Darjeeling MP protests Cong leader’s statement on Teesta disaster
Darjeeling MP Raju Bista today strongly opposed AICC general secretary Jairam Ramesh's statement linking the disaster along the Teesta River to the Teesta hydropower projects.
Leaders of Joint Forum, a conglomeration of several trade unions associated with tea plantations, were allegedly attacked by nearly 30 goons in an area under Namgring Tea Estate in the Hills today.
Darjeeling MP , vehemently protesting against the incident, claimed that the goons were backed by Bharatiya Gorkha Prajatantrik Morcha (BGPM).
Sources said the people of Poomoong Tea Plantation invited the leaders of the Joint Forum to discuss land rights and present decision to provide patta ( deed of land rights) for a plot of 5 decimal land among tea workers.
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As the leaders of Joint Forum, Sunil Rai, Dhiraj Rai, Pranay Sherpa, and Prabhat Rai were in a meeting with the locals, a group of people with arms, led by BGPM leader and an elected member of Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA), suddenly attacked on them, Mr Bista claimed.
“This cowardly attack on the members of the Joint Forum has exposed the nature of the Trinamul Congress backed BGPM. It has also exposed their desperation, and the inability of the district administration and even the police to reign in these anti-social elements,” Darjeeling MP said.
“After forcing the workers to accept the 5-decimal ‘refugee patta’, the West Bengal government intends to hand over the ownership of the tea garden land to land mafia by making it a “freehold” land,” Mr Bista claimed, adding, “There is a genuine fear that once the tea garden land becomes “freehold,” the land mafia will uproot the tea bushes and convert the land to build 5-star hotels, housing complexes, high paid restaurants, bars and clubs. Throughout this process the BGPM leaders are set to make their share of cutmoney from every acre of the tea garden land.”
“Locals are in fear that once such large scale housing societies are built, it will cause massive demographic changes in the region, making the indigenous people of Darjeeling Hills a minority in their own places,” Darjeeling MP added.
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