‘Voluntary’ lock on Takdah valley - 40 schools closed

Morcha supporters at the meeting at Runglee-Rangliot in Darjeeling on Wednesday. Picture by Suman Tamang

Darjeeling, April 13(VIVEK CHHETRI ): Six tea gardens were shut, 40 schools did not conduct classes and taxis refused to ferry passengers as the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha went on a campaigning spree in the Takdah-Teesta valley, claiming that the region had shut down voluntarily to attend the party’s two back-to-back rallies.

The Gorkha Janmukti Morcha’s candidate for Kurseong, Rohit Sharma, today addressed two public meetings at Soreng and Runglee-Rungliot tea gardens in the Takdah-Teesta valley area, 45km from Darjeeling town, to seek votes in his favour.

And to purportedly attend these two meetings, the six tea gardens in the area — Teesta Valley, Ranglee-Rungliot, Geille, Namring, Jinglam and Pubong — were shut for the day. The valley area has a voter strength of around 22,000.

No classes were held in 20 private schools, two government-aided high schools, one junior high school and the 20-odd primary schools.

Narbu G. Lama, the convener of the Morcha’s Takdah-Teesta Valley area, said: “The labourers who are all Morcha supporters wanted to voluntarily attend the meetings and the management had no choice but to give a holiday. Even teachers of private institutions wanted to attend the meeting and I guess the private schools also declared a holiday today. As far as the government schools are concerned, I heard that these institutions were closed because of a local festival, Chaitya Daishain.”

A teacher in Darjeeling confirmed that schools across the district were closed because of Chaitya Daishain, a “sectional holiday” (meant for particular communities). However, all private schools were open in Darjeeling town.

Lama stressed that his party had not forced shut any of the gardens. “When there are no labourers turning out for work the management has no alternative but to declare a holiday,” he said.

Tea garden officials, on condition of anonymity, said there was a verbal appeal from the Morcha to allow the labourers to attend the meeting. “In the past, too, there had been instances when we had been asked to keep the gardens shut because of meetings. In such situations, we do not deduct the wages but adjust the day’s absence by keeping the garden open on a scheduled holiday, sometimes even on Sundays,” an official said.