By
Soudhriti Bhabani
Six members of the Gorkha Janmukti
Morcha (GJM), spearheading the agitation for a separate Gorkhaland
state, were arrested on Sunday for allegedly stopping the vehicle of
Superintendent of Police Kunal Agarwal during the ongoing bandh in the
Darjeeling hills.
According
to police sources, the GJM activists were arrested early Sunday - the
second day of the indefinite shutdown - from their houses and taken to
Darjeeling Sadar police station for interrogation.
A large number of GJM supporters and local leaders staged a sit-in in
front of the police station demanding the release of the arrested
members.
Law and order: CRPF personnel patrol a deserted road in Darjeeling during an indefinite strike by the Gorkha Janamukti Morcha
Darjeeling MP Jaswant Singh has declared his
support for a separate state of Gorkhaland, adding that it is the oldest
claim for state separation
Later, the outfit's workers
also staged a demonstration outside the court of the district sessions
judge as the accused were produced there.
In a separate incident, angry supporters set ablaze a passenger vehicle on NH-31A near Kalijhora in Kalimpong sub-division.
A councillor of the Gorkha
Territorial Administration (GTA) and a local GJM leader at Mongpo,
Ramesh Lama, were also detained by the police on the charge of setting a
vehicle belonging to the National Hydroelectric Power Corporation on
fire in Mongpo on Thursday.
All markets were closed and the traffic movement remained suspended on
Sunday even as the police, central forces and Special Striking Force
personnel carried out intensive patrols across the hill sub-divisions.
GJM workers were on the roads in the hills and were seen checking vehicles.
Life
continued to be paralysed with sloganeering GJM supporters taking out
rallies at various places in the districts demanding a separate
Gorkhaland state.
Blockades
The
protesters also put up road blockades at various important points on
NH-55 (popularly known as Hillcart Road) to stop vehicles coming into
Darjeeling.
Meanwhile, the
body of GJM activist Mongal Singh Rajput, who had set himself afire and
died at a Siliguri hospital, was taken to Kalimpong on Sunday as
supporters queued up on both sides of the road.
A
resident of Dr Graham Home at Kalimpong, Rajput poured petrol on
himself and rushed to the crowded Dambarchawk area to set himself on
fire on July 30.
He suffered serious burn injuries and was taken to a hospital in Siliguri where he succumbed to his burn injuries.
Meanwhile,
GJM chief Bimal Gurung also said he would pay respect to Rajput at his
funeral procession that will take place at Kalimpong on Monday.
"I will be there at the funeral procession. With the death of Rajput, our Gorkhaland movement will grow stronger.
"There will be demonstrations in front of all government offices in the hills Monday onwards," Gurung said.
The
indefinite strike called by Gurung-led GJM brought an end to a peaceful
period in the hills of Darjeeling since the Gorkha Territorial
Administration (GTA) pact was signed in July 18, 2011, between the GJM,
the state and the central governments to set up an autonomous council in
the region.
Supporting
the statehood call, Darjeeling MP Jaswant Singh said on Sunday:
"Darjeeling is the only district in the country that adjoins four
nations - Nepal, China, Bhutan and Bangladesh. It's a highly sensitive
and important area for India and it must not be treated casually."
British-era bungalow set on fire
What
earlier stood as a beautiful British-era bungalow in a picturesque
setting has now turned into a forlorn structure symbolic of the unrest
in Darjeeling hills.
Located
about 40 km from Kalimpong in a small village, the Takdah forest
bungalow was set on fire by unidentified people late in the night on
Thursday.
Offering mostly
home-stays, the club-come-forest bungalow was inaugurated barely a year
ago (August 5, 2012) by West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee.
Locals
remain tight-lipped about the incident. Those approached over the issue
refused to comment or tactfully bypassed the pointed question - 'Who
were behind the violence?'
No arrest has been made so far.
"We
can't say anything. We are helpless. The bungalow is gutted now. We
were supposed to start our maintenance work before the Durga Puja
season.
"But this has
happened. I don't know whether everything will be fine by then or not.
If this continues, no one will come here this season," Pratima Rai, a
caretaker of the bungalow whose family has been looking after the
century-old heritage property for three generations, said.
Destroyed: A beautiful British era Takdah forest
bungalow in the Darjeeling hills was set on fire. Those responsible
have yet to be identified
Pratima is apprehensive that
her family will have to go through hard days if tourists do not turn up
in the coming season in the wake of the violence.
Though
the Shebbire suite in which the chief minister had stayed in was
completely gutted, locals and bungalow officials had managed to douse
the flames that had partially damaged the remaining four suites.
Sources
in the forest department on Sunday, meanwhile, confirmed to Mail Today
that the bungalow was set on fire by a group of Gorkha Janmukti Morcha
(GJM) activists who came late in the night.
A
forest official said the police have started an investigation. Officers
of local Rungli police station along with senior district police
personnel have visited the spot. They are conducting an enquiry into the
matter.
"These kind of
violent acts are affecting the livelihood of our own people. There are
few local families who survive on this bungalow. They work as
caretakers, cook food for the tourists in season and they are in-charge
of the maintenance of it," another forest official said.
The GJM led by its supremo Bimal Gurung is spearheading the Gorkhaland agitation in West Bengal's Darjeeling district.
Life has come to a standstill in the hills which is popular among tourists as a getaway from the summer heat in the plains.
Curfew imposed in Karbi Anglong
Violence continued in Assam's Karbi Anglong district for the fifth day on Sunday over the demand for a separate state.
A
curfew was imposed in the district on Sunday after some government
offices and property of political leaders were torched by the angry
protesters.
Anger: A forest beat office was destroyed by protesters demanding a separate state in Karbi Anglong
Activists of different organisations have been agitating for a separate state on the lines of Telangana.
Police said the office of the additional chief engineer of irrigation
department and the Khadi Board office, equipment and machineries of
public works department, besides a forest beat office at Amri and a land
records office at Long-e-Kur were among the property set ablaze by
agitators.
Telangana Rashtra Samitha drives a hard bargain
By Mail Today Bureau
The
Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) on Sunday threw a spanner in the works
of the Centre, saying it will not accept Hyderabad as a Union Territory
or the joint capital of Telangana and the Andhra region, even as
supporters of united Andhra Pradesh held demonstrations in many parts of
the state.
TRS chief K Chandrasekhara Rao said the administration of Hyderabad should be run by the Telangana government.
"TRS
would have no objection if the new Andhra Pradesh government runs its
administration from Hyderabad till a capital with necessary
infrastructure is built, but the administration of Hyderabad should be
run by the Telangana government," he told reporters in Hyderabad.
Blaze: United Andhra Pradesh activists burn a
portrait of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi in Ananthapur, some 400
kilometers from Hyderabad
His comments came soon after
AICC general secretary in-charge of Andhra Pradesh Digvijaya Singh said
Hyderabad would be the joint capital of Telangana and the Andhra region
for 10 years and could be modelled after Delhi, where law and order is
handled by the Centre.
"We
are looking at provisions like we have in Delhi where law and order is
being handled by the home ministry directly and the police commissioner
is directly responsible to the lieutenant governor...," Digvijaya
earlier told a TV channel on Sunday.
Congress
sources, however, downplayed Rao's demand saying he was "posturing" and
it was part of bargaining ahead of a proposal for merger of his party
with the Congress.
TRS
chief's caveat comes in the wake of protests in Seemandhra against
bifurcation of the state and many leaders from the region demanding a UT
status to Hyderabad.
The
Congress leadership has been trying to buy peace with agitated leaders
from coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema with the UT proposal.
AICC general secretary in-charge of Andhra
Pradesh Digvijaya Singh (left) said Hyderabad would be the joint capital
of Telangana and the Andhra region for 10 years, but TRS President K
Chandrasekhar Rao (right) insists that Hyderabad should not become a
joint capital in the long term
In Guntur, a 20-year-old youth
attempted to commit suicide for united Andhra Pradesh by setting himself
on fire during a TDP-backed agitation, a police official said.
Upping
their ante, the agitators organised road and rail blockades, rallies
with black flags, sitins and community kitchens in several towns.
Meanwhile,
Rao sought to douse the controversy over his reported remarks that
state government employees from Rayalaseema and coastal Andhra working
in Telangana should go back to their respective regions, saying no one
need go anywhere.
He said the media had misrepresented his comment.
His
reaction came after the East and West Godavari Bar Association Lawyers
Joint Action Committee lodging a police complaint on Sunday against him
for his remarks.
