachers are serving voluntarily in 129 junior, high and higher secondary schools in the hills. However, these teachers now want to be regularised and have started various forms of agitation under the aegis of the Janmukti Insecure Secondary Teachers’ Organisation (JISTO) to pressurise the state government.

Roshan Giri accompanied by hill MLAs Amar Singh Rai, Sarita Rai and Rohit Sharma
met state education minister Partha Chatterjee

Besides regularisation, the GTA also wants the state government to form an ad-hoc selection board, giving permanent status to the headmasters of various schools currently holding temporary posts and a raise in salary of the voluntary teachers.

“There are schools in the hills that have headmasters who have been given temporary charge. We want permanent status for them for the smooth functioning of the schools. We also raised the issue of enhancement of salary of the voluntary teachers as assured by the state government in 2014,” Giri said.

According to the GTA sabhasad, the education minister assured the delegation that the process to regularise the voluntary teachers would start on receiving the green signal from the state chief secretary. “We have been assured that the minister would start the process to absorb the voluntary teachers, form an ad-hoc selection board and enhance salary once the state chief secretary gives the directions,” said Giri.

When asked for his comment on the development, JISTO coordinator Amit Gurung said, “We have not received any information yet about the meeting between the GTA and the state education minister. We will first wait for the details of the proposed ad-hoc selection board to see if it benefits us and comment only then.”

A discrepancy to be noted here is that on May 20 last month, the joint secretary of the state school education department had written to the home and hill affairs department stating that regularisation, absorption and appointment of voluntary teachers in the GTA could not be entertained until they secure their candidature through the West Bengal School Service Commission, which ironically, has remained defunct in the hills since 2003.

Telegraph - The GTA Sabha member in charge of education, Roshan Giri, met state education minister Partha Chatterjee today and demanded that an ad hoc selection board be formed to make the 500-odd voluntary teachers in the hills permanent.

Giri, who was accompanied by hill MLAs Amar Singh Rai, Sarita Rai and Rohit Sharma, said: "We have demanded that an ad hoc selection board be formed to absorb the 519 voluntary teachers in the hills. Since 2003, the SSC (School Service Commission) has been lying defunct and that is why the managing committees of the schools have had to recruit voluntary teachers. After having served for so long, it is justified that their (the teachers') services are regularised."

Chatterjee, however, said there would be no separate system for recruiting hill teachers. "The system followed in the plains will have to be followed in the hills as well," he said after meeting Giri at Bikash Bhavan in Calcutta.

Via   EOI and Telegraph

READ MORE

Roshan Giri writes to state education minister to regularise the voluntary teachers

2:21 PM

•

West Bengal

DARJEELING 29 Jun 2016 GTA Sabhasad and education department executive Roshan Giri has written to state education minister Partha Chatterjee reminding him about his assurance to regularise the voluntary teachers engaged on temporary basis since several years in various schools of the hills.

Around 515 voluntary teachers under the aegis of the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha-affiliated Janmukti Insecure Secondary Teachers' Organisation (JISTO) who are demanding permanent status have even  threatened to quit the organisation if the party leadership failed to find a solution to their case. The Sabhasad has brought to the notice of the minister the assurance given by him during a meeting in Kolkata in December 2015 to regularise all voluntary teachers. “A GTA and JISTO delegation had met minister Chatterjee in Kolkata last year. Chatterjee had then assured them to form an ad-hoc board to appoint the 515 voluntary teachers based on their eligibility and register of appointment. At that time the minister had also said the appointment would be confined only to the 515 voluntary teachers,” Giri said.

Roshan Giri 

On the contrary, on May 20 of this year, the joint secretary of the state school education department wrote to the home and hill affairs department informing him that regularisation, absorption and appointment of voluntary teachers in the GTA could not be entertained until they secure their candidature through the West Bengal School Service Commission. “We want the voluntary teachers to be regularised but it is the state government that is creating obstacles. There is lot of resentment among the voluntary teachers who have given their prime time. The growing frustration can lead to bigger problems in the future and anything can happen,” warned Giri.

There are presently 515 teachers in more than 129 junior, high and higher secondary schools in the GTA area working on voluntary basis. However, these teachers have not been able to appear or  take their SSC examination as it has become defunct since 2003 during the tenure of the Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council.

Giri, who is also the GJM general secretary, said that Basudeb Banerjee, the then state home secretary, said in a meeting in 2014 that a decision had been taken to enhance the salary of the voluntary teachers but this is yet to be implemented. He said the party has also written to state panchayat and rural development minister Subrata Mukherjee, requesting him to fill vacant posts in the Sishu Siksha  Kendra (SSK) and Madhyamik Siksha Kendra (MSK). “In the 539 SSKs in the hills there are 1,060 vacancies, while in 67 MSKs 63 posts are available. But nothing has been done to fill the posts.

We have also requested the minister to establish a separate accounts section of the SSK and MSK in the hills,” Giri said.

(EOIC)

READ MORE

State asks Voluntary teachers GTA to pass the School Service Commission for regularization

9:50 AM

•

West Bengal

Writes Vivek Chhetri

Darjeeling, June 19: The state's education department has informed that regularisation of voluntary teachers in the GTA area cannot be entertained unless they pass the School Service Commission (SSC) examination.

There are more than 500 voluntary teachers at 120-odd secondary schools in the Darjeeling hills. The SSC (hills), which essentially is to cover the present GTA area, has been defunct since 2003 and that is why schools had to appoint voluntary teachers.

The Janmukti Insecure Secondary Teachers' Organisation (JISTO), which is affiliated to the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha, has been demanding the regularization of the voluntary teachers' jobs.

A letter dated May 20, 2016, and bearing memo number: 669-SE(S)/4A-18/15 (Pt -1) written by "joint secretary" of the school education department (secondary branch) on the issue of "regularization of volunteer teachers under GTA" clearly states that "on the subject stated above the undersigned is directed to say that regularization /absorption/ appointment of volunteer teachers in GTA cannot be entertained until they secure their candidature through the West Bengal School Service Commission".

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee with Gorkha Janmukti Morcha
general secretary Roshan Giri  - a file photo

The letter has been sent to the commissioner, home and hill affairs department.

The school education department, quoting a Supreme Court order, said no appointment could be regularised without a proper selection process.

The education department has asked the home and hill affairs department to advise them on the matter.

The letter was today shown to the media by Roshan Giri, executive GTA Sabha member in charge of education.

"In the hills, the SSC has been defunct since 2003, long before the GTA came into existence, and we demand that the state government come up with a one-time solution," said Giri.

Amit Gurung, co-ordinator, JISTO, blamed the GTA for failing to solve the impasse and its members have threatened to dissolve the body if there is no fruitful outcome within 20 days.

"The GTA has the power to recruit Group B, C and D employees. If the state government is not allowing it to exercise its functions, what is stopping it from approaching court?" Gurung asked today.

"If there is no fruitful outcome on our demand within 20 days, we will dissolve JISTO, close schools and start a Calcutta chalo abhiyan," said Gurung.


Telegraph

READ MORE

JISTO continues fight for volunteer teachers

10:21 AM

•

JISTO

Writes Swareena Gurung

DARJEELING 8 Jun 2016 The Janmukti Insecure Secondary Teachers’ Organisation (JISTO) today held a press conference to draw attention on the deprivation of rights volunteer teachers in government schools are facing.

Formed in 2009, the JISTO comprises volunteer teachers from secondary and higher secondary schools. There are 129 secondary and higher secondary schools in Darjeeling district and according to figures from 2013, almost 528 vacancies for permanent teaching positions were available then. This number has only increased since, and the JISTO has been agitating for permanent positions for the last nine years but to no avail. Some volunteer workers have devoted almost 18 years of service, and still have not been granted permanent status.

Janmukti Insecure Secondary Teachers’ Organisation (JISTO) -  file photo

In two memorandums submitted to the Headmaster Association of Darjeeling and to the Darjeeling MLA, Amar Rai, JISTO coordinator Amrit Gurung said, “We have devoted our valuable time and efforts to the education sector and our services can be each year when new batches of students pass out. Many of us have moved beyond our youthful years, but we are still being forced to agitate for our rights. What sort of a situation is this??

“The educated people of the hills are receiving a wrong message upon witnessing the helpless condition of the voluntary teachers. Due to non-receipt of adequate provisions from the state government and the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration, the teachers are not making any progress. We cannot overlook the fact that if things are not mended in time, the students of the hills will face a bleak future.”

The GJM’s poll manifesto ahead of the Vidhan Sabha elections included a clause to make JISTO members permanent. The organisation seeks support from the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha and hopes their prolonged agitation reaches a favourable conclusion soon.


Source EOI

READ MORE

500 voluntary teachers in ‪Darjeeling‬ hills to be regularised

9:03 PM

•

West Bengal

Gorkha Janmukti Morcha general secretary Roshan Giri today met state education minister Partha Chatterjee in Kolkata and was reportedly assured of regularising the 515 volunteer teachers of the hills who launched an agitation in October 2015.

The volunteer teachers, under the aegis of the Janmukti Insecure Secondary Teachers’ Organisation (JISTO), held demonstrations including dharnas at Lalkothi, the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration headquarters, and outside the district magistrate office. The agitation was called off in November-end after Chatterjee met the teachers in Kalimpong and invited them to Kolkata for a meeting. Today, Giri issued a press statement from Kolkata that said the state education minister has assured to form an examination board to recruit the 515 volunteer teachers. “I met the state education minister with a delegation of JISTO

members and placed our demand of starting the process of regularising volunteer teachers of the hills. The minster has promised us the process would start soon,” read Giri’s press statement. The GJM leader, who is also the in-charge of the GTA education department, said Chatterjee has also promised to form an examination board to recruit the 515 volunteer teachers. “The examination board will be set up only for the appointment of the 515 teachers,” he stressed. The GTA has requested the minister to ensure the volunteer teachers are given age concession as many of them have been in service for 30 years. “These volunteer teachers are enrolled in the selection list and have been serving for nearly three decades.

Hence, we must look into their interests too and provide age concession,” pointed out Giri. JISTO general secretary Vivek Newar could not be contacted, but organisation members welcomed the development and thanked the education minister for his intervention. 

Source: EOI

READ MORE

Education minister calls JISTO for talks in Calcutta

7:39 AM

•

West Bengal

Writes: Rajeev Ravidas

The GTA executive sabha member, Roshan Giri, today said state education minister Partha Chatterjee had invited agitating voluntary and para teachers in the hills for a discussion in Calcutta but the latter seemed to suggest that the talks were subject to the withdrawal of the ongoing dharna.

There are 515 voluntary and para teachers in the hills and they have been holding demonstrations for more than three weeks demanding regularisation of their jobs under the banner of the Janmukti Insecure Secondary Teachers' Association (JISTO), an affiliate of the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha.

Today, Giri, who is in-charge of secondary and higher secondary education at the GTA, led a delegation of JISTO members who met Chatterjee at the Circuit House here. They sought the minister's intervention to fulfil the teachers' demand.

Immediately after the meeting, Giri told reporters that the minister had called the JISTO for talks in Calcutta while appealing to the teachers to withdraw the agitation. However, the minister later seemed to suggest that the Calcutta talks invitation was subject to the withdrawal of the agitation by the JISTO.

The relay hunger strike by the agitating teachers in front of Lal Kothi in
Darjeeling on Friday. Picture by Suman Tamang

Giri said: "The education minister has called us for talks in Calcutta. He has also appealed to the JISTO to withdraw the agitation. I will also appeal to the JISTO to withdraw its dharna."

Chatterjee, on the other hand, said while he had invited the JISTO for talks, he would also want it to withdraw the agitation.

Asked if the talks offer would stand in case the JISTO did not withdraw the dharna, he said: "I will certainly believe good sense will prevail."

The minister prefaced that by saying the 515 teachers couldn't hold the fate of thousands of students to ransom. "I told them I am a different man. Don't put pressure on me. What the last government started (the appointment of voluntary and para teachers) cannot be the responsibility of this government. But we are sympathetic towards them and under no circumstances can the quality of education be sacrificed... I have told them to come to Calcutta to discuss, but first they should withdraw their strike as the fate of students cannot be wasted."

JISTO secretary Vivek Newar, who was part of the delegation which met Chatterjee, said it would not withdraw the dharna, but would hold classes so that the students didn't face inconvenience. The JISTO has been holding dharnas at different places in the hills since October 29 demanding that the teachers be made permanent. From today, its members began a relay hunger strike at Lal Kothi in Darjeeling on the demand.

Kalimpong MLA Harka Bahadur Chhetri was present at the meeting between the minister and the delegation led by Giri.

While Giri said Chhetri didn't utter a word, the MLA said he did not participate in the discussions.

Chhetri had earlier claimed that he would facilitate a meeting between JISTO leaders and the minister, but the JISTO functionaries said they would call on Chatterjee on their own.

Source: Telegraph

READ MORE

Over 5,000 GTA casual staff threaten halt, demands regularization

9:00 AM

•

Kalimpong

Vivek Chhetri

Darjeeling, Nov. 19: Over 5,000 casual employees of the GTA today launched an agitation demanding immediate regularization of their jobs with a poster campaign and threatened to bring the hill body to a halt.

The agitation has come when over 500 voluntary teachers are seeking regularization of their jobs, their protest hampering classes in several educational institutions in the hills.

Deepak Sharma, the spokesman for the Jamukti Asthai Karmachari Sangathan, which is affiliated to the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha, said: "Calcutta High Court had issued a directive to the state government on May 14 to convene a meeting with representatives of the GTA within four months to decide how it would set in motion the process of absorbing the casual employees. However, instead of starting the process, the government filed an appeal against this directive in the high court in August."

Deepak Sharma and Kisan Gurung in Darjeeling on Thursday. Picture by Suman Tamang 

The casual employees, who are the workforce of the GTA, said their patience was running out. "We have decided to launch an agitation. From today, we started plastering posters across the hills demanding job regularisation. In the days to come, we will intensify our agitation and will not hesitate to bring the GTA to a grinding halt," said Sharma.

The 5,000 GTA casual employees make up almost 80 per cent of the hill body's workforce.

Kisan Gurung, the general secretary of the organisation, said: "We want the state government to immediately withdraw the appeal in the high court and announce its decision to regularise our jobs at the next bipartite meeting scheduled to be held in Darjeeling on December 15. Until that meeting, we will continue to intensify our agitation."

He did not list out the details of the agitation.

The Janmukti Insecure Secondary Teachers' Organisation (JISTO), the body of voluntary teachers in the Darjeeling hills, has also decided to launch a relay hunger strike at Lal Kothi here from tomorrow. "We will also meet state education minister Partha Chatterjee in Kalimpong tomorrow to discuss the matter," said Vivek Newar, the secretary of the organisation.

The organisation is demanding the regularisation of jobs of 515 voluntary teachers who have been working in various schools.

Source Telegraph

READ MORE

Janmukti Insecure Secondary Teachers' Organisation decline Harka Bahadur's help

7:05 AM

•

Kalimpong

Writes: Rajeev Ravidas

Kalimpong MLA Harka Bahadur Chhetri yesterday said he would facilitate a meeting between state education minister Partha Chatterjee and the Janmukti Insecure Secondary Teachers' Organization (JISTO), but hours later, the teachers' body said the opposite.

The organisation has been holding demonstrations for around 20 days demanding job regularisation for 515 voluntary and para-teachers in the hills.

Chhetri said he had already briefed Chatterjee on the demand of the organisation and he would fix a meeting between him and the JISTO leaders when the minister comes to Kalimpong on November 20 to attend a programme of the Kalimpong Girls' High School.

Chhetri did not mention other details.

"I have been approached by JISTO on many occasions. I am well aware of its demand and I will be present at the meeting with the minister to help articulate JISTO's points of view," Chhetri said today.

The teachers' organisation is an affiliate of the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha which Chhetri quit recently citing the dictatorial attitude of its chief Bimal Gurung.

After quitting the Morcha, Chhetri had revived the demand for a separate Kalimpong district.

But hours after he spoke about the meeting with Chatterjee, JISTO held a central committee meeting at Darjeeling this evening.

The secretary of the organisation, Vivek Newar, said: "We will meet the minister on our own."

Newar said the organisation members would start a relay hunger strike in front of Lal Kothi, the GTA headquarters, from Friday demanding job regularisation.

The organisation is made up of voluntary teachers who have been asked by schools to help out for free or for a nominal honorarium, and parateachers, recruited under the Sarva Siksha Abhiyan.

The para-teachers are usually given Rs 7,500 every month till the age of 60 years.

Chhetri said he was aware that the Morcha would accuse him of encroaching on the GTA's functions, as education is a transferred subject.

"But I can't remain silent when the GTA is doing nothing to ameliorate the plight of voluntary and para-teachers. Many of them are from Kalimpong. Being an elected representative of Kalimpong, it is my duty take up the cause," the MLA said.

Since October 20, JISTO members have been staging dharnas at different places across the hills following one day's cease-work with the regularisation demand.

Source: Telegraph

READ MORE

GJM backed Transport union Strike Threat in Hills to support JISTO

7:39 AM

•

Tourism

Writes: Vivek Chhetri

The Gorkha Janmukti Morcha-backed transport union in the middle of the tourist season today threatened a vehicle strike in the hills after Diwali in support of voluntary teachers demanding job regularisation.

The All Transport Joint Action Committee that has 56 taxi syndicates as members has said it would wait till November 9 - the day a meeting is scheduled between the state government and the GTA on the job regularisation demand of the 515 hill teachers - and then take a call on the strike.

The chakka jam call has the tacit support of Morcha president Bimal Gurung who has told the transport union to do what it thinks is right.

The voluntary teachers are agitating under the banner of Janmukti Insecure Secondary Teachers' Organisation (JISTO).

Narbu Lama, the president of the transport union, said: "The JISTO has been requesting us to support the demand. I went and met party (Morcha) president Bimal Gurung in Kalimpong yesterday and he told us to do what we think was right. If the bipartite meeting (between the state and GTA) on November 9 fails to break the deadlock, then we will call a chakka jam. We have to keep in mind the Diwali festival and also the tourist season and we will take a decision on the date and the time keeping everything in mind."

He added: "We will call our representatives for a meeting soon and discuss the issue before finalising the date and time. We will also have to keep in mind the outcome of the bipartite meeting. The chakka jam, however, will not be immediate. If we have to call it, it might be after Diwali."

Each taxi syndicate has around 30 vehicles under it.

The stakeholders of the tourism sector are of the opinion that even a threat of such a call during the tourist season could affect the visitor footfall in the hills.

"Even a threat of a chakka jam would have an impact as tourism is a very sensitive industry," said Pradip Lama, secretary, Darjeeling Association of Travel Agents.

The ongoing tourist season started from Dusshera and it will continue till the Christmas-New Year period.

"Although our main tourist season is the March-June period, we do receive tourists during this time as well. The major flow in this season is during the one week period around Dusshera, the week during Diwali and the week around the Christmas-New Year period," said Pradip.

He added that this time, the tourist flow has dropped by almost 40 per cent compared to the same period last year.

"People from western India usually come on a package that covers Odisha, Sikkim, Darjeeling and Nepal. But with the ongoing (political) turmoil in Nepal, those seeking the package have cancelled reservations. Most enquiries for August and September did not transform into bookings," said Pradip.

"The recent political instability (in the hills) also prompted many people to cancel their reservations," he said, referring to the strain in the relationship between Mamata Banerjee and Bimal Gurung.

Darjeeling gets around 3.5 lakh domestic tourists annually and 30 per cent of them visit the hills during this time.

"The tourist inflow this year is less by 40 per cent compared to last year," said Pradip.

He said that most tourists travel to the hills during the April-June period "as people want a quick getaway from the sweltering summers. Some people look forward to travelling after the financial year and some also travel after the board and annual school examinations are over."

Samir Singhal, treasurer, Janmukti Hotel Owners' Association said: "There is no denying that the tourist inflow has come down this year. The reasons could be varied. However, we are still optimistic as we are expecting a good turnout after the Diwalis. We have good bookings during that period. We feel that threats for a chakka jam would not send the right signal for the industry."

Source: Telegraph, Pic: Yogen Basnet via TheDC

READ MORE