Darjeeling, Nov. 7: The Gorkha Janmukti Morcha has called for an indefinite closure of all DGHC offices across the hills from tomorrow. The party will, however, allow the offices to remain open at the month end to facilitate the distribution of salaries among the council employees.
Announcing the movement, Morcha president Bimal Gurung said he had “16 more months to get Gorkhaland”.
“The DGHC offices will remain closed from tomorrow. It is not the time now to run after tenders. I have 16 more months to get Gorkhaland and I am not concerned with anything but Gorkhaland,” Gurung told a public gathering at Chowrastha today to mark the end of the month-long “cultural movement” to show that the hills are different from the rest of the state.
The Morcha move to close council offices is being seen as a ploy to kill two birds with one stone.
Observers believe that by stopping the floating of tenders, the Morcha is trying to stem the discontent in the party rank and file that surfaced over the contracts being awarded.
The DGHC currently has around Rs 131 crore in its exchequer for development projects, the tenders for which were floated frequently in the past few months.
With Gurung’s call to stall development work, the Morcha has sent a signal that even municipalities should stop issuing tenders. “Our youths should stop going to municipalities and other offices in the hope that they can bid for the tenders. No one should come to us, pleading that the offices be kept open even for a day.”
The other reason for closing the DGHC offices is to pressure the state government before the second round of tripartite meeting which is tentatively scheduled for the second half of November.
The offices of the district administration, however, will remain open till the tripartite meeting. “Any decision regarding them would be taken after the talks,” said Gurung.
Around 7,000-odd contractual workers of the council had already launched a pen-down strike yesterday, demanding that their jobs be made permanent. The employees have been signing their registers, but not reporting for work. However, Group A category employees, usually deputy magistrates, are reporting for duty.
Gurung today thanked the people for wearing their traditional dresses for a month from October 7. “We even thank those who did not wear them. People here have seen who all have worn the dress and who have not.”
The Morxcha president claimed that 70 per cent of the hill people had regularly dressed in their traditional clothes for the past one month.
0 comments:
Post a Comment