Darjeeling, March
7: The state government has decided to deploy central paramilitary and
state forces in the hills from tonight, the first time in the hills
since 2010.
The announcement
has come a day after suspected Yuva Morcha activists attacked two
Trinamul leaders in Kalimpong but officials in Writers’ Buildings in
Calcutta said last night’s attack had no bearing on the state’s
decision.
The Morcha, which
is scheduled to hold its central committee meeting tomorrow to decide on
the fate of its agitation, has said the deployment of forces in the
hills was “unnecessary”.
The hill party has
called for the closure of all government offices from March 9 to 27. It
has also announced two-phase 48-hour general strikes on March 14-15 and
March 21-22.
Kunal Aggarwal,
the Darjeeling superintendent of police, said today: “Two platoons of
the Indian Reserve Battalion and a platoon of the Rapid Action Force
will move into the hills today evening. A platoon each of the forces
will be stationed in Kalimpong, Kurseong and Darjeeling.” One platoon
has 33 personnel. The RAF and IRB are state forces.
Aggarwal did not
comment on the deployment of central paramilitary forces but sources in
the police department confirmed the deployment will start from Monday
evening.
“The Morcha
delegation camping in Delhi seemed to have convinced the Centre that
there is no need to deploy central paramilitary forces in the hills at
the moment. However, the Centre had a change of mind following the
attack on Trinamul leaders at Kalimpong yesterday. The Centre has given
the nod for deployment of six companies of central forces to
Darjeeling,” the source in the police department said. A company of
central paramilitary force consists of 120 personnel.
“A large number of
the central force personnel is being deployed. Two companies each will
be deployed in Darjeeling, Kalimpong and Kurseong. The department has
already started making preparation to house the personnel,” the source
said.
The last time the
CRPF, a central paramilitary force, was deployed in the hills in July
2009 to keep open the NH31A, the arterial link between Sikkim and the
rest of the country, following a directive from the Supreme Court when
the Morcha had called general strikes.
A stretch of NH31A
passes through Darjeeling district and following the Morcha’s frequent
closure of the highway, .P. Bhandari, a resident of Gangtok, had filed a
petition before the Supreme Court highlighting the problems the people
of Sikkim face.
At that time, the
CRPF was deployed on the NH31A stretch and not in other areas of
Darjeeling, Kalimpong and Kurseong. The forces were withdrawn after
three months.
The earlier Left
Front government kept to a no-confrontation policy with the Morcha since
the party started the Gorkhaland agitation on October 7, 2007. It
relied on the West Bengal Armed Police to maintain law and order in the
hills.
The IRB and RAF,
which are stationed in Siliguri, were only sent to the hills for a
specific duration during the four-year agitation after the attack on the
Kurseong police station in February 2010.
At Writers’ a home
department official said: “Maintenance of law and order and keeping the
road to Sikkim open are the main concerns. The additional forces are
not being sent because of any fresh threat perception. They are being
deployed just to keep a grip in law and order.”
Binay Tamang,
assistant secretary of the Morcha, said: “The central committee meeting
will be held at Kurseong at 1pm tomorrow.” Gurung, along with senior
Morcha leaders who are in Delhi, are expected to land at Bagdogra
airport by noon tomorrow and go to Kurseong.
Roshan Giri, the
general secretary of the Morcha said the deployment was unnecessary.
“The deployment of forces is unnecessary as there is peace in the Hills
at the moment.”
The Morcha’s
meeting has been called to rethink on their future course of agitation
after President Pranab Mukherjee and Union home minister Sushil Kumar
Shinde requested the Morcha to withdraw its prolonged agitation. A
similar request was made to the Morcha delegation when it met Union
finance minister P. Chidambaram in Delhi today.
“With the
deployment of additional forces, the Morcha will have to handle the
situation delicately. Continuation of the strike would have a bearing on
the law and order situation in the region in the days to come,” a hill
observer said.
Morcha meets PC
A delegation of the Gorkha Janmukti
Morcha, led by party president Bimal Gurung today met Union finance
minister P.Chidambaram in Delhi today. Roshan Giri, general secretary of
the Morcha speaking over the phone said: “We told the Union finance
minister that the Centre had only released Rs 65 crores of the promised
annual grant of Rs 200 crore to the GTA. We have requested the finance
minister to release the outstanding amount by March end. The minister
has assured us that the flow of funds would not be a problem.”
Source: VIVEK CHHETRI
The Telegraph
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