GJMM urges CM to reopen closed tea gardens

The Gorkha Janamukti Morcha (GJM), which is spearheading the agitation in the Darjeeling hills demanding statehood for the Gorkhas, urged the West Bengal chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee to reopen 13 closed tea gardens in the hills.

A GJM delegation met the chief minister on Thursday where it placed the demand for reopening the gardens. GJM leader Roshan Giri told reporters after the meeting that the GJM delegation had also urged the state government to allow them to hold meetings and rallies in the plains of the Dooars and release GJM activists who had allegedly been “falsely implicated” by the state police. MORE...