Gautam Deb meets Lepcha, Hill TMC representatives | Lepcha prod to spite Morcha

Kalimpong, Aug. 18: Minister Gautam Deb today said the Lepcha development board would start function from the Kalimpong subdivisional office for now, the announcement timed a day before the a fresh spell of agitation in the hills.

Deb was in Kalimpong today to make the announcement.

This is not the first time the Trinamul government has made announcements on the board just when the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha was about to begin agitations.

After Morcha supporters in Darjeeling protested chief minister Mamata Banerjee’s assertion of a unified Bengal, she announced the formation of the Lepcha board.

The Morcha was against the formation of a board outside the purview of the GTA, but the state government brought the Lepcha board under the state backward classes department.

A day before the Morcha began its renewed agitation for statehood, a state government team met Lepcha leaders on August 2 to finalise the names of the nominated members and complete formalities to put the board in place.

On August 5, in the middle of the Gorkhaland agitation, the state came out with a notification that named the seven community nominated members to the Lepcha development board.

Deb’s announcement today falls in this pattern of government action.

Without mentioning when the board would start functioning from the temporary office, Deb said a proposal had already been sent to the state government with regard to the programmes the board planned to take up.

“The board has sent a budgetary proposal (required to implement its programmes),” he said.

According to a notification issued on August 5, the government nominated seven members of the Lepcha community to the 11-member executive body of the board, registered under the West Bengal Societies Registration Act, 1961.

The remaining four members, including the member secretary, are government officials. G Namchu, the former managing director of the West Bengal Dairy Development Board, has been appointed the member secretary.

Lyansang Tamsang, president of the Indigenous Lepcha Tribal Association, has been nominated the chairperson and Yusuf Simmick the vice-chairperson.

The Lepchas make up about 20 per cent of the hill population. Most of them reside in Kalimpong subdivision.

“This is not the first time that Mamata Banerjee has used the Lepcha issue to embarrass the Morcha. The formation of the board in February came within days of the Morcha raising the Gorkhaland ante following her (Mamata’s) remarks in Darjeeling that the hills were an integral part of Bengal,” said a source in the hills.

Lepcha leaders, conscious that the formation of the board has not gone down well with the Morcha, have preferred to keep a low profile.

The members of the community had gone on a fast-unto-death in February following a bandh called by the Morcha against the setting up of the board.

Neither Tamsang nor Simmick were part of a delegation of the Lepcha Youth Organisation which met Deb here to thank the government for the formation of the board.

A Lepcha delegate said: “The members of our youth organisation have come to meet the minister to convey their thanks. Beyond that I know nothing.”

Others refused to talk to the media.

Strike

“We are making announcements, urging our members to keep their shops open and requesting people in general to keep life normal.”

The Darjeeling district Congress leadership, which has been silent so far on the hill issue, has decided to organise an “amity march” across Siliguri at 11am tomorrow.

This is the first time that a political party has decided to come out with a specific programme on a bandh day, called by an anti-Gorkhaland organisation.

“We are against any strike which is thrust on people of Siliguri by some organisations, which do not have even 10 people as supporters. Such strikes largely affect the economy of Siliguri and are deterrent to the amity between the hills and plains,” Shankar Malakar, the Darjeeling district Congress president said.

“Tomorrow, thousands of Congress workers will walk in the streets, soliciting peace and amity and would appeal to defy the strike. We would request the state government and the district administration to take harsh steps in case those who have called the bandh, try to create any trouble,” Malakar added.

Deb said: “We appreciate the decision of the business community, the transporters and people from all walks of life to defy the strike imposed on us. We expect that life would remain perfectly normal in Siliguri tomorrow. The administration would take steps in case there is any trouble.”

Siliguri has been suffering the problem of bandh and strikes for past six-seven years, particularly after the resumption of Gorkhaland movement by the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha in 2007, called by outfits such as the Bangla O Bangla Bhasha Banchao Committee and Amra Bangali.

Between 2007 and 2011, these outfits called at least four strikes on an average every year, all of which were successful.

The Telegraph

Gautam Deb meets Lepcha, Hill TMC representatives 

North Bengal Development Minister Gautam Deb has criticized the Gorkhaland Joint Action Committee’s ‘ghar vitra janata’ programme claiming it to be illegal and unconstitutional.

The Trinamool Congress was in Kalimpong today where he interacted with Lepcha community representatives and Hill TMC leaders separately at the Circuit House here.

Speaking to journalists afterwards, Deb said, “The high court’s ruling has been ignored. This ‘ghar vitra janata’ programme is illegal and unconstitutional.” He informed discussions have been held with the state’s high ranking officials on the issue of dealing with the current situation at the administrative level. Deb had met SDO LN Sherpa and DM Punit Yadav before meeting the Lepcha and TMC representatives. The minister noted that as the dates of some exams clash with the GJAC’s agitation programmes, the administration has been forced to step up security. “I will myself go and encourage the examinees, if need be,” he said.

Deb added the Hills residents should come forward voluntarily to maintain normalcy, while slamming the Congress and BJP members who have joined the GJAC for promoting the Gorkhaland movement and trying to divide Bengal.  He said, “I ask both these national parties that if they support the further division of Bengal, our party will oppose strongly.”

Claiming he has come to Kalimpong to reinstate peace and democracy in the Hills, Deb said the strikes and agitation have begun disrupting the economy of the Hills and both leaders and common people must think about this seriously. “This agitation is like a war declared against the Hills folk. I wish this understanding comes to the leadership.” he said.

Meanwhile, speaking on the issue of deployment of additional central forces, the minister remarked, “This is an administrative affair. The police are constantly watching the situation here. They will take steps as required.”

He added no force shall be used to open commercial establishments during the strike period. “All we can do is request,” added the minister.(EOI)