Ahluwalia takes Gorkhaland demand to Lok Sabha

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C R E D I B L E
VOL 9 No 184 RNI No: SIKENG/2006/18384
GANGTOK, WEDNESDAY 18 MARCH 2015
Ahluwalia takes Gorkhaland
demand to Lok Sabha
Morcha
dharna ends with
MP booster
the overall development for
the nation's entire area ranging from Kashmir to Kanyakumari and Kutch to Kohima, I represent the hilly
region which sadly have
been kept isolated from any
kind of development till
date. The government talks
of developing "smart cities"
and I being the MP from
Darjeeling demand that the
region be developed into a
"smart corridor" as the area
holds great strategic security significance. The region
is termed a "chicken's
neck" as it is surrounded by
Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan
and China which is hardly
at a 27 kilometer distance
from the Indian side. The
Gorkhas who forms the bulk
of population in the region
have been raising the issue
of separate state of
Gorkhaland since 1907,"
Ahluwalia apprised the
chair during the parliamen-
tary session.
At Jantar Mantar, GJM
chief Bimal Gurung said, “We
Municipal amendment bill
passed amid SKM protest
HM Correspondent
Gangtok, Mar 17: The Sikkim Legislative Assembly on
Tuesday passed the Sikkim
Municipalities Amendment
Bill amid protests by opposition Sikkim Krantikari Morcha (SKM) legislators.
Placed by urban development minister NK Subba on
Monday, the Bill seeks to increase the maximum number
of wards in urban bodies from
15 at to 17 by amending related sections in the Sikkim
Municipalities Act, 2007.
SKM president and Upper Burtuk MLA Prem Singh
Golay raising his objection
demanded withdrawal of the
Bill saying it was misleading
the house. Golay opined that
the SDF government’s bill
was outside the Indian constitution’s purview thus his
party had nothing much to
comment. Arithang MLA
Shyam Pradhan urged the
government to hold the bill
until a public hearing is held
in municipal wards to seek
public view on the issue.
Minister Subba defended
the bill terming it as giving
greater public representation
and rubbished Golay’s
charge of it being unconstitutional. Chief Minister
Pawan Chamling stated that
the Constitution of India underlines provisions for the
processes involved in holding Municipal elections.
Hence, all activities with regard to this has to be as per
the provisions laid in the
constitution.
On the issue of Residential Certificates to old settlers,
the Chief Minister explained
about the prospective beneficiaries and their entitlements. In this connection he
also threw light on issues
which come under the Old
Laws recognized by the Constitution of India. Chamling
also assured to take up the
demand of allocation of Area
Development Fund to all
MLAs and told the house
that the Government will not
take up any new project till
the existing development
schemes are completed.
The house also passed
the Sikkim Appropriation Bill,
Bill no. 1 of 2015 for the Vote
on Account 2015-16 introduced by Chamling, also the
finance minister on Monday.
The Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General of
India on State Finances for
the year ended 31 March
2014 and the Report of the
Comptroller and Auditor
General of India on Social,
Economic, Revenue and
General sectors for the year
ended March 2014 (Report
No. 1 of 2015) was also
placed during the two-day
session ending today.
have brought our fight to
Delhi’s doors. The agitation
for a separate Gorkhaland will
now be Delhi-based. It is time
for Prime Minister Narendra
Modi to fulfill his assurance
Lepcha teacher recruitment
test held despite threat
Nisha Chettri
Kalimpong, Mar 17: Despite
a threat for a bandh and a rigorous agitation from the
Gorkha Janmukti Morcha
(GJM), the administration remained unmoved on Tuesday and went ahead in holding a written examination for
the recruitment of para teachers in hill primary schools to
teach the Lepcha language.
In Kalimpong the examination were held at Kumdini
Homes amidst tight security
around the premises. Apart
from Kalimpong, the candidates also appeared at
scheduled examination centres at Kurseong and Darjeeling as well. Radhika Aiyer,
the Kalimpong Sub-Divisional Officer said out of the
127 candidates, 115 appeared in total and the examinations were held in a peace-
ful and congenial atmosphere.
“Kalimpong had a large
number of examinees
amongst the three hill subdivision. However, the results of the written examination would be announced
online on March 23 and the
interview would be held as
scheduled on March 25,”
added Aiyer.
The GJM on Saturday
had threatened to go for a
SNPP declares stir against
fake Sikkim Subject
Bagdogra air
por
es
airpor
portt celebrat
celebrates
over 10 lakh footfalls
HM Correspondent
Siliguri, Mar 17: Authorities
at Bagdogra airport on Tuesday celebrated the footfall of
more than 10 lakh passengers
by felicitating and handing
over mementos to some
lucky passengers.
Known as high density
airport, Bagdogra Airport has
already crossed the passen-
gers’ figure of 10 lakh in the
present fiscal year. The figure is likely to cross 10.50
lakh by the end of this financial year on March 31.
Rakesh Sahay the director of Bagdogra Airport said,
today morning the passengers were given grant welcome and some of them were
given mementos. Sahay said
that it is a remarkable achieve-
ment for an airport located
near a sub divisional town to
get more than 10 lakh passengers in one financial year.
The number of passengers going and coming from
Bagdogra Airport was 7.2
lakh in the financial year 20132014. Sources in Airport Authority of India and those in
tourism business said that
the increase in the number of
passengers by almost 50 percent in a span of one year is
a phenomenal achievement
for an airport located in a sub
divisional town.
One of the twin reasons
cited for the phenomenal increase in number of passengers is restoration of peace
in the region particularly after the formation of
Gorkhaland Territorial Administration in Darjeeling
hills after prolonged disturbances and regular bandhs.
Another reason is very competitive fares offered by the
airline operators.
At present six airlines are
operating from the airport
and Air Vistara is going to be
the seventh operator. Vistara
would begin its services on
April 2. It will run its Airbus
319 with a capacity of 150
passengers.
Gorkhaland de do," (Modi,
acknowledge the demand
of the Gorkha people and
give us a separate state of
Gorkhaland). Addressing
supporters, Gurung informed that the GJM in the
coming days will also meet
the Bharatiya Janata Party's
central committee president
and apprise him about the
Gorkhaland demand. "The
GJM party is sincerely pursuing everything pertaining to the betterment of
Gorkha people, be it our
quest for identity, separate
statehood or overall development of our people," he
concluded.
Besides the Gorkhaland
demand, Ahluwalia also
raised other issues like tribal
status for entire Gorkha
community, establishment
of a central university, National Institute of Technology (NIT), construction of
an alternative highway from
Siliguri via Mirik along Balasan river to Darjeeling, establishment of a fashion
technology institute, Sainik school, National games
and sports academy, etc.
bandh, agitate and take the
legal course if the administration did not immediately
stop the recruitment process
buying theory that the education department is a transferred subject to the
Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA) and that
the recruitment should have
been through the hill body.
The introduction of Lepcha language in the primary
schools is a demand of the
Indigenous Lepcha Tribal
Association which was
granted by the West Bengal
State Government in 2013
along with the formation of
Morcha set for
Apr 2 bandh
HM Report
HM Report
Gangtok, Mar 17: Sikkim
National Peoples Party
(SNPP) Tuesday announced
to stage a dharna against the
State government’s inability
to take action on fake Sikkim
Subject Certificate holders.
“Despite divulging data
of over 31,000 fake Sikkim
Subject holders, the government has not initiated any
action to address the issue,”
said SNPP president Biraj
Adhikari in a press conference here.
The SNPP will stage a day
long dharna to protest
against the issue on March
20 outside District Administration Centre, Sichey here to
pressurize the government,
informed Adhikari appealing
public support for the rights
of Sikkimese people.
A Land Revenue Department report had revealed
31,180 fake Sikkim Subject
holders in 2010, on the basis
of which the party had filed a
complaint demanding action
against those illegal document holders at Sadar Police
Station. “However even after four years, the matter is
put to cold storage,”
Adhikari added.
“We sought the status of
our complaint through RTI
and we found that it has been
lodged just as general diary”
he added.
The Dharna on March 20
will be just beginning of the
party’s campaign against the
illegal Sikkim Subject” added Adhikari.
Myang Lyang Lepcha Development Council under the
state backward class department.
Speaking on the issue, L.
Tamsang, the chairman of the
MLLDC said he had no
grudge against what the
GJM has been demanding
saying that whatever the party is demanding is against the
state government.
“Under article 350 (a) of
the constitution, anyone has
the right to provide facilities
for instruction in the mother
tongue at primary stage of
education to children belonging to linguistic minority groups, I think this is our
right and the constitution is
with us,” said Tamsang adding that other nations are a
single lingo place where India is the only country with
diverse languages and cultures.
“In my personal view the
state government and the
GTA should sit and solve the
impasse in a cordial atmosphere,” he added.
Darjeeling, Mar 17: The
GJM has called for a bandh
on April 2 protesting
against the State Government’s move to recruit Lepcha language Para Teachers for Government run primary schools in the
Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA) area.
The District Magistrate,
Darjeeling had called for an
interview to recruit Para
Teachers for Lepcha language on March 17. The
GJM had declared that the
interview call is against the
letter and spirit of the GTA
agreement and is a pointer
to the unwarranted intervention by the State Government in the functioning
of the GTA, as education is
a transferred subject.
The GJM had demanded that the DM cancel the
interview, failing which the
Hill party had threatened to
seek legal recourse along
with calling a bandh.
Amidst tight security
(including deploying of the
CRPF) written examination
was held in Darjeeling,
Kurseong and Kalimpong
on Tuesday to fill up 46 vacancies for Lepcha language Para Teachers. Viva
voce for the same will be held
at Kalimpong on March 25.
Results will be declared on
March 27. 115 aspiring candidates took the written test
at the Kumudini Homes
Higher Secondary School,
Kalimpong; 17 at the Regional Training Centre in
Darjeeling and 18 at the Treasury Hall in Kurseong.
Reacting to this, Roshan
Giri, GJM General Secretary
over phone from Delhi stated “We will file a case
against the State Government at the Calcutta High
Court. We will also call a
bandh in the Darjeeling
Hills on April 2.”
Puneet Yadav, District
Magistrate, Darjeeling declined to talk to media persons on this issue.
CMYK
HM Bureau, Mar 17: The
Gorkha Janmukti Morcha
(GJM) today got a reason to
term the 9 day long dharna at
Jantar Mantar ‘fruitful’ with
S.S.Ahluwalia, the MP from
Darjeeling today raising the
issue of creating a separate
state of Gorkhaland and also
putting forth various developmental demand for the region during the ongoing parliamentary session in Delhi.
Ahluwalia speaking for
around 13 minutes at length
during the session is said
to have highlighted the
plight of the Indian
Gorkhas who he termed as
the "valiant sons of soil" for
the community's unparalleled contribution and sacrifice for safeguarding India's sovereignty and security since long.
"Since this budget is for
given to the people of Darjeeling”.
Gurung had recently declared of no confrontation
or talks with the Bengal
government over the issue
of a separate statehood citing that the centre is empowered to bypass the
state, provided the former
decides to carve out a separate state. Gurung's contention is based on the formation of the new state of
Telengana, which he claims
was done by the then congress led UPA central government by totally bypassing the decision of Andhra
Pradesh, the state of which
Telengana was then a part.
"The Gorkhaland issue
raised during the parliamentary session today by Ahluwalia is a significant development," Gurung said
addressing supporters at
Jantar Mantar which was
greeted with a rapturous
applause and the atmosphere at Jantar Mantar reverberated with high
pitched slogans from supporters chanting "Gorkha
logo ki maang sun lo Modi,