Strike wihthdrawn till 20th October- agitation continues

KalimNews and Darjeeling Times.com, Kalimpong, 10 September 2013: Gorkhaland Joint Action Committee a  conglomeration of six organisations has withdrawn the ongoing strike till October 20. 

It decided to hold on the strike on the assurance of Tripartite talk by the Home Minister during a meeting between the Home Minister Sushil kumar Shinde and the delegates of GJAC in New Delhi. GJAC insisted that the agenda of the Tripartite talk should be on the creation of separate state of Gorkhaland and not GTA. It will wait for the invitation of the talk as well as observe the reaction and the response of the Central government to it and its demand.  

The ad-hoc committee of the GJAC was reconstituted today with Bimal Gurung as the President and Roshan Giri, J B Rai, Sukhman Moktan and P B Ghatani as Vice Presidents. It elected R B Rai as the General Secretary while Raju Pradhan, L M Lama and P D Mittal were elected as Asst. General Secretaries. Jyoti Rai, Govind Pradhan and R Moktan were elected as Treasurer. An advisory board was also formed with Dr. Enos Das Pradhan as Chief Advisor and K.B.Chhetri, Trilok Dewan, Dr. Rohit Sharma and Dr. Harka Badhadur Chettri as members of the board. Legal advisory Committee was also formed with DK Pradhan, Taranga Pandit, Pravakar Dewan and I K Sharma as members. The committee also elected Dr. Enos Das Pradhan and Dr H B Chhetri as the spokesperson of GJAC. 

Other resolutions adopted in the meeting held today were to file a PIL against the State government on the violation of clause 29 of GTA act. GJAC will also open a bank account and appeal its supporters from all over globe for financial support to aid the agitation. 

Sit in demonstration, wearing black band will be observed and Public meetings will also be held all over Darjeeling hills – Darjeeling, Kalimpong, Kurseong, Mirik and other places during this period.

From 13 September till 20 October from 11am to 5 pm public rallies and cultural programmes with traditional attires will be held in specific places of Darjeeling hills.

Within 13 to 15 September students and heads of the educational institutions will send letters by fax to the Prime Minister, Home Minister and the President of India demanding creation of Gorkhaland. 
The committee will meet for discussions within this period and finally meet on 19th October for the final decision and programme to be announced to take place after 20th October.