GORKHALAND MOVEMENT : NO TAKERS FROM DOOARS & TERAI

‎At a time when the credibility of the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM), vis a vis its threat of final battle for Gorkhaland, is questioned its disillusioned supporters in Terai and Dooars want the leaders to pass the litmus test before they expect them to join their bandwagon.

GJM’s movement for separate state of Gorkhaland that concluded with the signing of Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA) Accord on July 18, 2011, gained momentum only after it was spread in Terai of Darjeeling district and the Dooars in Jalpaiguri district.

Unlike the first phase of Gorkhaland movement under the leadership of Subash Ghisingh that, ended after the formation of Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council (DGHC) in August 1988, more people in Terai Dooars joined the movement led by Bimal Gurung. Five people, including four GJM supporters, died during the movement in the Dooars three of them in police firing and two in political clash between the pro and anti Gorkhaland supporters.

Properties of Gorkhaland supporters in Terai and Dooars were ransacked and houses were set on fire. Ethnic clashes had become regular features thus disturbing peaceful co-existence among various communities. Piles of police cases are pending against the GJM leaders and supporters in the region.

However, the GJM’s acceptance of the recommendations of the Justice (retd.) Shyamal Sen Committee to add only five of the 398 mouzas of Terai and the Dooars as demanded by the GJM in the GTA came crushing for the party supporters in Terai and the Dooars.

Though the GJM is insisting that the party doesn’t exclude Terai and the Dooars in its second round of movement, its supporters in the region are skeptical.“The supporters of the GJM in the Dooars have already suffered lots and are in no mood to be fooled once again.” A former president of GJM Dooars committee said, who left the party after some differences with the leaders in the hills.

“Demoralised GJM supporters in Dooars need a concrete assurance from the hill leaders if they want them to support the movement,” Rohit Thapa a senior GJM leader in the Dooars said.

SN Pradhan a member of GJM’s study forum opined that lots depend on the GJM’s strategy and plan. Though Dooars people are feeling alienated after the GTA was formed, the supporters of Dooars will back the ‘final’ battle for Gorkhaland if the leaders show their commitments, Pradhan said.

However, some former GJM leaders who left the party after it signed the GTA Accord opined that the hill leaders just want to make the Dooars people scapegoats to bring home their bargaining power. Kamal Pakhrin a former GJM leader said that the Nepalise/gorkhas of Dooars have become skeptical to join the movement led by untrustworthy leaders. In Terai also the mood is somber.

“This time it is very hard to get spontaneous support from the Nepalise of Terai as they are feeling cheated while hill leaders are busy enjoying the power,” a senior GJM leader from Siliguri said.

Most of the Terai supporters believe that even if the GJM starts its Gorkhaland movement, it would hardly find takers in the plains. They also said that the GJM’s threat is just aimed for its own political survival.

Bidhan had blamed Deepa Dasmunshi for his brother’s disappearance

A 20-year-old case has returned to haunt Congress MP Deepa Dasmunsi. West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Friday ordered the resumption of a CID probe into the disappearance of Biman Bhattacharjee, a well-known theatre artiste and musician. His family blames Dasmunsi, then Deepa Ghosh, for his disappearance.

Biman, a member of the theatre group Bohurupee, went missing on June 14, 1992, from Beniatola Lane in central Kolkata. His elder brother Bidhan Bhattacharjee and NGO All India Legal Aid Forum had approached Mamata, demanding that the case be reopened.

In a written complaint, Bidhan had blamed Deepa for his brother’s disappearance. He had stated that Biman and Deepa lived together for three years at her house on Panditya Road in south Kolkata, and that Biman was abducted with prior planning and later murdered. An FIR was lodged with the Gariahat police station and Deepa was questioned by the police.

The Raiganj MP and wife of former Union minister Priya Ranjan Dasmunsi, Deepa said that while Biman was known to her and used to visit her house, “there was no relationship with him”. “Biman was a musician involved with theatre. His home was located outside Kolkata.

At that time a lot of friends from the world of culture used to visit our house. Often they stayed in my guestroom on the ground floor. Biman too stayed in the guestroom for three months,” she told The Indian Express.

Questioning the timing of the probe, Deepa added: “Why was everyone silent on his disappearance for so long? Now his family is saying a lot of things. Are they really concerned about Biman? I don’t know about the All India Legal Aid Forum. The matter has been highlighted after a long time with political motive in mind.”

According to Bidhan, both Biman and Deepa were involved with theatre and became close in the 1980s. At that time, she regularly visited their home at Konnagar. Later, they allegedly started to stay together at Panditiya Road at Deepa’s residence. While Biman was 29 years old at the time, she was 31, Bidhan said. Gradually, Bidhan claimed, the relationship soured, taking a turn for the worse in 1992 after Deepa and Priya Ranjan Dasmunsi became close.

On the day of his disappearance — June 14, 1992 — Biman was at a play rehearsal at Beniatola Lane when he had an altercation with Deepa, Bidhan said. He alleged that some youths were waiting outside the premises in a car, and that Biman was abducted from there.

While they had approached former chief ministers Jyoti Basu and Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee too, Bidhan said the police had failed to locate Biman and put the case on the backburner. General secretary of the All India Legal Aid Forum Joydeep Mukherjee said investigations will hopefully resolve the mystery.

Minister in the cabinet from Alipurduar district

Erstwhile government was not concerned about dooars region and they have not addressed the important issues of dooars for its economic imbalances. It is most underdeveloped region in road connectivity, education and health infrastructure development. After formation of Alipurduar district people of dooars (mostly tribal people) have joined hands with Shri Anil Adhikary who is lonely MLA of TMC from the Alipurduar district. Shri Adhikari has shown his concern about the root causes of problems of the tribal people. He always said people who had formed and joined any organisation after being frustrated at the Left Front government’s neglect of the Dooars should join hands with Trinamul Congress for the sake of development of the region under our beloved leader Mamata Banerjee’s rule.  Now expectation of the tribal & other communities of the Alipurduar district are very high. They want TMC party should take a lenient view for providing berth to their beloved leader Anil Adhikary, MLAs in the state cabinet. 

Child trafficking thriving in tea gardens of Dooars

With a number of tea gardens in Jalpaiguri district closed or reported to be sick, hundreds of children whose parents worked there, are being trafficked each year, a report said.

Highlighting the vulnerability of children living near the defunct tea gardens of Dooars, the joint study was done by UNICEF, Save the Children and Burdwan University. The report says it has been estimated that 3500 children migrated from 12 tea gardens in 2010.

"Children of Adivasi, poor and large families especially girls are prime targets," the report said.

"Many never return and nearly 8 to 10 children out of every 100 migrating every year go missing and the same number of children per tea garden is being trafficked every year," it said. Delhi remains the most preferred destination followed by Kerala, Sikkim, Punjab, Bangalore and Bhutan.

"Poverty was ranked as the number one contributing factor, as labourers are left to fend for themselves by tea garden owners who abandon their estates without paying salary/wages, provident fund and gratuity to them," the report said. It was followed by unemployment, poor wages, large family, illiteracy and promise of a better life.

Save the Children's state programme manager Jatin Mondar said poverty is just one of the many contributing factors in child trafficking but not the root cause of the problem.

"The level of poverty among the labourers in tea gardens is the result of deep rooted and long-term non-development in these areas," he said. Lack of educational and health infrastructure have also been affecting the children, the report observed. Only five out of 12 gardens have secondary schools while only two have higher secondary schools. Only four out of 12 tea gardens have arranged transportation but the students have to pay for this.

Malnutrition, lung infection, chest pain, headache and water borne diseases are frequent among children due to poor diet, contaminated drinking water and unhygienic conditions, the report said.

Creation of Separate Alipurduar District

It is good news to the people of Alipurduar Sub-division that in an All-party meeting convened by the Hon'ble Chief Minister, Mamata Bannerji, on 3rd August 2011, proposal for bifurcating of Jalpaiguri District and creating of a new District called Alipurduar, along with proposal for rechristening the name of the State, was discussed. It is hoped that sooner or later, Alipurduar is going to emerge as a separate District.

Historical Background:

The creation of Alipurduar Sub-division was not smooth. A lengthy controversy took place between J.C. Haughton, the then Commissioner of Cooch Behar Division and Colonel E.A. Rowlatt, respecting the suitability of Alipurduar as a Sub-divisional Station. Colonel Rowlatt wanted that Alipurduar should be made a Sub-division instead of Falakata as recommended by Haughton. At length, Falakata was selected as a Sub-division. The origin of the name of Alipurduar was first reported by D.H.E. Sunder, the then Settlement Officer, in his Settlement Report of the Western Duars, Jalpaiguri District in 1896 in which he reported that Alipurduar was named after the late Colonel Hedayet Ali. Sunder's proposition appears to be unfounded, considering the fact that when Captain Hedayet Ali took the command of Cooch Behar Troops in June 1864, the name Alipur had already existed.

After the conclusion of Anglo-Bhutan War of 1864-65 by a Treaty of Sinchula signed on 12th November 1865, the Western Duars tracts were taken over from the Bhutan Government by the British Government. The British Government then proposed to create a new District called Jalpaiguri and by a Notification dated, Fort William, the 8th December 1868, the name Western Duars was ceased and its Sub-division called Buxa was abolished. Thereupon, a new District called Jalpaiguri was formed on 1st January 1869 with two Sub-divisions - one the Sudder Sub-division with Head-Quarters at Jalpaiguri and the other the Falakata Sub-division with Head-Quarters at Falakata. However, at length, in 1876 the Sub-divisional Station of Falakata was closed and the Sub-divisional Station was transferred to Alipurduar. Since then Alipurduar remained as a Sub-division till this day.

NOBLE STEP :

Presently, the area of Jalpaiguri District is 6,277 sq.km. After remaining as a District for about 142 years, Jalpaiguri is at last going to be divided into two Districts for administrative conveniences. This is certainly not only a noble step but also an historic step on the part of the Hon'ble Chief Minister of West Bengal. We rejoice in her practical concern for overall development of the people in general and in particular for her concern for the people of Alipurduar Sub-Division.

Shri Deba Prasad Roy, a Congress MLA from Alipurduar Assembly Constituency, supported the demand of the creation of Alipurduar District and assured the people that he would voice for the same in the Assembly. His contribution towards the fulfillment of the aspirations of the people is no doubt very great and highly appreciable.

(Compiled & circulated by: N.BURMAN, President, Dooars Terai Nagarik Manch)

                                                    Source : H.Mech

ECONOMIC IMBALANCES IN DOOARS

We are introducing us an apex body of various social organization and citizen forums. We are fighting for the cause of social unrest and ethnic problems since its inception. We believe in communal harmony and a tension free society. We are also taking selective approach for pursuing the developmental works in and around dooars & terrain area in the immediate future.

Raise your voice:

Government must address to important issues of Dooars for its extreme economic imbalances hence special package should given for Dooars region. It is the most underdeveloped region in road connectivity, education and health infrastructure development. The Dooars region received till now no substantial development.

Government must consider to form Dooars Development Authority immediately and it should be given a statutory status with a corpus of Rs 1000 crores from Plan allocation for flood management and infrastructure development of Dooars. Dooars would be a prosperous zone of State of West Bengal if it provides enough financial support from the State.

ON THE ABOVE QUESTION A BRAIN STORMING SESSION AS WELL SEMINAR IS GOING TO BE HELD AT HAMILTONGANJ AT THE END OF AUGUST MONTH, 2012. HON’BLE MINISTERS, MLA’S, MP’S OF WEST BENGAL GOVERNMENT, EMINENT EDUCATIONISTS, AND RENOWENED SOCIAL WORKERS ARE EXPECTED TO TAKE PARTICIPATION ON THE SAID SEMINAR.

JOIN WITH US

(Bodo Peoples Forum, All India Mahali Association,Rava Development Council, Buxa Fort Dukpa Welfare Society, Dooar Terai Nagarik Manch, Toto Development Council….etc.)

The decision of the panel on GTA shall be binding and accepted by all

Justice (retd) Shyamal Sen, who headed the high-powered committee that recommended allotment of five mouzas of Dooars and Terai region into the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA), feels that the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) should abide by the recommendations of the committee as during last year’s tripartite meeting, it was agreed between all the three — the Central government, West Bengal government and the GJM — that “the decision of the panel shall be binding and accepted by all”.

The GJM has expressed unhappiness over the Sen’s recommendation as the party had sought inclusion of 396 mouzas into the GTA.

In an exclusive interview with The Indian Express, Sen said the panel’s recommendation was “unbiased and based only on predetermined factors”. “After looking into all the aspects and weighing all the pros and cons, I came to a conclusion that only five mouzas could be brought under the GTA. Our judgment may not be palatable to all the parties but our decision is not biased,” he said.

“My allegiance is only to consciousness and Constitution of the country, law of the country and law of the land. I am bold enough to face any situation,” Sen added.

According to him, the five mouzas were selected keeping in mind all the conditions. “It might be that a particular mouza has got (Gorkha) population and contiguity, but it lacked homogeneity and that’s why we rejected such mouzas,’’ he said.

Every party can claim as many mouzas but factors like contiguity, compactness, homogeneity, ground level situation and accessibility should be looked into it, he added.

Sen said there was a need for development in the hills, and if GTA is formed after the election next month, there is a chance of all round development of the hills.

Terming his assignment of heading the panel as a “prestigious one”, Sen said when Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee personally told him to look into the issue, he could not turn down the request.

He said the delay in finalising the report happened and they had to seek an extension of six months because the office was not allotted to the panel till November last year.

“I used to work from my home. Once we were allotted the office, the committee started functioning in a full-fledged manner. My target was to finish my work within first week of June, and I am now free as I have completed my work,” he added.

According to him the GJM, CPM, Forward Bloc, Bangla Bhasa Raksha Committee and officials of the state government took part in the hearing and made submissions, but they were not part of the decision-making process.