Tamang breaks fast

Harka Bahadur Chhetri at the Jalpaiguri
 district hospital on Friday. Picture by
 Biplab Basak

TT, Jalpaiguri, Nov. 8: The arrested GTA Sabha member Binay Tamang broke his fast in the Jalpaiguri District Hospital this evening after he had been informed by Gorkha Janmukti Morcha leaders about the “assurance” by the chief minister that he would be released soon.

Tamang, who is also the assistant secretary of the Morcha, had been arrested in August on various charges and put up in the Jalpaiguri Correctional Home. He launched an indefinite fast on October 30 demanding his release and the speedy disposal of cases.

Although he was admitted to the district hospital the next day, he refused to take food or medicines. On Sunday, the GTA member agreed to be administered saline in the intensive critical care unit and doctors were keeping a watch over his condition.

This afternoon, Morcha MLA Harka Bahadur Chhetri, along with leaders R.P. Yaiba and P.T. Ola, met Tamang in the ICCU. After an hour-long meeting, Chhetri came out and announced that Tamang had broken the hunger strike.

“I reached here today straight from Calcutta. I had met the chief minister in Calcutta and apprised her of Binay Tamang’s health conditions. I also told the chief minister that 10 other arrested GTA members are behind bars now,” said Chhetri.

“We have mentioned to the chief minister that none of them have serious charges like murder against them and the state government should see that they are released. An assurance was given to us that these GTA members would be released in due course,” said the Kalimpong MLA.

He said Tamang had been informed about these developments. “After having a discussion for some time, he agreed to break his fast and took fruit juice at 5.45pm.”

With Tamang breaking his fast, officials of the district health administration have breathed a sigh of relief.

“We were deeply concerned about his health condition and have been consistently monitoring him,” said Jagannath Sarkar, the chief medical officer of health, Jalpaiguri. “Even though he has broken the fast, he will be under observation for at least 48 hours. We will gradually provide liquid food and solid diet to him. He is expected to recover in few days.”