‘Division of state not good for Hill people’

SNS, Siliguri, 11 September 2013:The West Bengal Human Rights Commission (WBHRC) chairman Mr Justice (retd) Asok Kumar Ganguly today said the division of state would not be good for the people of the Darjeeling Hills. 

“The division of state would not be good for the people. The division of state cannot be supported. I do not support this. The poor people living in the Hills have become the worst sufferers. The educational institutions are closed. The state government has already been facing a loan burden. Under these circumstances, the economy in the Hills will be affected,” Mr Ganguly said, when asked whether human rights have been violated in the Hills over the statehood movement. 

However, he has said the commission can not intervene into this. The WBHRC chairman and member, Mr Justice (retd) Mr Narayan Chandra Sil, met the rights victims directly and the commission received their complaints and a mass hearing was conducted in Siliguri today. 

This would continue till tomorrow. Explaining the significance of the meeting to the rights victims directly, Mr Justice Ganguly said the purpose was to make the commission easily accessible to people. 

“The purpose is to reach out to the people and provide justice to the people. Many people cannot visit Kolkata to register their complaints,” he said. Some activists of a right group came to register complaints with the commission as they felt some ‘innocent’ people had been arrested during the police crackdown in the Darjeeling Hills. 

“We found that some innocent people have been arrested by police and charges have been framed against them without any reason. Two persons of Nepal ~ Mr Lalbahadur Thami and Mr Santosh Thami ~ who work as porters were arrested on 8 August. There are some more people who have been arrested in the Hills without any reason. We came here today to register our complaints to the commission", said the district general secretary of the organisation, Mr Lochan Gurung. 

The commission, in an order, asked the West Bengal State Electricity Distribution Company Limited (WBSEDCL) to take necessary action following the complaints registered by the local people and the students living in Girja Line in the Phansidewa block that for the past several years the area remained without power. 

Mr Justice Ganguly said the commission has probably for the first time held the hearings outside Kolkata. The commission met the rights victims and held the hearings in Cooch Behar on 9 and 10 September. 

It received 35 complaints in Cooch Behar. Talking about the deplorable road condition of the National Highway, he said the commission had received the complaint over the issue in Cooch Behar and asked the authority concerned to look into the issue. 

The commission registrar, Mr Rabindranath Samanta, said it received 52 complaints today. “Out of 52 complaints, 44 cases were disposed off. The hearing of the eight pending cases will take place tomorrow,” Mr Samanta said.