Relief on 9 and 10 September

VIVEK CHHETRI, TT, Darjeeling, Sept. 6: The Gorkhaland Joint Action Committee has decided to keep the hills open for two days on September 9 and 10 so that students can return to boarding schools which would reopen on September 13. 

The committee has also decided to sit for a meeting on September 10 to draw up its future course of action during which the Union home minister's appeal to withdrawn the agitation would be discussed. Enos Das Pradhan, the chairman of the committee, said: " We have decided to relax the ongoing agitation for two days on September 9 and 10 to facilitate the return of boarders. We have also decided to sit for a meeting on September 10 again to take stock of the situation and decide our future course of action." 

On the strike relief days, banks and post offices will remain open, but not government offices. Pradhan said the panel has decided to sit for the meeting on September 10 as it wants to wait for the entire delegation that went to meet Union home minister Sushil Kumar Shinde on September 3 to return. 

" Since the entire delegation has not returned, we have decided to wait till their return. Once they return we will get a clear picture of the meeting with the home minister. We will definitely consider the appeal made by the Union home minister," Pradhan said.

Four of the nine Morcha leaders who had gone to Delhi have returned. Some hill sources said the committee was waiting till September 10 hoping the Centre would finalise the date for a tripartite meeting by then. 

The committee said it was aware of the hardships faced by common people but the agitation would have to be " longdrawn". " We want to thank the people for supporting the agitation. We are aware of the hardships but we are in an agitation. We are thinking on all fronts, including widening the scope of the agitation across the country as the demand is not confined to just Darjeeling but involves Gorkhas across the country," Pradhan, who is the chairman of the committee steering the agitation, said. 

He said the agitation has to be " a long- drawn process", an indication that the committee may be looking at other forms of agitation, not a continuous strike, as such a form of protest is unviable in the long- term. Also, the Union home minister has agreed to call a tripartite meeting.  " With the Trinamul MPs today demonstrating in Parliament against the Union home minister's engagement with the hill delegation, the committee seems to be doubly sure of the tripartite meeting before relaxing the ongoing agitation," said an observer. 

Asked about the Trinamul demonstration, Pradhan said: " That is the nature of the TMC. We have nothing to comment on their nature."