LF against the Railways'
"apathy" towards the DHR
Not to be outdone by the Trinamul Congress in the ongoing tussle
against the railway minister, The Darjeeling district Left Front
has decided to claim its pound of flesh from the Railways. The
Left Front will launch an agitation against the Railways' "apathetic
attitude" towards the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway of World Heritage
fame and for the revival of the Siliguri Junction and the creation
of a new Railway division with the headquarters at New Jalpaiguri.
These demands would be raised along with a show of defiance against
the decision to bifurcate the eastern zone on 12 August.
"Despite all available technology, the DHR is suffering from
lack of technological support. The service between the New Jalpaiguri
and Darjeeling, more often than not, remains suspended,"
senior Left Front leader and CPI-M district secretariat member
Mr J Sarkar said. "It is a shame that after all the fanfare
for earning the World Heritage status, the DHR continues to be
run in such shabby conditions," the Left Front alleged. The
Front will draw the railway minister's attention to the "apathetic
attitude" and also resist any attempt to reschedule the DHR
route.
Chattray's son picked
up for interrogation
Santosh Subba, son of ailing Gorkha Liberation Organisation chief
Chattray Subba, has been picked up for interrogation, police sources
said. Santosh alias Gorey has been on the run ever since Kumar
Bhujel was arrested in connection with the Kandahar hijack from
a hideout at Singdeybung on the outskirts of Kalimpong in March
2002. Gorey, 28, was picked up by the police on 3 August from
a hideout in Kalimpong. In October last year, Gorey was accused
by his uncle and senior leader Prakash Subba of having stolen
his licensed .12 bore rifle from his 20th Mile Salyong Bustee
residence. Police have been looking for Gorey ever since. Following
a tip-off that the fugitive had been going around Singdeybung
extorting money, and that he was hiding near his in-laws' house
at Kawas Goan in Singdeybung, the police raided the hideout.
Gorey, like his father, has married twice. His second wife is
Bhujel's niece. One of his close relatives said: "They raided
the house late at night and picked him up. We do not know where
he has been taken. No one at the Kalimpong thana would give us
any information about his whereabouts." Though the police
are rightlipped about the incident or whether any arms had been
seized from him, it is believed that a sophisticated weapon was
recovered from Gorey. Intelligence sources, confirming the incident,
said his detention would throw more light on the Kandahar hijack
as well as Gorey's alleged Nagaland connections.
According to the intelligence official, Gorey is Chattray Subba's
son from his first wife Ambika, who lives in Dimapur in Nagaland.
Gorey is believed to frequent Nagaland and is alleged to have
close links with the National Socailist Council of Nagalim. "We
have reasons to believe that he could have a major role in procuring
arms for his father's outfit, which is the prime suspect of the
abortive attempt on Mr Subash Ghissing's life in February 2001.
Gorey's arrest is a major breakthrough for both the Bhujel case
and the bid on Ghissing's life," the official said. Gorey
had been earlier arrested, in the mid-nineties, for allegedly
possessing illegal arms.
WB Govt 'dumps' development
panel on DGHC sans funds
The State Government's decision to hand over the Darjeeling
Improvement Fund (DIF) to the DGHC has stirred a major controversy
here. The DGHC thinks it should be made to bear the additional
bruden and the State is not willing to take up the DIF's responsibility
again. And the 100 odd employees of the DIF are looking at this
tug of war with alarm because the district administration recently
blocked their biggest source of revenue and, effectively, their
salary. The DIF was instituted by the British in 1840 as an autonomous
body. It stayed the way until Independence, when the State Government
took it into its fold. In 1993, however, the Government decided
to transfer DIF to the local bodies. The process began in Siliguri
where the switch is passing without a hitch. Part of the DIF offices
in Siliguri have been handed over to the Siliguri Municipal Corporation
and the rest are being transferred to the Mahukuma Parishad.
But the DGHC is not happy. It wants the DIF's sources of revenue
to be handed over or additional funds from the State Government
to pay the employees. The DIF's chief source of revenue is the
collection of lease, revenue collected from haats and bazaars
and from mutation of DIF land. This revenue is used to pay the
staff and meet other expenses. There are absolutely no funds from
the State Government, an official said. "The State Government
is not interested in keeping the DIF and the DGHC does not want
us. We are the ones who are suffering in this tug of war,"
said a SIF employee. According to the plan, DIF offices located
at Sukhia, Teesta, Pokhriabong, Algara, Simana, Badamtam, Lava,
Rambi, Kagey, Pedong and Nimbong are to be transferred to the
Hill Council and those in the municipality areas of Darjeeling,
Kurseong and Kalimpong are to be handed over to the respective
municipalities.
But the DGHC says that State is forcing the DIF employees down
its throat. "The State wants to hand over the employees to
us but not the funds. How can we pay them salary unless the State
Government hand us over the means of revenue," asked SK Lama,
the DGHC councillor in charge of Panchayat and DIF Sanction.
DGHC Polls on the warm up
Groundwork for the fourth Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council elections
has already begun in the Hills with the Hill Congress having held
an executive body meeting at Kurseong on 4 August. The meeting
was presided by Dawa Norbula, president of the Darjeeling District
Congress, Hill Zone. In the March 1998 DGHC elections, the Congress
formed a coalition known as the Sanjukta Morcha comprising the
Communist Party of Revolutionary Marxist (CPRM), the Akhil Baratiya
Gorkha League (ABGL), the Trinamool Congress, the Bharatiya Gorkha
Jan Shakti, Sikkim the Rastriya Mukti Morcha, the BJP an the Bharatiya
Nepali Bir Gorkha Party. The Sanjukta Morcha managed to bag two
seats with Sankarmani Rai of the ABGL winning from Jaldhaka and
BK Rai (ABGL) winning from Mirik. However, both of them joined
the Gorkha National Liberation Front (GNLF) a few months later.
The Morcha did not last for too long with the Congress, CPRM and
the ABGL breaking away and forming a separate coalition called
the Gorkha Sanjukta Morcha. Incidentally, they have managed to
rope in the Peoples Democratic Socialist Party with Saifuddin
Chowdhary assuring them of support in all development activities
and demands in the hills. "Our results in the last elections
was spoilt due to some black sheep within the Morcha", said
Lawrence PT Lama, secretary of the Hill Congress. This election
the Congress along with the Gorkha Sanjukta Morcha has decided
to be more cautious regarding the parties with which they form
a coalition. "Unless we are sure of the credibility of a
party and its leaders we will have nothing to do with them,"
said Mr Lama. The main agenda for the forthcoming election would
be to curb corruption in the SGHC and its failure to bring about
development in the region, said Lama. Among other issues discussed
in meeting was the plight of the SCC empanelled candidates who
have not yet been appointed.
