KOLKATA/SILIGURI, June e 12 (Agencies): The army was called out to patrol streets of Siliguri and adjacent areas on Thursday following attacks on local people, tourists and police by the Gorkha Janamukti Morcha activists demanding a separate state.
As tension prevailed in various areas in north Bengal, Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharya called an all-party meeting on June e 17 to discuss the Darjeeling crisis arising out of the morcha's demand.
"I contacted the army, discussed the situation with the authorities and asked them to patrol streets as early as possible in Siliguri and the vicinity," Bhattacharya said at Writers' Buildings in Kolkata.
Saying that an unrest was growing in Siliguri and its adjoining areas, he appealed to people there and all political parties to maintain peace and amity and not to indulge in violence.
"You have to maintain peace and harmony, which is the need of the hour," Bhattacharya said.
GJM supporters attacked tourists and policemen, injuring 28 people and damaged 16 vehicles on Wednesday evening at Malbazar in neighbouring Jalpaiguri district, as two organisations observed a 48-hour bandh in this north Bengal town in Darjeeling district from Thursday.
Twelve tourists, being escorted by Forest Department personnel from a forest bungalow at Chapramari in Jalpaiguri district, were attacked by armed GJM supporters at Khunia More, Divisional Forest Officer, Wildlife-II, Tapan Das said.
The GJM supporters torched one of the vehicles the tourists were travelling in and damaged the other and also attacked local people at Malbazar town and stoned the police when they intervened.
In Siliguri and Dooars, normal life was hit on Thursday during the bandh called by groups opposing the demand for creation of a separate Gorkha state.
The two-day bandh initially began on a dull note, but picked up as the day progressed with all shops and business establishments remaining shut and vehicles off the roads.
Some educational institutions cancelled their scheduled examinations and majority of the banks remained closed.
GJM press secretary Benoy Tamang alleged that the bandh at Siliguri and Dooars was purposely called to restrict movement of vehicles carrying food and essentials to Darjeeling.
Inspector General of Police (North Bengal) K L Tamta, however, told PTI that the allegation of GJM was not correct.
Vehicles were very much moving towards the hills and sufficient security forces were deployed at all vulnerable points, particularly the entry points to the hills.
There was no report of any major untoward incident either in Siliguri or Dooars, Tamta said.
Bhagalpur package in line with Commission report, says Lalu PATNA, June e 12 (Agencies): Railway Minister Lalu Prasad today claimed that the Centre's relief package of Rs 29.81 crore offered to the Bhagalpur riot victims was in accordance with the recommendations by Justice N N Singh Commission.
The Commission was set up during Prasad's tenure as Chief Minister of Bihar.
"We were out for it and prevailed the package be on the line of the 1984 Sikh riots," Prasad told PTI over phone from New Delhi while reacting to the decision of the Union Cabinet.
"We persistently tried for an additional relief package from the Centre, apart from the assistance provided by the state government," he said and hoped that the package would ease the problems facing the families of the riot victims.
More than 1500 people reportedly died in the communal riots in 1989, he said.
Prasad said Centre would provide an additional compensation of Rs 3.5 lakh to the family of each of the 844 identified dead, apart from the ex-gratia payment made by the state government.
"The package will prove to be beneficial for the victims in Bhagalpur, including minorities," he added.
Buddhadev calls all-party meeting on Darjeeling issue KOLKATA, June e 12 (Agencies): With the situation turning grave in Darjeeling over the Gorkha Janamukti Morcha's demand for a separate state, West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadev Bhattacharjee today announced an all-party meeting on June e 17.
Chief Minister's secretariat sources said that the all-party meeting would be held at Writers' Buildings here.
The decision came in the wake of violence reportedly committed by Morcha supporters in the Darjeeling hills and in different parts of north Bengal in support of their demand for a separate Gorkhaland state.
Several local inhabitants, tourists and the police were injured in the Morcha attack in the last two days in different parts of Darjeeling and Jalpaiguri districts.
The demand for an all-party meeting was made by Information and Broadcasting Minister P R Dasmunshi yesterday when he blamed the intelligence failure to assess the ground reality and 'lack of vision' by Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee for the situation in Darjeeling.
Dasmunshi has been harping on the necessity of calling an all-party meeting to discuss the Darjeeling crisis and said that the Morcha's demand for a separate state 'within a state' cannot be supported.
"Not only intelligence failure, but lack of vision on the part of the chief minister to assess the ground reality before pressing the Centre for expedition of grant of Sixth Schedule status to Darjeeling, has contributed to the situation in Darjeeling hills," Dasmunshi, who is also the WBPCC chief, said.
Siliguri bandh leaves no impact, no fresh violence in hills SILIGURI, June e 12 (Agencies): A 48-hour bandh in Siliguri called by two little-known organisations opposed to Gorkhaland from six am today had little impact as no fresh violence was reported between GJM and its rival organisations in and around the hills.
The Amra Bangali and Bangla Bhasa Bachaon Committee called the bandh to protest against the demand for Gorkhaland raised by the Gorkha Janamukti Morcha.
Most political parties, including the CPI-M and Congress, opposed the bandh called immediately after the GJM declared a 60-hour relaxation in their indefinite bandh in Darjeeling hills and in some parts of Dooars and Terai.
The relaxation period would end at six am on Saturday.
GJM press secretary Benoy Tamang alleged that the bandh was called only to restrict hill-bound vehicles carrying food stuff and essential items during the recess period.
Three Darjeeling-bound lorries were stopped by a section of locals at Jhankar More in the heart of Siliguri town last night.
Tamang claimed police took no action.
Sub-divisional Officer, Siliguri, Smita Pandey told PTI that sufficient security forces were deployed at all vulnerable points, particularly at Darjeeling More, Salhgara and Himul More - points to enter Darjeeling hills.
There was no incident of restricting vehicles to and from the hills, she said.
GJM activists attacked tourists and policemen injuring 28 persons and damaged 16 vehicles last evening at Malbazar in Jalpaiguri district, prompting the authorities to impose Section 144 in Malbazar.
However, no fresh violence was reported from there this morning, official sources said.
Railways seek to run more good trains to Pakistan NEW DELHI, June e 12 (Agencies): Amid their keen interest to raise two-way trade, India and Pakistan will discuss next week proposals for increasing the frequency of freight trains besides extending the Amritsar-Lahore service.
At the three-day talks here from June e 17, senior railways officials of the two countries will also examine various other issues related to Indo-Pak train operation.
The two sides will deliberate on a proposal for introduction of freight service on the Jodhpur-Munnabao-Kokrajhar section.
At present, the freight service is operated only through Wagah border.
There is a proposal for extension of the freight train operation beyond Lahore and Amritsar, the official told Agencies ahead of talks here.
They will also explore the possibility of increasing capacity in passenger trains and hiking the luggage rates.
"We want to increase the frequency of freight trains so that more goods can be exported or imported," the official said.
At present, only two freight trains operate between the two countries per day and we propose to increase it to four, the official said.
Both the countries are keen to raise the bilateral trade and are discussing ways to do so.
India imported 45,000 tons of cement in April and 60,000 tons of cement in May from Pakistan by rail.
The two sides will also discuss proposals for increasing the capacity of passenger trains that are running on Delhi-Attari-Wagah and Jodhpur-Munnabao-Khokrapar sections.
However, large baggages carried by the passengers is being viewed as a problem and the officials will discuss ways, including hiking the luggage rates, to discourage such a practice.
"It has been found that passengers are carrying maximum luggages in these trains causing security problem and also inconvenience to others.
We want to dissuade the passengers from carrying maximum luggages by proposing to increase the rates substantially from the scheduled rate," the official said.
The talks are held every year as part of the inter-government railway meeting.
Last Indo-Pak meeting on train operation was held in Pakistan in 2007.
