Committee set up to reach out to Hill folk for peace

MP | 17 Jun 2017 | Kolkata: Representatives of all the development boards in the Hills have come together to form a committee to reach out to the people to propagate the message of peace. Representatives of 15 boards including the West Bengal Mayel Lyang Lepcha Development Board, the West Bengal Kami Development and Cultural Development Board and the West Bengal Sarki Development and Cultural Board were present in the meeting held in Nabanna on Saturday.

Besides Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, the state Education minister Partha Chatterjee, Panchayat minister Subrata Mukherjee, Transport minister Suvendu Adhikari, the state Youth Services and Sports minister Aroop Biswas, Tourism minister Goutam Deb and the state Labour minister Malay Ghatak were present in the meeting in which issues related to further development to be carried out by the development boards were also discussed.

Lyangsong Tamsang, chairman of the West Bengal Mayel Lyang Lepcha Development Board, has been made the head of the committee comprising members from all the boards.

The committee will be taking steps to restore peace in the Hills by holding talks and propagating the message of peace among the people of thye Hills. They will also make people understand not to get swayed away by words that are being told to distract them so that the situation can be easily turned worse.

On June 22, there will be a meeting at Siliguri in which representatives of all political parties, development boards will be taking part to discuss the issue of restoration of peace in Darjeeling. Home Secretary Malay De, the state Tourism minister Goutam Deb and the state Youth Services and Sports minister Aroop Biswas will also be present in the meeting.

Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said: "Today's (Saturday's) meeting is to stop violence and I will again request them (Gorkha Janmukti Morcha) not to push common people in the Hills forward with national flags by misleading them. She also urged the people not to listen to GJM leaders and said: "Bimal (Bimal Gurung) Hatao and Hills bachao (remove Bimal and save the Hills). They are corrupt leaders and I will urge the people of the Hills not to listen to them."

Tamsang said: "We want peace in Darjeeling. I am appealing to our people to maintain peace. One should understand that no development will take place without peace. We held talks with the government of West Bengal. We urged the state government to work to restore peace." He further said: "I would like to say in connection with the matter of the issue of Bengali language in the Hills that Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had made the matter clear in Mirik saying that Bengali language is optional. So there is nothing mandatory in it. So the people should not get confused."

He also asked representatives of the boards present in Nabanna about their stand on restoration of peace in Darjeeling. All the members supported the move of forming the committee to restore peace in the Hills.

In connection with the death of one in the Hills after receiving bullet injuries during the ongoing agitation, Anuj Sharma, ADG (Law and Order), said in Nabanna on Saturday that the police did not open fire in the Hills. ( Source & Courtesy: http://www.millenniumpost.in/kolkata/kolkata-247739 )