HC rap for Centre, state over Hill pact

HC rap for Centre, state over Hill pact

17 September 2011

tirthankar mitra 
KOLKATA, 17 SEPT: Calcutta High Court criticised the state government and Union government on Friday, for failing to address issues relating to the impact of an alleged influx of people from Nepal on demographics in India. The criticism comes long after the ink has dried on the memorandum of agreement (MoA) between the state, Union Government and the Gorkha Jan Mukti Morcha (GJMM) for the formation of Gorkha Territorial Administration (GTA).
“The matter is extremely serious in nature. The respondents are taking the matter very lightly,” the Division Bench of Chief Justice Mr Justice JN Patel and Mr Justice Asim Roy said during a public interest litigation (PIL) hearing on the misutilisation of Articles six and seven of the Indo-Nepal Treaty of 1950, which some say is leading to an influx of people of Nepali origin to India.  
The provisions in these Articles confer exclusive and restricted national treatment to the treaty beneficiaries in India and Nepal.
According to the PIL, which was submitted by Mr Kallol Guha Thakurta and  moved by Jan Chetna, a Siliguri-based voluntary organisation, an increasing number of people of Nepali origin are coming to India and enrolling themselves on the voters’ list in many constituencies in Darjeeling, Kalimpong, Kurseong and parts of the Dooars in West Bengal,
Resentment among people of non-Nepali origin about the inclusion of certain areas in the GTA's jurisdiction was manifested in a bandh in Siliguri. The bandh was part of a two-day agitation that took place on the day the MoA was signed. Several organisations are opposed to the GJMM’s demand for inclusion of eight wards from the Siliguri Municipal Corporation and 196 moujas each from the Terai and the Dooars in the GTA's jurisdiction. 
The Election Commission has failed to prevent this illegal inclusion, it was submitted. It is violating Article 326 of the Constitution which deals with adult suffrage. Under the Indo-Nepal-Great Britain tripartite agreement in 1947, soldiers who are subjects of Nepal recruited in certain Gorkha regiments are debarred from possessing voting rights in India, it had been submitted. Their progeny is also not given this right. 
Besides entering India from Nepal, a sizeable number of persons of Nepali origin are going to Bhutan and then coming over to India, it was submitted. As there is no extradition treaty between India and Bhutan, these people are not registered as foreigners. It was further submitted that there is rising apprehension that north Bengal and north east India will at a point of time be swamped by them. 
The issue of the change of demographic pattern is a significant factor in the inclusion of area under Gorkha Terriotorial Administration's (GTA) jurisdiction. Incidentally, the director of census operations is a member of the high-powered committee which had been formed to look into the issue of identification of GTA's area from Siliguri, Terai and Dooars, keeping in mind      the “compactness, contiguity, homogeneity and ground-level situations.”  

Bridging the gap

Bridging the gap

17 September 2011

Mamata Banerjee may fret and Sheikh Hasina may fume but both need to understand that the 
Teesta water-sharing agreement should not be based on random statistics but on realistic need, writes samir dasgupta 

With the Indo-Bangla Teesta water-sharing treaty being abandoned at the eleventh hour ahead of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s Bangladesh visit over West Bengal chief minister Miss Mamata Banerjee’s reservations about the quantum to be shared, it will be helpful to examine how far her concerns and Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s resultant annoyance are valid.
The surface and ground potential of water resources in the Brahmaputra Basin, consisting of the sub-basins of the Sankosh, the Raidak, the Torsa, the Jaldhaka and the Teesta ~ all of which flow through north Bengal ~ are 96,852 million cubic meters (MCM) or 3,072 cubic meter per second (cum/sec) and 6,143 MCM, respectively, of which the Teesta sub-basin needs 32,124 MCM of surface water along with another 439 MCM of ground water to ensure continuous flow. A report dated 27 February 1987 compiled by an expert committee on irrigation constituted by the department of irrigation and waterways, Government of West Bengal confirms this. The committee, while studying the state’s surface and ground water potential, had recommended a number of technical steps to utilise the natural resource best. The panel had also suggested simultaneous flood control in order to minimise overflow into Bay of Bengal via Bangladesh. It would seem to the writer, who was one of the non-official members of the panel, that the state government, for reasons best known to itself, never heeded the recommendations of that panel of experts.
Currently, in Darjeeling, Jalpaiguri, Cooch Behar, West Dinajpur and Malda districts of the state serviced by the Brahmaputra Basin, about 60,000 hectares of land is irrigated by using 3,468 MCM or 110 cum/sec per annum with another 2,962 cum/sec to spare, of which 36 cum/sec of surface water is used to irrigate around 20,000 hectares in Saidpur, Rangpur and East Dinajpur in Bangladesh. 
Before arriving at an acceptable quantum of Teesta water to be shared by the neighbouring countries, it is necessary to estimate the total area that needs to be irrigated with surface water from the Teesta sub-basin both in Bangladesh and West Bengal in India. Apparently, available surface water is sufficient to meet the requirement of both countries. The water-sharing agreement should not be based on random statistics but on realistic need. For example, the tracts to the south and to the west of the Teesta-Brahmaputra (Jamuna) confluence do not need any water from the Teesta sub-basin as their requirements are met by the Jamuna sub-basin in Bangladesh.
In the interest of hydel power generation in India, we should not overlook the fact that by discharging water to Bangladesh through the Teesta barrage, India generates additional hydro-power as a by-product. Both India and Bangladesh would do well to apply appropriate technology to increase the retention capacity of the Teesta and Dalia barrages. 
In the past, there was a proposal to link the Brahmaputra with the Ganges via the Teesta not only to control flood in Bangladesh but also to facilitate increased flow of water through the Hooghly to flush silt out of the Kolkata port. This was envisaged in order to offset the shortage stemming from the decades-old Farakka agreement with Bangladesh. There is no reason why the proposal cannot be revived and made to come to fruition by the two neighbouring countries, with perhaps, assistance from the World Bank. 
Considering all this, neither chief minister Miss Mamata Banerjee nor Sheikh Hasina should base their requirements on the absolute quantum of water available in the Teesta but on the actual quantity of water needed to irrigate the relevant area in both the Indian state and the neighbouring country. 

The writer is a retired technocrat and a former member of Expert Committee on Irrigation: Irrigation and Waterways Department; Government of West Bengal

Deepa threatens stir in N Bengal over super specialty hospital

Deepa threatens stir in N Bengal over super specialty hospital

9 September 2011
SILIGURI, 9 SEPT: The Raiganj MP and senior Congress leader, Mrs Deepa Das Munshi, has threatened a stir in north Bengal if the chief minister, Miss Mamata Banerjee kept on dithering over the proposed super specialty hospital for north Dinajpur on the lines of All India Institute of Medical Sciences in Delhi.
Mrs Das Munshi said that she had sent a letter to the chief minister a few days ago, seeking an appointment with her to discuss about the proposed health facility at Panishala near Raiganj. “I am still waiting for her response,” she said.
The senior Congress leader and former Union minister, Mr Priya Ranjan Das Munshi, had conceived the project. But his dream project has remained unfulfilled as Mr Das Munshi fell seriously ill.
“To put pressure on the chief minister, we will send a delegation from north Bengal to her soon. In case she remains apathetic to the demand we would stage a stir throughout north Bengal. Life may be disrupted and the chief minister would be held responsible for the likely mess,” she warned over phone from New Delhi.
 “We are all confused, as contrasting signals keep coming from the state government. The project is believed to be hanging in balance because of land acquisition problem. But we have cleared decks for the purpose, having earmarked lands at Panishala along the National Highway 34. The Centre would do the rest once the state government acquires the land,” she said.
“The fund is no factor concerning the project. The state government would have to just sanction   around Rs 15.5 crore in connection with the land acquisition. A part of it can easily be managed from the Uttar Banga Unnayan Parshad fund, amounting to Rs 200 crore, the state government has allotted for the body. The rest I will manage from the MPs’ local area development fund,” she said. sns

Asok, Deepa slam Mamata over Teesta

Asok, Deepa slam Mamata over Teesta

statesman news service
SILIGURI/BALURGHAT, 8 SEPT: When the chief minister, Miss Mamata Banerjee, is supposed to have torpedoed the much-publicised Teesta deal, involving India and Bangladesh, evidently to cater to her newly-acquired north Bengal constituency, two prominent political leaders from the region, Mrs Deepa Dasmunshi, known as the bete noire of the chief minister, and the CPI-M strongman from Darjeeling district, Mr Asok Bahattacharya, slammed Miss Banerjee, terming her decision to stay away from the bilateral meeting in Dhaka as “a monumentally suicidal one”.  
“The chief minister cannot be faulted for trying to protect the interests of the state she leads. But her gesture on the matter is not in sync with the culture of Bengal. When the Prime Minister was visiting the neighbouring country after a span of over a decade to better bilateral relations involving two important players in the volatile region, the chief minister from West Bengal should have shown the minimum courtesy,” she said. 
“The stance the chief minister has taken on the sensitive issue has come as a bolt from the blue. She did not raise cavil when the National Security Adviser, Mr Shiv Shankar Menon met her and finalised the nitty gritty of the PM’s trip to Bangladesh. Her idiosyncratic decision would not just tell upon the bilateral ties which started thawing after ages but would harm the interests of the state in the long run. Miss Banerjee missed the golden opportunity to better relation with our neighbour ~ a tragic failure in view of the success Jyoti Basu achieved,” she said.   
Echoing her, the former state urban development minister, Mr Asok Bhattacharya said that Miss Banerjee should not have made the impulsive decision. “We wonder whether her decision is in consonance with the principles on which our country’s federal polity is based,” he said. “We have all along demanded a 25 per cent water share from Teesta. But there is a decorum to place the state’s point of view, particularly when the stakes involving India were high on the matter. She would have better convened an all-party meeting instead of unilaterally gone for such a suicidal decision,” the senior CPI-M leader opined. 

GJMM reaffirms stance on GTA election

GJMM reaffirms stance on GTA election

6 September 2011

statesman news service
DARJEELING/SILIGURI, 6 SEPT: The GJMM leadership today reaffirmed its stance that no election to the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA) would be allowed to be held in the Darjeeling Hills until the state government-appointed land survey committee submits its report regarding 
the party’s claim over the Gorkha-majority areas spread across the Terai-Dooars.
“We would not participate in the election to the new council until the Committee concerned submits its report to the state government,” said the GJMM general secretary, Mr Roshan Giri. However, he expressed satisfaction over the passage of the GTA Bill in the state Assembly. The party celebrated the passage of the GTA Bill in the Assembly today through several rallies and other programmes across the Hills.
A senior CPI-M leader, Mr KB Wattar said in Darjeeling yesterday that the Hill unit of the party was with the GJMM in the land transfer demand. According to the observers, the Hill CPI-M's stance has provided fresh impetus to the GJMM clamour over lands in the plains.
Banks and post offices as well as the educational institutions across the three Hill sub-divisions remained closed today in response to the GJMM-sponsored celebration programmes. However, shops and other commercial establishments remained open. Thousands of people participated in the ‘victory’ rallies staged across the Hills. However, intriguingly, the GJMM president, Mr Bimal Gurung did not participate in today’s programmes. He is away at Rimbick, around 80 km away from Darjeeling town, presiding over the party’s organisational meeting.
Mr Giri said the party should desist from confusing people by parading ‘spurious’ empathy for the cause of Gorkhaland. “We have not betrayed the cause as is being alleged,” he said.

BJP slams govt for Hills body
BJP state president Mr Rahul Sinha today said the state government had committed a blunder by including ‘Gorkhaland’ in the nomenclature of the administrative setup for the Darjeeling Hills. “This is a monumental mistake on the part of the state government. The chief minister seems to have been entrapped in a blind alley due to her overpowering obsession with claptrap. The state might pay the penalty in the form of a further division of the state,” he said. He demanded reintroduction of the traditional ‘Darjeeling’ and dropping of ‘Gorkhaland’ from nomenclature of the autonomous body. 

Triparite meeting on tea workers’ wages inconclusi ve

Triparite meeting on tea workers’ wages 

inconclusi

ve

6 September 2011

SILIGURI, 6 SEPT: The eighth round of tripartite talks, which began on 4 September in Kolkata to decide on  a fresh agreement on tea workers’ wages after the old one expired on 31 March, 2011, was inconclusive on the third day today when planters refused to accept the trade union leaders’ proposal.
While the planters’ apex body, Consultative Committee of Planters’ Association (CCPA), stuck to their proposal to increase the wage of a permanent tea worker from the present rate of Rs 67 to Rs 82 a day, the trade union leaders today requested them to pay Rs 90 from the first year.
Yesterday the CCPA had finally agreed to increase the wage by Rs 15 for the first year and Rs 4 and Rs 6 for the second and third year, respectively.
On the other hand, the Gorkha Jan Mukti Morcha (GJMM)-backed Darjeeling Terai Dooars Plantation Labour Union (DTDPLU) demanded that the CCPA should increase the pay by Rs 25 from the first year in line with the decision of the Darjeeling Tea Association (DTA) which had increased wage by Rs 23 for a permanent tea worker in the Hills following a bipartite agreement with the DTDPLU a few months ago. At present a permanent tea worker gets Rs 90 a day in the Hills.
The DTDPLU’s Terai unit president, Mr Harihar Acharya, said: “The CCPA was very rigid and refused to accept our demand. We propose to go by the wages of tea workers in the Hills.”
“We have requested the state government officials to implement the Minimum Wages Act in tea plantation to resolve the ongoing stalemate in the tea plantation. We would appeal to chief minister Miss Mamata Banerjee to implement the Act for the tea plantation workers,” said Mr Acharya.
The convenor of the defence committee for 10 tea workers’ unions, Mr Samir Roy, said: “We requested the employers to increase the wage from Rs 67 to Rs 90 from the first year so that a permanent tea worker gets Rs 100 in third year.” According to Mr Roy, another bipartite meeting is going on in Kolkata to settle the rate of Puja bonus for tea workers. sns