FROM THE TELEGRAPH

BY VIVEK CHHETRI

The collapsed portion of the Hill Cart Road at Tindharia. File picture

Darjeeling, Feb. 17: The national highway linking Siliguri and Darjeeling will remain closed for at least one more year as the Centre is yet to firm up a proposal for the reconstruction of the road at two spots which are prone to landslides.

Traffic along the Siliguri-Kurseong section of NH55 or the Hill Cart Road has been suspended after 500 metres of the road had collapsed at Paglajhora in June 2010. Apart from Paglajhora, Tindharia along the highway is also a cave-in zone.

The delay in the repair of the road is an indication of the mammoth challenge landslides have posed to the Union ministry of surface transport which is still pondering over different options for the reconstruction.

A Delhi-based consultancy firm, LEA Associates South Asia Pvt Ltd (LASA), had earlier been entrusted by the ministry with the task of recommending measures for the restoration of NH55.

Nirmal Mondal, executive engineer, NH Division IX of the public works department, said: “LASA had suggested in early January that a geo-grid approach be adopted to reconstruct the highway (at Paglajhora and Tindharia). The cost of the repair was pegged at around Rs 70 crore.”

The geo-grid entails the construction of a concrete wall along the slope to reinforce the soil over which the road will be built using boulders and other materials.

Paglajhora is 50km from Darjeeling and Tindharia is further 5km downhill.  Read the rest of this entry »

FROM THE TELEGRAPH

BY RAJEEV RAVIDAS 

Chhatrey Subba with his wife Monica in Kalimpong after his release from Jalpaiguri jail in September

Kalimpong, Feb. 17: Chhatrey Subba has ruled out joining the Gorkhaland Task Force but would welcome its support in his fight for Gorkhaland.

The GTF, an organisation of five outfits opposed to the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha, was formed last year to lobby for statehood. Chhatrey, the president of the now dormant Gorkha Liberation Organisation, said not all in the GTF were true soldiers of Gorkhaland.

“I had not thought of starting an agitation for Gorkhaland after looking at the task force. If they want to lend their help to my struggle for Gorkahland, they are welcome to do so. However, not all in the task force are the right sort of people,” he said.

The GTF, which is made up of the Bharatiya Gorkha Parisang, ABGL, CPRM, Gorkhaland Rajya Nirman Morcha and the GNLF (C), has been touring the northeastern states for the past few weeks to garner support for Gorkhaland.

Following the recent spat between Morcha president Bimal Gurung and Chhatrey, the GTF had reportedly asked the veteran Gorkha leader to join its “non-violent” struggle for Gorkhaland.

But Subba, who was the chief of the Gorkha Volunteer Cell — the militant wing of the GNLF during the Subash Ghisingh-led Gorkhaland movement of the 1980s — complained that there was a lack of accomplished political leaders in the hills and people committed to the cause. “It is my duty to fight for Gorkhaland,” he said.

Immediately after his release from jail in early September, the 71-year-old Subba had hinted that he would quit politics owing to his old age. But since then, he seems to have had a change of heart and expressed his willingness to lead the agitation for Gorkhaland, provided he got the support of the people. Chhatrey had been in jail for more than a decade for allegedly masterminding an assassination bid on GNLF chief Ghisingh.  Read the rest of this entry »