HC pulls up state govt for bandh in Hills... District RSP holds state govt responsible for current doldrums in Darjeeling

Photo:Lochan Gurung

SNS, Kolkata, 7 August: The Division Bench of Mr Arun Mishra, Chief Justice and Mr Justice Joymalya Bagchi of Calcutta today pulled up the state government up for its failure to maintain normalcy during the ongoing indefinite bandh in Darjeeling. 

“The state government has failed to maintain normalcy in public life in Darjeeling and failed to provide emergency services to the general people,” the court observed while passing an order on a PIL seeking the bandh to be declared unconstitutional. 

“The common people are not to be harassed and there should be no disruption in emergency services including water supply, telephone, milk supply,” the court directed, adding: “The bandh cannot be enforced forcibly and normalcy in treasury service is to be restored.” 

“Security arrangements should be made in railway stations, bus depots, hospitals, courts and markets,” it was directed. 

A clutch of directions including nine guidelines were laid down by the court on 14 February before a two day long bandh called on the third week of that month. The state was directed to implement a 1998 Supreme Court order on bandhs. 

The Darjeeling SP was directed to give a compliance report on Wednesday and the copy of the order is to be communicated to the Gorkha Jan Mukti Morcha. 

RSP holds state govt responsible

SNS, Siliguri, 7 August 2013: The Darjeeling district unit of the Revolutionary Socialist Party held the state government responsible for the current doldrums in the Darjeeling Hills. 

The chief minister, out of sync with the emotions of the Hill people, keeps bungling with the tangle, they said. Veteran RSP leader, Mr Binay Chakraborty said his party salutes the emotions of the people in the Hills. “But their demand cannot be supported because of the confusion lingering over their citizenship status. 

Nobody knows whether they are Indian Gorkhas or Nepalese Gorkhas. No sensible person can support the statehood demand when it is not certain that the people in the van of the movement are genuine citizens of the country,” he said. 

“Besides, a state comprising three sub-divisions of a district is not feasible. It would not be economically viable too,” he said. He further said the strategic location of the Darjeeling Hills has made it vulnerable to international intrigues. 

“Flanked by Nepal, Bhutan and China, it figures importantly in the strategic map of India,” the RSP veteran said. Another senior RSP leader, Mr Tapas Goswami said the present mess is the result of the chief minister, lacking in political acumen to deal with such tricky tangles. 

“She has to prove that she is really ‘rough and tough’ as she boasted in Darjeeling in January,” he said. “Yet, if she chooses to act dictatorial, it would aggravate tension,” he also said. “She seems to have got muddled in her own tricks,” he further added. 

He also said that the issue out of the tangle lies in sufficiently attuning herself with the peculiarity of the Hill sentiment. 

“The state government should immediately call an all-political party meeting and act on the spirit of consensus across the political divide,” Mr Goswami also added.