Meeting over electricity dues in Darjeeling Hills inconclusive

Meeting over electricity dues in Darjeeling Hills inconclusive

22 February 2012

statesman news service
KURSEONG 22 FEB: A Gorkha Jan Mukti Morcha (GJMM) delegation met electricity company officials here today. The two sides, however, failed to resolve the issue of electricity dues from the period of the non-cooperation movement.
A GJMM team from Kurseong met with officials from the West Bengal State Electricity Distribution Company Limited (WBSEDCL) here, and demanded the company waive 42 months of electricity bills. The officials said they could not take a decision. During the Gorkhaland statehood movement, the GJMM had called on supporters to stop paying electricity and telephone bills and taxes.
"After the GTA agreement on 18 July 2011, we decided to pay the bills from the month of August 2011," said Kurseong GJMM leader Yogendra Rai. "But, presently, the department is sending notices to the people to pay the due bills of May, June and July of 2011 also, which we will not pay as it falls under the bills of non-cooperation movement."
Mr Rai said that under the bill dates of August, September, and October 2011, the department is sending bills for electricity used in May, June, and July of 2011. To evade this ploy, recipients plan to pay for August, September and October of 2011, through the bills for November and December of 2011, and January of 2012.
“Hence, the authorities concerned should immediately stop sending notices under the bill dates of the August, September and October 2011," said Mrs Prabha Chettri, a GJMM central committee member from Kurseong, who was also a member of today’s delegation.
Kolkata WBSEDCL AGM AK Majumdar, who was at the meeting, said that today he received a memorandum on matter and will forward it to the company's head office in Kolkata. The company's Kurseong divisional manager, who was also there, said the GJMM had said that all the dues accumulated during the agitation period should be waived. But now, instead of 39 months of dues, they have been demanding the waiver of 42 months of dues.