Dharna for NH10 work off for a day

Rajeev Ravidas, TT, Kalimpong, Sept. 8: The Highway Jan Mazdoor Sangathan today decided to suspend its three-day-old dharna in front of the public works department office at Kalijhora for a day tomorrow.

The association affiliated to the Jana Andolan Party said the agitation was being lifted temporarily at the request of Darjeeling district magistrate Anurag Srivastava who would hold a meeting tomorrow to discuss the demands of the protesters.

The dharna was launched to demand contractual employment and an end to the hiring of labourers from outside the hills to maintain NH10, the main road link between Sikkim/Kalimpong and Siliguri. The members of the association have not allowed PWD officials to enter their office in the past three days.

Bishal Rai, a JAP youth leader and spokesman for the association, said it had decided to suspend the dharna only for a day and would decide on the next course of action after the outcome of tomorrow's meeting.

"The district magistrate informed us that he had called a meeting between us and PWD officials in Kalimpong tomorrow and requested us to call off the dharna. To honour his request and enable ourselves to attend the meeting, we have decided to suspend our agitation for a day tomorrow" he said.

The DM confirmed that the meeting would be held to discuss the protesters' demands.

The main demand of the association is employment to over 900 workers who were engaged by the Border Roads Organisation for works on the highway.

The BRO handed over the responsibility of maintaining the highway to the Bengal PWD in July at the directive of the Union ministry of road transport and highways.

Kalijhora in the Kurseong subdivision is about 40km from here.