CPM demands panchayat elections in the hills, patta to tea garden workers

EOI, Darjeeling, 14 Nov 2014 : The Darjeeling hills unit of the CPM on Friday passed a resolution demanding the early holding of panchayat elections in the hills.

“Panchayat elections have not been held in the hills since 2004. How can this happen in a democracy? We demand it be held at the earliest for the welfare and benefit of people living in rural areas,” CPM district secretariat member KB Wattar said.

Wattar presided over a committee meeting of the unit that saw seven resolutions being passed

 pertaining to the problems being faced by the people in the hills.

Other issues that found priority in the day’s meeting were providing ‘patta’ and increasing tea garden workers’ wages. “The issue of land rights to workers was taken up by the party since a long time ago, but nothing has been done yet. The present wage of the workers is deplorable and it deprives them of even the basic amenities. Under such circumstances, the workers are facing both social and economical problems,” noted Wattar.

The CPM has also demanded a bifurcation of the existing eight blocks in the hills to facilitate official work for rural residents. “There are blocks such as Bijanbari that has 23 gram panchayats, which is a huge area. Due to this, the people of that area face a lot of problems in getting their official work done. We want such big blocks to be bifurcated for the welfare of the people,” demanded Wattar.

Commenting on the recent arrest of the two persons in Assam and their alleged link with a leader of the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha, the CPM leader said, “People have already suffered because of the violence in 1986 that took hundreds of lives. Now they don’t want any more violence and will not support those who perpetrate it. We want the real culprits be taken to task in order to create a peaceful atmosphere here.”

The CPM has decided to hold its Darjeeling-Bijanbari zonal committee meeting on November 16 that will be attended by Jibesh Sarkar and Saman Pathak and other senior leaders from the plains.