Only Delhi on Morcha radar
- Gurung likely to shoot down CM’s bipartite talks offer OUR CORRESPONDENT - The Telegraph

Darjeeling, July 7: The Gorkha Janmukti Morcha will not accept an invitation sent last evening by chief minister Buddahdeb Bhattacharjee for another round of bipartite talks in Calcutta, party insiders said.

“We had made it clear after the last meeting in Writers’ Buildings on June 27 that we are interested only in talks with Delhi which the state government will attend,” a senior Morcha leader said.

Bimal Gurung’s party today refused to react formally to the letter and said it would make its stand public tomorrow.

“Thank you for your letter dated 5 July 2008, regarding the proposal for a tripartite meeting to discuss your demand,” the chief minister’s letter states. “I accept your proposal for a tripartite meeting to discuss your demand. However, I am of the view that it will be fruitful if a meeting at a bipartite level between your organisation and the state government is held to arrive at a possible solution before going for the discussion at the tripartite level.”

However, the earlier talks seem to have created a congenial atmosphere as far as the relation between the state and the Morcha is concerned.

The chief minister has not only promptly replied to the Morcha’s letter written on Saturday in which it had pressed for tripartite talks, but also maintained that “I am grateful that your party has decided not to resort to bandhs for the time being”.

Although the Morcha has extended the bandh breather till August 7, it has not allowed government offices in the hills to remain open.

Against this background where the avenue for dialogue with the government is still open, the Morcha today went ahead with its pre-scheduled programme of replacing the “WB” number plates of cars with “GL” (Gorkhaland).

Only cars owned by central committee members of the party sported the new plates for the time being. “This is a form of protest. It is part of our civil disobedience movement. We will also ask the government vehicles to sport the GL number plates but government vehicles will take time,” Gurung said. He said the party was ready to see what action the government would take against the owners of these vehicles. “Let them take action, we will see,” the Morcha chief said.

Rahul Srivastava, the superintendent of police, Darjeeling, said the Bengal home secretary had already clarified his stand on the “GL” number plates. “It would be better to get a comment from the higher authorities as the stand has been clarified,” he said.

Ashok Mohan Chakrabarti, the home secretary, had during his visit to Siliguri recently said the “GL” number plates were illegal.

Observers believe that since the chief minister is directly negotiating with the Morcha leaders, it is unlikely that the district administration would take any decision without instructions from higher authorities.

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Morcha cold to Buddha talks

- CM thanks hill party for bandh breather, but ice doesn’t melt OUR CORRESPONDENT - The Telegraph

Darjeeling, July 7: Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee has again called the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha for talks in Calcutta and the hill outfit is again likely to spurn the offer.

The Morcha leadership received a letter from the chief minister here last evening.

“We had made it clear after the last meeting at Writers’ Buildings on June 27 that we are interested only in talks with Delhi, which the state government will attend,” a senior Morcha leader said.

The party refused to react formally to the letter. It will do so tomorrow.

“Thank you for your letter dated 5 July, 2008, regarding the proposal for a tripartite meeting to discuss your demand,” the chief minister wrote.

“I accept your proposal for a tripartite meeting to discuss your demand. However, I am of the view that it will be fruitful if a meeting at a bipartite level between your organisation and the state government is held to arrive at a possible solution before going for the discussion at the tripartite level.”

The Morcha had written to Bhattacharjee on Saturday, pressing for tripartite talks.

The prompt reply suggests the chief minister’s eagerness to have cordial relations with the Morcha. “I am grateful that your party has decided not to resort to bandhs for the time being,” Bhattacharjee wrote.

Although the Morcha has extended the bandh breather till August 7, it has not allowed government offices in the hills to open.

Morcha central committee leaders today changed the WB (West Bengal) in their car number plates to GL (for Gorkhaland). “This is a form of protest. It is part of our civil disobedience movement. We will later ask government vehicles to sport GL number plates,” Morcha president Bimal Gurung said.

He also dared the government to take action against the owners of the vehicles sporting the new plates. “Let them take action, we will see.”

Darjeeling police chief Rahul Srivastava said the state home secretary had already clarified the government’s stand. During a recent visit to Siliguri, Asok Mohan Chakrabarti had said the “GL” number plates would be illegal.

Observers said since the chief minister was directly negotiating with the Morcha brass, it was unlikely that district officials would crack down on the cars without instructions from their bosses in Calcutta.

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GJMM replace vehicle number plates
Statesman News Service

DARJEELING, July 7: The Gorkha Jana Mukti Morcha today went ahead with its pre-planned programme of replacing vehicle number plates bearing the initials WB with GL depicting Gorkhaland and also closed down offices across the Hills, while the administration chose to remain silent on the issue.

The programme comes following the non-cooperation movement of the GJMM in defiance of the West Bengal government's authority. “This is our home rule and we shall abide by it. If the administration wants to take action against us it can go ahead,” said party president Mr Bimal Gurung. Government vehicles are next in line for putting up such plates before the civilians switch over from WB to GL number plates in the third phase. “It is compulsory for the government vehicles to fix GL plates in the next phase and the people will do it ,” the leader announced.

When contacted, the SP and the ASP of Darjeeling refrained from commenting on the matter stating they were not “authorised” to issue any statement.

The GJMM also closed down all state, Central and DGHC offices for an indefinite period from today. However, banks, post-offices and the food supply department would remain open on Mondays and Fridays. The conservancy and waterworks department of the Hill municipalities would also remain open.

Divine strength

After the bandh politics, the GJMM has now switched to a religious mode to attain Gorkhaland. It is invoking the deities to strengthen the Gorkhaland movement through the Khas Bharatiya Hitkari Sammelan, an association of Nepali Brahmins and Kshatriyas. The KBHS commenced a one month-long prayer service at the Mall today. The session began with a Shakti Puja. “Politics is dominating all spheres of our life but the issue of Gorkhaland is a social issue, a question of our identity. The Shakti Puja is our contribution towards the movement for a separate state initiated by Mr Bimal Gurung”, Mr RP Niroulla, chairman of KBHS said. “The Lord is witness to the fact that our territory extends from Sandakphu in the north to Sunkosh in the east and the Mechi in the west. We pledge before him that we will get our territories back,” Mr Niroulla said.

The ambience was complete with hymns and chants as people from the Terai, Dooars and Darjeeling came down to attend the holy rituals.

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Talks invite

DARJEELING, July 7: Chief minister Mr Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee has once again sent a letter to the GJMM inviting the hill-based organisation for a fresh round of bipartite talks. Confirming this, party president Mr Bimal Gurung said the GJMM was undecided on accepting the invite. This comes on a day the GJMM started illegally replacing WB-registration marked motor vehicles licence plates with GL, indicative of Gorkhaland. n SNS

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Lawyers on strike, scientist in jail
OUR BUREAU - The Telegraph

July 7: Entomologist Petr Svacha, who was arrested for allegedly collecting insects from a Darjeeling forest, has to languish in jail. His bail plea could not even be moved because of a lawyers’ strike to press for a Gorkhaland state.

Czech national Svacha, 51, of the Academy of Sciences, Prague, and Emil Kucera, 52, were held held near Rimbik after forest officers caught them on June 22 with more than 200 beetles, butterflies and moths.

An environment lawyer of Calcutta High Court said the case against Svacha was weak. “The law says a person engaged in research for the benefit of mankind cannot be kept in custody,” Supradip Roy said.

With no one to move the bail plea, Svacha decided to speak for the duo. He told chief judicial magistrate N. Dey that they had been made to sign on blank sheets on the night of June 22 by the forest officials. “We fear that they may be wrongly used against us.”

Svacha, a world-renowned authority on beetle larvae with impeccable credentials, said they were not traders in wildlife. “As an entomologist, I can say that the collection will not change the bio-diversity of the area. It is purely for my research,” he told the court.

The insects, he added, were not collected “from within the wildlife area” of Singalila National Park but from a congested fringe area” where cattle grazed. Grazing inside a national park is forbidden.
 
He also told the magistrate he wanted his money, seized by forest officials, back.

Sources said the duo had Rs 12,000 and $630 and 5,300 Czech korunas on them during arrest.

The magistrate said nothing could be done as no records were available because of the strike. “I suggest that you give us all that you said in writing,” Dey said. The next hearing is on July 21.

The strike will continue till August 7.

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Czech scientists still in Indian prison for collecting beetles

New Delhi- The court trial of two Czechs who were arrested in India for illegal collection of rare insects in a national park last week, due to be held today, did not take place due to a strike of the court staff, Czech acting consul in New Delhi Jan Kreuter has told.

The strike will last at least one more month, Kreuter said.

As a result, the men will stay in the custody, he added.

Czech diplomatic offices will try to have the case moved from Darjeeling in northeast India to Calcutta and will try to replace the two men's lawyer, Kreuter said.

The two men, Emil Kucera, 52, and biologist Petr Svacha, 51, face up to seven years in prison if found guilty of illegal collection of insects.

Kucera and Vacha said the area where they collected the insects was not marked as a national park and that nearby were grazing and somebody was chopping down trees.

According to the Indian paper Statesman, range officers confiscated several rare butterflies and bugs and the collecting equipment in the Singalila national park near Darjeeling in northeast India from Kucera and Svacha.

Smuggling of animals and plants is banned under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), signed by the Czech Republic in 1992.

A petition in support of the Czechs has been signed by 525 people. It was delivered to Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and chief minister Buddhadev Bhattacharjee of West Bengal, where Czechs are being detained.
 
Kreuter said Czech authorities would try to find a different lawyer for the Czechs as there were "problems with communication now."

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Rs 5 lakh tea aid for small clusters
OUR CORRESPONDENT - The Telegraph

Siliguri, July 7: The Tea Board of India has decided to extend financial help in the form of subsidies to self-help groups (SHG) of small growers to encourage the formation of these clusters.

The highest ceiling of such assistance has been fixed at Rs 5 lakh for each SHG, which must have at least 50 growers as members. The total area of plantation should not be less than 50 acres, or 20 hectares.

“Considering the emergence of the small tea sector, we decided to help the groups rather than individual growers and promote the development of such clusters,” said G. Boriah, director (tea development) of the Tea Board, over the phone from Calcutta. “Groups that meet a few conditions laid down by us are eligible to apply for the subsidies.”

At present, there are 2.60 lakh small growers across the country of which 15,000 are from north Bengal districts where 41 such SHGs have been formed so far.

According to the Tea Board’s scheme, 100 per cent subsidy (see chart) will be available for a corpus fund meant for fertilisers, pesticides and sprayers. The highest limit for this fund will be Rs 10,000 per hectare for each year. The limit for the construction of a storage or godown would be Rs 50,000. Construction of leaf collection sheds and purchase of leaf weighing scales, plastic crates or nylon bags for carrying leaf and pruning machine would be met from this fund too.

The board will pay 50 per cent subsidy for the purchase of vehicles like trucks, tractors and trailers necessary for carrying tealeaves from fields to factories and raw material to fields.

“The subsidy for godown, leaf collection sheds and leaf weighing scales are one time grants,” Tea Board sources said. “It is an attempt to provide the growers with the necessary infrastructure to facilitate the selling of tealeaves.”

For leaf collection sheds, weighing scales and pruning machine, the highest subsidies would be Rs 30,000, Rs 3,000 and Rs 35,000 respectively.

Each SHG has to open a bank account jointly with the Tea Board to avail of the subsidies.

Small tea growers of north Bengal appeared happy with the grants, but said some amendments to conditions laid down by the board were necessary.

“Unlike south India, the size of individual holdings is higher in north Bengal,” Bijoygopal Chakraborty, vice-president of the United Forum of Small Tea Growers Associations, said today. “We have no problem with the minimum aggregate area of 50 acres, but the number of members should be reduced to 30 from 50 for a group.”

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Bomb scare at St Joseph’s, Siliguri
Statesman News Service

SILIGURI, July 7: Three phone calls received in a span of ten minutes this morning sparked off a bomb scare at the St. Joseph’s High School, Matigara in Siliguri. The calls ultimately turned out to be a hoax.

The school received the first call at around 11:20 am the second at 11:24 am and the last call at 11:30 am triggering panic among the administration.

“I took the first call but failed to hear what the caller was saying due to disturbance in the line. When the phone rang for the second time, our peon picked it up but he too failed to understand and by the time he handed over the receiver to the school receptionist, the caller had hung up. When the phone rang again for the third time, the receptionist Ms Sangita Tamang took the call and was terrified when she was informed that there was a bomb in the school building, which would blow off in the next four minutes,” said Sister Margaret, Principal of the school.

The receptionist instantly informed Sister Margaret, who was in another section of the school.“I was very scared. But instead of giving into the panic, I asked students of class VIII who were then having a sports class to go to the rest of the classes and ask the students to come out to the grounds immediately. Then at 11:40 am I tried to contact the police by dialling 100 from my cell but failed to connect. In desperation, I called up Mr VK Singh, former IC of the Matigara police station,” the Principal said.

Mr Singh, currently the circle inspector at New Jalpaiguri alerted the Matigara police station immediately. The Matigara IC, Mr Debasish Bose, who was at the North Bengal University then, arrived immediately. The CID bomb squad stepped in at about 1 pm and the building was searched thoroughly but no explosive was found. Following its confirmation, the classes were soon resumed .

Terming the calls as a ‘prank’, the ASP Siliguri, Mr Rajesh Yadav said that the police have approached the BSNL authorities to track the details of the calls made during the specific duration.

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Nathu La trade in a lurch
Statesman News Service

GANGTOK, July 7: Trade with China through Nathu La is on the wane since the border trade recommenced on 19 May.

Indian traders are apathetic towards the trade, as the trade list has not been revised. “Presently we are exporting utensils, blankets, copper, tea, spices and tinned-food which has limited scope in Chinese markets,” said Mr Anil Kumar Gupta, general secretary of Indo-China Traders Association (ICTA). “We had drawn the state government and the Centre's attention on the issue urging them to revise the trade list but our efforts have gone in vain,” he added.

The number of traders has also reduced in comparison to last year, indicating that the much touted border trade is losing hope. “This year only 25 traders renewed their trade passes as compared to last year's 400 renewals,” confirmed Mr Vishal Chauhan DC east. “Out of the 25, only 10 traders have taken their passes and are actually involved in the border trade this year,” he added.

“We sent four reminders to the Union commerce minister, New Delhi regarding our traders’ problems and also asked them to revise the obsolete trade list but that has gone unheeded,” said Mrs S Pradhan an official with the state commerce and industries department. “Everything now depends on the Centre and the Chinese government,” she added.

Border trade through Nathu La (situated at an altitude of 14,420 ft) was earlier hit by the disastrous earthquake in China and a landslide in the Tibet Autonomous Region postponing the reopening.