SILIGURI: After failing to get adjoining tea belt of Darjeeling hills under own command through Gorkhaland Territorial Administration(GTA), Gorkha Janamukti Morcha(GJM) is now taking strategic path of utilizing panchayat election to have own dreams fulfilled. GJM is going to file its candidates for nearly 200 mouzas in foothills of Dooars and Terai. The party has successfully brewed up a friendship with Jharkhand Mukti Morcha and a faction of Tribal communities to fight jointly in these locations. "Our major thrust will remain on the 196 mouzas we have asked to be left under GTA," said M Thapa, a senior GJM leader from foothills. "Our central committee leaders will start campaigning in these areas soon," he added. These foothills areas yield nearly 25% of nation's entire tea output. 

During negotiation with center and state to have a separate administrative body GTA for the hills after 5 years long movement with the demand of separate state hood for Darjeeling hills in the name of Gorkhaland, GJM demanded entire foothills too under GTA. But, as that would generate massive resentment amongst common mass in foothills against the state Government, the state Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee took a strategic path to form a fact finding body. After around a year, pouring water to GJM's dream, the body recommended only 5 mouzas against demanded 196, to be given under GTA that was by then under ruling of GJM. "It is unacceptable,"" GJM president Mr. Bimal Gurng said then. But surprisingly, he did not launch any serious movement against this. 

Clear enough, he wanted to take a path of re- negotiation. "Now he is going to get control of these areas through panchayat election, far smoother path compared to aggressive movement," said political observers. Though the political picture is gradually taking more and more complicated look every day, as of now, while GJM is with JMM and a faction of Tribals, Trinamool Congress on the other side has successfully managed to have the mainstream organization of tribals, Akhil Bharatiya Adivasi Vikash Parishad, in own side. "Whatever be the picture on surface, TMC and GJM have underground understanding and TMC has always been helping GJM to gain benefits," said ex Minister and senior CPIM leader Ashok Bhattacharya. TMC leader and Minister Gautam Dev however reserved his comment on this. 

DARJEELING: Direct toy train services between Siliguri and Darjeeling are likely to resume by the end of 2013. Coming under fire from the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) MLAs over the lack of infrastructure in the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway (DHR), railway minister Mukul Roy announced this at Darjeeling on Sunday. The GJM leaders also demanded that the Darjeeling Mail be extended up to Gulma, which falls within the territory of the Gorkha Territorial Administration (GTA). They also demanded that the Gulma station be renamed Darjeeling Road. It was the first official programme for Bimal Gurung, chief executive of the GTA and its other members. During the oath-taking ceremony on Saturday, the GJM leaders had received a number of sermons on how to behave in a responsible manner. A day after, it was their turn to remind the railway minister how the DHR - a Unesco World Heritage Site - has been neglected.

"During our childhood days, there used to be a large number of services of the toy train. Today, there are only a few services. Infrastructure has not been developed. The Darjeeling station has no mention that it is home to a World Heritage Site. Even the plaque at the New Jalpaiguri (NJP) station has disappeared. The DHR requires a lot of care. It was the first industrial site in Asia to have been inscribed as a World Heritage Site, but the Indian Railways haven't come up with plans for its conservation. A director has been appointed to the DHR, but he has to commute to Darjeeling every day from Siliguri, said Rohit Sharma, MLA, Kurseong.

Gurung pointed to how the Tindharia workshop and the tracks there were devastated during the last major earthquake in the area. "Ever since we began our agitation, we have been demanding that the Gulma station be renamed Darjeeling Road and trains like the Darjeeling Mail, Mahananda Express and Kanchanjungha Express start from there. I would also urge the railway minister to level the DHR tracks that cross National Highway-55 for the benefit of motorists and reserve more quotas in trains from this area," Gurung said.

According to Darjeeling MLA Trilok Dewan, development of the Gulma station will lead to socio-economic development of the area. "In the GTA Agreement, there was a clause to extend the broad-gauge line up to Sukna. This isn't possible due to the non-availability of space. We want the Gulma station to be developed instead, so that people don't have to travel all the way to NJP from Darjeeling," he said. Roy said that the proposal to rename Gulma station has been sent to the ministry of home affairs. The general manager of Northeast Frontier Railway will decide the operational feasibility of running long-distance trains from there.

"We are trying to connect the hills of Darjeeling by rail. Several surveys, including the one between Sevoke and Mirik are already over while others are underway. All these projects will lead to development. We are also working on a budget hotel and a functional centre at the Darjeeling station. Several development projects are also on in Kurseong. The ministry of road transport has already cleared Rs 55 crore for the repair of the stretch of NH-55 near Tindharia. I also promise that we will resume services between Darjeeling and Siliguri by the end of 2013," Roy said. During the day, Roy flagged off two toy train services between Darjeeling and Ghum and Darjeeling and Kurseong.

( Times Of India)

"We are happy that finally we could have the election," said Mr. Roshan Giri, General Secretary of GJM. Interestingly, the fate of the GTA board got decided much earlier after withdrawal of candidates by all political parties including CPIM or Gorkha League raising complains against GJM for 'not allowing the election to remain a free and fair one.' Out of 45 seats, GJM won in 28 seats without any contest. But there were candidates nominated by Trinamool Congress, main ruling party of West Bengal and close friend of GJM giving birth of confusion.

But putting the confusion to an end, TMC Supremo Miss Mamata Banerjee have announced withdrawal of all these candidates on 21 stJuly. But, since official time for withdrawal of nomination was over by then, the administration had to continue with entire electioneering formalities today. However, CPIM leader and ex state Minister Mr. Ashok Bhattacharya has labeled the election as a 'Political Drama' by an 'Unholy nexus of TMC and GJM.' Congress always preferred remaining silence on the issue. But TMC leader and North Bengal Development Minister Mr. Gautam Dev said, "After allowing Gorkha National Liberation Front, that used to rule Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council(DGHC), to remain in power year after year without election, CPIM does not have any right to complain against TMC now on this."

GTA is an autonomous body with higher financial and administrative power than a District Development Board. This is to replace DGHC, formed in 1988 for administration of hills. Conceptualized to be formed under new GTA act, GTA is the final outcome of an agreement signed in 2011 between West Bengal state Government and Gorkha Janamukti Morcha, the party that has been demanding separate statehood for Darjeeling since its upraise in 2007.

IANS
Siliguri: Nearly 40,000 people were affected due to incessant rains triggering a flood-like situation in the north Bengal region with Darjeeling and Jalpaiguri being the worst hit, officials said, even as the water levels of major rivers Mahananda and Teesta continue to rise. A flood-like situation prevailed in several areas of Siliguri in Darjeeling district and Terai and Dooars area of Jalpaiguri district due to heavy rainfall for the last few days, officials said.

Darjeeling and Jalpaiguri are the two districts which are worst affected due to this flood-like situation. The water level of Mahananda river, which flows along Siliguri town, has crossed the danger level and it continues to rise, officials said. "We are keeping a close watch into the situation. We have arranged relief material for the affected people. We have also opened several relief camps," Gautam Deb, north Bengal development minister, said.

The water level of Teesta river, which flows through Jalpaiguri district, is also rising with every passing day. The Matigara block in Siliguri area and Waste Dhontola area in Jalpaiguri district were worst affected.

Siliguri : Darjeeling district president Shankar Malakar today accused Trinamul of using force to make its presence felt in the district’s rural belt ahead of next year’s panchayat polls, an allegation that has been met with a volley of protests and allegations from minister Gautam Deb. Trinamul said Malakar’s outburst was prompted by the party’s “insecurity” about its support base in north Bengal — adding one more dimension to the uneasy, and often bitter, relation between the two parties. The rift had started over the sharing of the posts of the mayor and the chairperson, soon after the two parties won the Siliguri Municipal Corporation election in 2009.

In recent times, the relation between the allies have dipped all the more because of clashes between the student wings of the two outfits and the arrest of a Chhatra Parishad leader. “Trinamul, which has a limited base in Siliguri town, is now forcibly trying to penetrate into the rural areas of Siliguri sub-division. A section of workers and leaders, who were with the CPM and have now joined Trinamul, is intimidating people, grabbing government land and trying to create tension in areas as a desperate move to garner support,” Malakar said today. “It seems to be a planned strategy to gain control in rural areas before the panchayat polls. However, we will not relent and continue our struggle with workers and supporters who have been with the Congress for decades.”

In Darjeeling district, of the three plains MLAs, two are from the Congress. The third is Trinamul’s Rudranath Bhattacharya, who represents Siliguri. Both Phansidewa and Matigara-Naxalbari, represented by Sunil Tirkey and Malakar in the Assembly, are in the rural belt. The district Congress president said north Bengal development minister Deb, a Trinamul MLA from Jalpaiguri district, was keeping him in the dark about the development projects in the region. “It seems to be a politically-motivated move to keep us in the dark and announce projects like fire brigade and a disaster management training centre in Naxalbari without our knowledge. Although I am the local MLA, I am never consulted,” Malakar said.

The Congress has lined up a series of programmes starting from April 20 across Siliguri to mobilise support before the panchayat polls. In the seven-seat Siliguri Mahakuma Parishad, equivalent to the zilla parishad, three belong to the Congress and the rest are from the CPM. Of the four panchayat samitis, two are under the Congress and the rest with the CPM. The Congress is also in power in 12 of the 22 gram panchayats.

“It is clear that the influence of Trinamul is confined to some pockets of the Siliguri town only. We don’t know if there will be any alliance. But we can hold on our own. We will organise meetings, rallies and other events from April 20 to May 17. State level leaders will visit the region to interact with the workers. Even today, we are the only and principal opposition of the Left Front in rural areas,” said Malakar.

Responding to the charges, Deb, who is the president of the Darjeeling district Trinamul, said it would be difficult for the Congress to retain its support. “More and more people, from youths to elderly residents and women, are joining our party from the rural areas of Siliguri sub-division. This happened because of our performance and the fulfilment of commitments made by the chief minister,” he said.

“The Congress, whose representatives have failed to fulfil even the basic needs of people in the past 10 months after being elected, is suffering from the insecurity of losing support. So the party is levelling such baseless charges against us. The common people will understand that these leaders are trying to hide their failure,” Deb added. Like the Congress, Mamata Banerjee’s party will also line up programmes in rural areas of Siliguri, the minister said.

Siliguri : The state government will tomorrow hold talks with representatives of organisations which have called a strike in Darjeeling and Jalpaiguri districts on April 18 and 19 for the inclusion of the Dooars and Terai in the set-up for the hills. The invitation for the talks at Writers’ Buildings was sent to John Barla, the convener of the Joint Action Co-ordination Committee that has called the strike.

The Gorkha Janmukti Morcha is a constituent of the committee. North Bengal development minister Gautam Deb said the government would request the leaders of the committee to withdraw the strike as disruptive activities would hit the economic growth of the region. “The government is relentlessly trying to dissuade all organisations from calling strikes. We will hold talks with the John Barla group (of the Akhil Bharatiya Adivasi Vikas Parishad) and other associations tomorrow and request them to call off the strike,” said Deb. “We would like to tell them that the government is not against rallies and other forms of agitation, but they should refrain from strikes or any other disruptive activity which will have a negative effect on the region’s economy or will deteriorate law and order.”

The committee had called the strike in response to a shutdown announced by a forum of outfits on April 10 and 11 to protest the demand to bring the Terai and Dooars under the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration. However, the anti-GTA forum scaled down the strike to one day (April 10) at the request of industries minister Partha Chatterjee. Barla said a seven-member delegation from the committee would attend the meeting tomorrow. “We have received an invitation from minister Gautam Deb. A seven-member delegation will sit with ministers and officials. If the government appeals to us to withdraw the strike, the delegates will consult with other leaders before making any announcement. They will ask the ministers to promise us in writing that 349 mouzas in the plains will be made a part of the GTA,” said Barla.

The official faction of the Parishad said its supporters would hit the streets if the Barla group and other outfits went ahead with the 48-hour strike. “We had scaled down our strike by one day on the basis of the government’s assurance that there would be no fresh problems in the Terai and Dooars. However, if these people (Barla and others) observe the strike, we will not sit idle and scuttle the strike with the help of the common people,” said Rajesh Lakra, the general secretary of the Dooars-Terai regional unit of the Parishad.

( Source - Telegraph , Calcutta)

KOLKATA: Maruti Suzuki India Ltd (MSIL), the country's largest car maker, plans to invest about Rs 80 crore to set up a logistic hub at Siliguri in West Bengal's Darjeeling district.The auto major has asked for 35 acres of land for the hub to be set up in an upcoming industrial park at Siliguri. Senior officials from Maruti Suzuki held talks with industry minister Partha Chatterjee here Friday, the penultimate day of the ongoing "Bengal Leads 2012", a business summit organised by the state government.

The officials said the company has planned to invest about Rs.65-80 crore in the proposed logistic hub. About 300 people would be employed at the hub when it would be operational, they said. The government is understood to have asked the car maker to submit a formal proposal for the project. The industrial park at Siliguri is a joint-venture between West Bengal Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation (WBIIDC), the Kanchenjunga Integrated Infrastructure Development Private Limited and the Shristi Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee formally inaugurated the six-day-long business summit Jan 9.