GJMM to stay away from Sen Committee proceedings

GJMM to stay away from Sen Committee proceedings

24 February 2012

statesman news service
SILIGURI, 24 FEB: Apparently wilting under combined onslaught made by several parties and outfits, the Gorkha Jan Mukti Morcha (GJMM) has decided that the party members of the Shymal Sen Committee would stay away from its proceedings when it would start crucial deliberations of the emotive land transfer issue.
A member of the committee and a senior GJMM leader, Mr LB Pariyar, said this over phone from Kolkata after the hearing involving all the parties concerned was concluded.
Notably, several parties, including the CPI-M and the radical anti-GJMM outfit, Bangla O Bangla Bhasha Banchao Committee (BOBBBC) caviled over the matter, saying that the committee had been reduced to a farce with the active involvement of one of the parties concerned in the committee’s decision-making process. There are four GJMM members in the committee.
It was learnt from those who participated in today’s hearing that when pressed on the issue, the chairman, retired justice, Mr Shyamal Sen said the GJMM members were not participating in the committee’s day-to-day proceedings.
Mr Pariyar said: “We insisted on our inclusion when the committee was being conceived. The Centre and state government acceded to our proposal. But, to be on the right side of the vexed matter, we have decided to stay away from the proceedings of the committee when the crucial decision-making process would begin around our land demand involving about 400 moujas across Terai-Dooars.”
Terming the outcome of today’s general meeting as favouring the status quo ante, he said the committee would sit again after 15 March to take a final decision on the survey of land.
Meanwhile, upping ante regarding the emotive issue at the meeting, the senior RSP leader and Alipurduar MP, Mr Manohar Tirkey, said the state government’s decision to constitute the high power committee was itself a provocation given the multi-ethnic character of the concerned region.
“We asked Mr Sen not to lend credence to what the ABAVP renegades are saying on the matter. They are GJMM hirelings with no credibility left with the constituency they claim to represent,” he said. The ABAVP president, Mr Birsa Tirkey, argued that the land concerned under Integrated Tribal Development Project could not be bartered away without violating the constitutional canons. BOBBBC president, Dr Mukunda Majumdar said they had placed their argument against the ‘GJMM land-grabbing conspiracy’.
It will take months for Darj water project to be over
DARJEELING, 24 FEB: The Darjeeling drinking water project, officially scheduled to be completed next month, will take months to complete, said the Darjeeling municipality chairman, Mr Amar Singh Rai. The statement stands at variance with the assurances given by public health engineering department officials, who said the project would be completed within the scheduled time at a meting held at Writers’ Buildings in Kolkata recently.
Mr Rai and Darjeeling MLA Trilok Dewan visited the drinking water project sites today. They slammed the PHE department for sloth in the project implementation. They visited the intake point located at Balason and the intermediate point at College Valley on the outskirts of Darjeeling to judge the veracity of the PHE assurances. Mr Rai said the PHE officials would find it difficult to meet the deadline. “It looks impossible that the process of pumping water up to Sinchel Lake would be completed in a month. On the positive side, the work of laying the pipelines up to the lake has been completed. However, the mere intake of water from the river is not enough. The second stage that involves pumping water from the intake point and then taking the same to the Sinchel Lake would take at least 4-6 months from now as the process is under construction,” he said. Mr Dewan said the work was far from being completed. “This is surprising, given the fact that the work began way back in 2006. We would be glad if the PHE meets the deadline. However, we are doubtful about its accomplishment,” he said. The PHE engineering officials, however, said the process would be completed in two to three weeks. dipen pradhan