GTA sabhasad from Terai likely to part ways with Morcha might join TMC

8:54 AM

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TMC

Champa Bivar, member of the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration from Sukna-Panighatta constituency, is likely to resign from the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha as she said she is dissatisfied with the party for failing to develop Lohagarh and its surrounding areas.

The GTA sabhasad, who was close to GJM chief Bimal Gurung during the early days of the party, has also not refuted speculation that she was planning to join the Trinamool Congress.

GJM Terai president Tshering Dahal, including central committee members Santosh Rasaily, Brinda Pradhan and trade union leader Harihar Acharya today held an emergency meeting upon reading Bivar's statement published in a newspaper. But she could not be contacted and her cell phone was out of reach. Some party members then went to her home in Lohagarh where she told them she could quit the party.

GJM central committee member Brinda Pradhan said, "When we went to her residence, she was not so welcoming and said she may or may not join the Trinamool Congress. Her body language indicated that she has been strongly persuaded to leave us to join hands with the opposition.

GTA sabhasad from Terai likely to part ways with Morcha

On Thursday, Bivar had said she is disillusioned with the functioning of the GTA and that no development work had been executed in Lohagarh.

Tshering Dahal said, "We are yet to receive her resignation and she hasn’t contacted us either. So I cannot comment anything right now."

Meanwhile, GJM trade union leader Harihar Acharya, who also hails from Lohagarh, said Bivar has not yet resigned from the party. If she had issues with the GTA and GJM leaders, she should have spoken to the party chief instead of making such allegations, he added.

In a related development, TMC leader from Panighatta, Kishore Pradhan, said hundreds of GJM supporters from Lohagarh are likely to join the TMC before the election.


Via: ECOI

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Section 144 imposed at Painakumari, tension over Sukna land rights

10:11 AM

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sukna

Darjeeling district administration imposes Section 144 at Painakumari Busty area.

The Darjeeling district administration has clamped Section 144 of the CrPc at the Painakumari Busty area, near Sukna in Siliguri, under the Kurseong sub-division since yesterday. The move followed tension among the civilian population in the area over a complaint filed with the police by the Indian Army over land ownership rights.

Tension over Sukna land rights

It is learnt that residents of Painakumari Busty are presently disturbed and are losing sleep over the issue since the night of 13 June after they heard that the Army is “planning to evict” them from the land they have been occupying for ‘ages.’

Darjeeling Superintendent of Police AK Chaturvedi, Kurseong MLA Rohit Sharma, GTA area Sabha member Champa Vibar and some leaders of the Gorkha Jan Mukti Morcha (GJMM) visited Painakumari yesterday to take stock of the situation. Kurseong SDPO, CB Subba, said that on 13 June, Brigadier RS Rawat, the Station Commander of the Trishakti Corps in Sukna near Siliguri, filed a complaint with the police at the Garidhura  police outpost, stating that land at the Painakumari area belonging to the Army has been encroached upon by civilians. The officer requested the police to take immediate action.

The locals also lodged a complaint with the police the same night, stating that they have been living in the area since the past several decades, but that Army officers have been “disturbing” them on various aspects.

Army sources at Sukna, however, said people have encroached on the land that belongs to the Army. “But, we have not been forcing people to vacate the land there. All we have been doing is approaching the police and the administration and requesting them to do the needful,” an Army officer said today. A villager meanwhile, said: “We have been paying the dhuri tax and at the same time, all the schemes and systems of the government have been implemented in the village. However, we are being harassed by the Army.”

Para-military forces and police personnel have been deployed in large numbers in the area to avoid any untoward incident. “Patrolling by the police will continue, while Section 144 will be in force there for the next 60 days,” SDPO Mr Subba said. According to the Army sources, people at Painakumari are merely panic-stricken, “as they feel the Army will bulldoze their houses one day”.

“However, we are not doing that. We will go through the proper channels and if the government feels it cannot vacate the Painakumari land where people have settled for years, it should at least provide the Army with an alternative and equal measure of land that is vacant elsewhere,” the sources said.

Talking to reporters yesterday, Mr Sharma, the Kurseong MLA, however, said that the Army does not have proper land rights documents. “I have requested the Darjeeling district magistrate to hold a meeting with all the sides concerned and seek a permanent solution to the problem,” he said.

Mr Sharma further claimed that the Sukna Army station was established in 1964 after the 1962 war with China, but that the people of Painakumari have settled there much before the army arrived. 

Source: thestatesman.

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Israeli Embassy denied visa to Darjeeling women calling citizens of Nepal

1:30 AM

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sukna

In a shocking development, the Israeli Embassy has denied visas to 10 women from Darjeeling alleging them to be Nepalese nationals.  The women, who had been waiting for their visas to fly to Israel to work there, received a shock when the embassy turned down their requests calling them “citizens of Nepal”. The women including Radhika Rai, Priya Thapa, Reshma Gurung, Ranju Rai and Kavita Sharma, among others had reached Delhi four months ago. They said despite furnishing all the necessary documents, including their Indian citizenship certificates, the embassy denied them the visas.

 Expressing utter disbelief and pleading helplessness over the baseless and ‘hurtful’ denial of the visas, Priya Thapa said they are feeling “politically victimised”. She said social organisations and political parties should step forward to speak against this “gross injustice”. “We are being tagged as foreigners in our own land, while many from Nepal are flying to Israel with fake Indian citizenship certificates,” said Thapa, which is true to a far extent. She said the 10 women had invested a lot of money to get a job abroad, but their aspirations have been shattered by the “unexpected” development.

Livid over the denial, Thapa added, “We feel humiliated as our visa applications have been turned down on a baseless allegation, that of being Nepalese citizens. Darjeeling and its people seem to have no recognition and identity in Delhi.”

The 10 women hail from Darjeeling, Kurseong, Kalimpong, Mirik, Sukna, Salbari and Sonada, and almost all of them had taken loans in the hope of repaying them quickly. Even as the lack of job opportunities in Darjeeling is forcing the hill folk to venture outside the hills and even abroad in search for work, the foreigner tag has only added to the smouldering resentment of the people, which, if not addressed quickly and in earnest, may conflagrate into uncontrollable proportions.

Source: EOI

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Bimal Gurung appeales Ghisingh to join hands, support BJP

9:06 AM

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sukna

Sukna: Bimal Gurung  appealed to Subash Ghisingh, his mentor-turned-rival, to support the BJP candidate for the Darjeeling seat.

The Gorkha Janmukti Morcha chief also made a similar overture to Independent candidate Mahendra P. Lama, who is being supported by two other hill parties — the ABGL and the CPRM.

Bimal Gurung appeales Ghisingh to join hands, support BJP 

This is the first time Gurung has appealed to Ghisingh to join hands. “I would invite Subash Ghisingh to join in the struggle to achieve Gorkhaland and support the BJP candidate in the Darjeeling seat,” he said.

Referring to Ghisingh, who led a statehood movement in the hills in the 1980s but settled for autonomy later, Gurung said: “It was you who started the movement for Gorkhaland in the eighties before me in which 1,200 people died and 1,500 houses were torched. You must remember that these contributions were not made to vote for Trinamul or CPM.”

Ghisingh, whom the Morcha drove out of the hills in 2008, is now back in his house in Darjeeling. The GNLF, Ghisingh’s party, cannot name any candidate now as the date for doing so has passed. He has also not clarified if he would support any other party.

The contest for the Darjeeling seat is turning out to be a five-cornered one. The Morcha, JMM and the Kamtapur People’s Party have all agreed to support the BJP.

Trinamul has got the support of the Akhil Bharatiya Adivasi Vikas Parishad. The Left and the Congress have not formed any alliance yet, while Lama is being supported by the ABGL and the CPRM.

Gurung’s unity call today at Sukna, the gateway to the hills, could be to check any split in the Gorkha vote, a source said.

Today’s public meeting was the first that the Morcha and the BJP held together. Darjeeling votes on April 17.

The Morcha president said after the meeting: “As he (Ghisingh) had raised the demand for Gorkhaland, we should work together now to reach our goal.”

S.S. Ahluwalia, the BJP candidate from Darjeeling, and most of the central committee leaders of the Morcha were present today with Gurung, who in a message to Mahendra P. Lama, said: “Let’s come together and form a sweet and strong house which cannot be affected by landslides or storms. If you need a post in the government, I would, once the BJP government is formed at the Centre, ensure it. But please don’t stand apart. Join us to intensify our struggle for statehood.”

Ahluwalia, the Darjeeling candidate, said: “When the Gorkhas lay their lives to protect the country, it is fine. But when they demand separate statehood within the purview of the Indian Constitution, they are termed outsiders.”

He said: “The BJP is committed to forming smaller states. Once (Narendra) Modi’s government is formed at the Centre, the dream of Gorkhas will be fulfilled.”

Gurung said chief minister Mamata Banerjee “by using the police and administration as a façade”, resorted to “dictatorship”.

“When over 1,000 party workers and 15 GTA Sabha members were arrested, their families approached me and urged that I speak to Mamatadidi for their release. I could not let them down and went and talked to her.”

He said she “resorted to pressure tactics by putting a rider that all three MLAs of our party should support Trinamul in the Rajya Sabha elections. I instructed our MLAs to vote for Trinamul. It was only after our assurance that the workers and leaders were released.”

Source: Telegraph

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Gorkhaland within Mamata’s CM tenure - Bimal Gurung

1:07 AM

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Sukna : Addressing a massive crowd in Sukna today, the GJM President Bimal Gurung asserted the separate state of Gorkhaland will be formed within Mamata Banergee’s term as the chief minister of West Bengal, but it can only be achieved by supporting Bharatya Janta Party (BJP) in the LS Elections this year.

Bimal Gurung says Gorkhaland within Mamata’s CM tenure in Sukna

Over 1 lakh people from every corner of the Darjeeling hills, Terai and Dooars attended the meeting today at the Sukna football ground near Siliguri. The meeting was also attended by BJP’s Darjeeling constituency candidate SS Ahuluwalia, GJM General Secretary Roshan Giri, along with BJP leader and former GLO chief Chattray Subba among others.

Slamming the state government, Gurung said the Mamata government is using ‘Daman Niti’ towards the hill people. He claimed, “Mamata’s government is using police and administration to divide the people of the hills and resorting to pressure tactics to win the election.”

He also alleged the state government for starting manhunt and arresting GJM leaders only because Trinamool did not receive GJM’s support for this year’s election. “The police started issuing arrest warrants against the GJM leaders on the day when we announced our support to BJP,” he pointed out.

Blaming Mamata of failing to bring any development in hills, he said, “Mamata claims she visited the hills 22 times in the last three years, but every time she came here she only cut ribbons but never fulfilled her promise to implement the development projects.”

Gurung also appealed GNLF supremo Subash Ghishing and independent candidate Mahendra P Lama to support BJP if they want to form Gorkhaland and love the people of the hills. He said, “It is the time for the two leaders to think for the Gorkha community and the dreams of 1200 brave people who sacrificed their lives during Gorkhaland movement.”

SS Ahuluwalia in his speech asserted that he will work hard to fulfill all the dreams and aspirations of the people of the hills, especially the formation of Gorkhaland. He said, “Despite playing a vital role in the development of the nation, the Gorkha community has been neglected by both the state and central governments and this has to change.”

He said, “When the nation needs its boarders to be protected the government looks for the services of the brave Gorkha solders. However, when it comes to the issue of their identity in the nation and its demand for a separate state, they are ignored and even humiliated.”

He claimed the BJP will never sideline the demand of Gorkha people and will make sure their demands are met with. He also appealed the people to vote for BJP to realize the dream of having their own state.

Source: EOI

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TMC accused GJM of pressurizing and bribing people to attend Sukna Meeting

12:39 AM

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sukna

The Trinamool Congress (TMC) has accused Gorkha Janmukti Morcha  (GJM) for allegedly  pressurizing and bribing people of the hills to attend the party meeting in Sukna today.

The hill TMC leaders also accused the GJM-BJP alliance of exhausting the Rs.70 lakh ceiling permitted by the Election Commission of India for a single candidate to campaign for the general election. 

Bimal Gurung speech at GJM  Sukna Meeting -  campaign for Darjeeling BJP candidate Ahluwalia

Binny Sharma, the TMC (Hills) spokesperson said, “We have proof that the people who attended the GJM-BJP public meeting were threatened and even bribed for their presence. The GJM distributed Rs500 each to attend today’s meeting in Sukna. We know this because several of our supporters were also present in the public meeting today”.

The TMC will write to the ECI pointing out the expenditure incurred by the GJM party for its public meeting today, Sharma informed.  “There were about twenty thousand people in GJM’s meeting at Sukna. Around two thousand vehicles were required at a cost of Rs.3000 each to ferry people. This along with Rs.3 lakh for pandal construction and public address system adds up to Rs.60 lakh, while GJM has also been holding several campaign programs in various places, which exceeds the ECI ceiling of Rs.70 lakh per candidate,” explained Sharma.

As per the ECI ceiling for the 2014 LS election, a candidate contesting the LS election this time will be able to spend Rs.70 lakh for campaign purpose. In the previous election the candidates were allowed to spend only Rs.40 lakh.

When contacted for comments, GJM general secretary Roshan Giri said, "All the allegations are false and baseless with the intention to malign our party and candidate. We have neither threatened nor bribed people to attend our meeting today. People have come of their own and will continue to do so in all our future programs”.

Source:EOI

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GTA to change name of the School named after GNLF leader

10:34 AM

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sukna

Now that the BB Gurung Memorial High School, Sukna, has been renamed as Sukna High School by the GTA, the matter has apparently hurt the Gurung community. The newly formed Gurung (Tamu) Youth Association has decided to meet GTA chief executive Bimal Gurung to restore of the name. Gurung had laid the foundation stone at BB Gurung Memorial High School on January 24 to revamp the school into a model school.

Bimal Gurung laid Foundation stone at BB Gurung Memorial
High School on January 24

It may be mentioned here that GNLF leader BB Gurung was the party vice president during the 1986 Gorkhaland movement. Later, after the formation of the DGHC he was the vice chairman of the administration. After his demise, the DGHC had upgraded the then small Sukna School and renamed it BB Gurung Memorial High School, Sukna.

The Gurung (Tamu) Youth Association itself came into existence today in a meeting held at Gorkha Jan Pustakalay in Kurseong. The association is the youth wing of Akhil Bhartiya Gurung (Tamu) Baudh Sangathan.

Gurung (Tamu) Youth Association spokesperson Santa Kishor Gurung said the youth wing was formed for development of Gurung Community on different aspects. He said the parent organization has already submitted deputations to the CM during her recent visit to Darjeeling hills demanding tribal status and the formation of a development board for all round development of the Gurung community. 

Source:(EOIC)

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