Morcha to resume fast

Darjeeling, Feb. 15: Bengal municipal affairs minister Asok Bhattacharya today said there was no way the state government could announce Subash Ghisingh’s removal immediately.

Following a meeting between the government and the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha leaders on Wednesday in Calcutta, chief secretary Amit Kiran Deb had reportedly said a decision regarding Ghisingh’s removal as caretaker administrator would be taken by February 16.

Today, Bhattacharya who is the CPM MLA from Siliguri, said: “Ghisingh’s term as caretaker ends on March 24 and (only) after that can the government arrive at a decision.”

In Darjeeling, the Morcha has instructed its cadres to patrol the hills “day and night” to prevent Ghisingh from entering the hills.

Bimal Gurung, the president of the party, said: “He (Ghisingh) has no right to come back to the hills. Our supporters have been told to start patrolling from tomorrow evening.”

Ghisingh has been camping in Delhi for the past nine days and is trying to mobilise support to ensure that the Constitutional (Amendment) Bill 2007 to include the Darjeeling hills in the Sixth Schedule is passed smoothly in Parliament. The four-month-old Morcha has been opposing the status and has demanded a separate state instead.

“There is a possibility of him coming through Kathmandu and taking the Pashupati Fatek route through Sukhiapokhri,” said Gurung.

The Morcha has announced an “economic blockade” starting from Sunday along with resumption of the indefinite hunger strike.

“We will wait till tomorrow evening and if no decision on Ghisingh is taken by the government by then, our fast-unto-death will commence from 10am on Sunday,” said Gurung.

The party has also decided to stop the movement of timber produced in the hills to the plains from Sunday. “We will also indefinitely close down the NHPC project sites as part of our economic blockade programme,” said Gurung.

During the Gorkhaland agitation in the mid-80s, Ghisingh had called for a similar ban on movement of all timber products.

Rajesh Pandey, the Darjeeling district magistrate, said the government has asked for “three to four days’ time” to look into the Morcha demands. He added that a final word from the government was expected either on Monday evening or Tuesday.