GTA rescues Darj girl from Midnapore...Kalimpong tense after two return from Kolkata: 110 returned from Andhra Pradesh

REZA PRADHAN, SNS, DARJEELING. 17 MAY 2020: The Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA) has rescued a Darjeeling girl, who was allegedly physically assaulted by her employer at Contai in East Midnapore and who had failed to return home due to the lockdown.

The girl was yesterday brought to the GTA Pahari Bhavan in Sliguri, while it will be decided if she will be sent for home or institutional quarantine after Covid-19 tests.

"I had joined work there on 6 February this year. There were others also, but they left. After the lockdown started and the restaurant was closed, my employer asked me to stay in his house. But I was tortured and beaten up there." said the girl.

According to the GTA Help Desk in-charge, Binny Sharma, he came to know on 13 May that the employer used to often face torture at the hands of her employer. "She was not even allowed to speak on the phone but once when she got a chance and spoke on the phone with her sister, she heard screams," Mr Sharma said. "We were informed of the matter and I spoke to the MP there, along with the SP and urged them to intervene in the case and help her. She was then rescued, while they also managed a place for her to stay," he added. Family members said that the fare for the vehicle for the girl's return to Siliguri was borne by the GTA Help Desk. Mr Sharma further said that police will take action against the employer.

Kalimpong tense after two return from Kolkata: Meanwhile, in Kalimpong,local people at the Dr Grahams Homes area did not allow a woman and her daughter who had returned from Kolkata yesterday, to stay in their house and demanded that they be sent to a quarantine centre.

Following the demands made by locals, the duo was kept in the Deolo Tourist Lodge by the administration, which locals are also protesting and raising questions as it is not a quarantine facility.

According to locals, Shampa Roy's daughter studied in a school in Kalimpong and the mother-daughter duo had rented a house there.

"Before the lockdown, she had taken her daughter to Kolkata, after which she had returned. She has claimed that Covid tests have been conducted on them and that results were negative. However, we feel she could have chances of getting the virus on the way, so we want that she be sent to a quarantine centre for 14 days after which she can come and stay here." said a local there.

When contacted, Kalimpong District Magistrate R Vimala said, "There are not supposed to be kept in a quarantine centre as they have certificates saying that swab tests have been taken and their results were negative. It is only that the locals were not convinced, which is why she was taken to Deolo. It should be made clear that Deolo is not a quarantine centre but any government property can be used for such quarantine purposes." She further maintained that they were trying to settle the matter amicably with the locals, until which time, they will be kept at Deolo.

In Darjeeling, around 110 students, who have returned from Puttaparthi, will be kept at the Gorkha Ranga Manch Bhawan, which has been made a transit camp. They will be sent home after a day or two if the swab tests they had taken in Simulbari comes negative. They arrived in Siliguri by bus yesterday.

(Courtesy, source- The Statesman- https://epaper.thestatesman.com/c/52007543 )