Siliguri, July 15: Gautam Deb today picked up an SBI official from his home so that he could open the bank and dropped an official of an insurance company at the airport so that he could take a flight to Calcutta — all part of an effort to instil confidence in people who wanted to ignore the bandh today.
The Trinamul Congress minister might not have been successful in warding off the shutdown across north Bengal totally but his example worked in Siliguri where party workers took to the streets asking transport owners and drivers to bring out the vehicles.
The strike did not affect the tea estates in the Dooars and the Terai or the three districts of North and South Dinajpurs and Malda.
Eight outfits, including Amra Bangali and Bangla Morcha, had called a 24-hour shutdown across north Bengal today to protest the agreement to form the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA) for the Darjeeling hills. The minister, who made elaborate arrangements yesterday in consultation with the administration and different organisations of transport owners, tour operators and businessmen, started work at the New Jalpaiguri station today.
By 8am, Deb was at NJP, assuring passengers that transport would be available. “You need not to worry as policemen have been posted across the town. Transport is available and government buses are plying from the station. A large number of cabs are available to take you to your destinations,” Deb told waiting passengers on the platforms.
He also convinced reluctant cab drivers outside the station to ferry passengers.
“As I had told you yesterday, elaborate security arrangements have been made and you have no reason to fear,” he told taxi and auto-rickshaw drivers. “We need to prove that north Bengal is not a place known for strikes.”
Since the morning, police had been patrolling the Siliguri subdivision. Three bandh enforcers were arrested at Hashmi Chowk, when they tried to stop some vehicles, Darjeeling police chief D.P. Singh said. Singh himself toured the town extensively. “We were somehow confused about what to do but the manner in which the minister spoke, made us confident,” said Atul Das, a cab driver.
By 8.30am, the NJP station premises were bustling like any other day.
Deb then made his way to the Tenzing Norgay Central Bus Terminus in Siliguri. Long distance buses had come in as usual and rickshaws and autos were ferrying passengers. “We appreciate the way the transporters, rickshaw pullers and passengers had responded to our appeal,” he said. “It is good to see that people have defied the strike which was called to vitiate the peace and harmony in north Bengal.”
While touring the town, the minister came to know that a number of employees of the State Bank of India were waiting outside their Siliguri branch office located on Hill Cart Road. “I called up the AGM who is in charge of the bank and asked him to open the establishment, particularly because this branch also works as the clearing house. He stays in Sevoke Road and told me that he was not getting transport. I reached his place, picked him up and dropped him at the bank,” Deb said.
“I was also told that a senior divisional manager of LIC needed to go to Bagdogra to take a flight to Calcutta for a meeting. I picked him up, and dropped him at Bagdogra.”
Siliguri MLA Rudranath Bhattacharya has also visited the airport in the morning.
In Jalpaiguri district, shops and establishments were shut in Malbazar, Nagrakata, Dhupguri, Mainaguri, Banarhat and Alipurduar. Private vehicles did not ply while some schools were open.
Some Trinamul supporters tried to persuade businessmen to open their shops in Malbazar, but the bandh enforcers drove them away. In Cooch Behar, the strike was partial with schools, banks and offices remaining open. But the main markets were closed and private vehicles kept off the roads.
Deb, however, admitted that it would take some more time to convince the business community to keep their establishments open. “We will also talk to schools and other educational institutions to keep their campuses open. Also, banks and some commercial establishments would be requested to open their units during strikes like some banks did today,” he said.
The minister also requested the Parishad and other forums which have called strikes from tomorrow till Tuesday to withdraw them and instead discuss with the government their demands.
A case against strikes filed by lawyers Moumita Pal and Pritam Ghosh in the court of the Siliguri civil judge was heard today. Representatives of Amra Bangali and Bangla O Bangla Bhasha Banchao Committee, parties to the case, have been told by the court to submit by tomorrow in writing why they have called a strike.
The Bhasha Banchao Committee has called a two-day strike from July 18 to protest the formation of the GTA. The Parishad has called a 48-hour strike from tomorrow to protest the formation of a committee that would look into the Morcha demand to bring some of the plains mouzas under the GTA.
Source: http://www.telegraphindia.com/1110716/jsp/siliguri/story_14245442.jsp
The Trinamul Congress minister might not have been successful in warding off the shutdown across north Bengal totally but his example worked in Siliguri where party workers took to the streets asking transport owners and drivers to bring out the vehicles.
The strike did not affect the tea estates in the Dooars and the Terai or the three districts of North and South Dinajpurs and Malda.
Eight outfits, including Amra Bangali and Bangla Morcha, had called a 24-hour shutdown across north Bengal today to protest the agreement to form the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA) for the Darjeeling hills. The minister, who made elaborate arrangements yesterday in consultation with the administration and different organisations of transport owners, tour operators and businessmen, started work at the New Jalpaiguri station today.
By 8am, Deb was at NJP, assuring passengers that transport would be available. “You need not to worry as policemen have been posted across the town. Transport is available and government buses are plying from the station. A large number of cabs are available to take you to your destinations,” Deb told waiting passengers on the platforms.
He also convinced reluctant cab drivers outside the station to ferry passengers.
“As I had told you yesterday, elaborate security arrangements have been made and you have no reason to fear,” he told taxi and auto-rickshaw drivers. “We need to prove that north Bengal is not a place known for strikes.”
Since the morning, police had been patrolling the Siliguri subdivision. Three bandh enforcers were arrested at Hashmi Chowk, when they tried to stop some vehicles, Darjeeling police chief D.P. Singh said. Singh himself toured the town extensively. “We were somehow confused about what to do but the manner in which the minister spoke, made us confident,” said Atul Das, a cab driver.
By 8.30am, the NJP station premises were bustling like any other day.
Deb then made his way to the Tenzing Norgay Central Bus Terminus in Siliguri. Long distance buses had come in as usual and rickshaws and autos were ferrying passengers. “We appreciate the way the transporters, rickshaw pullers and passengers had responded to our appeal,” he said. “It is good to see that people have defied the strike which was called to vitiate the peace and harmony in north Bengal.”
While touring the town, the minister came to know that a number of employees of the State Bank of India were waiting outside their Siliguri branch office located on Hill Cart Road. “I called up the AGM who is in charge of the bank and asked him to open the establishment, particularly because this branch also works as the clearing house. He stays in Sevoke Road and told me that he was not getting transport. I reached his place, picked him up and dropped him at the bank,” Deb said.
“I was also told that a senior divisional manager of LIC needed to go to Bagdogra to take a flight to Calcutta for a meeting. I picked him up, and dropped him at Bagdogra.”
Siliguri MLA Rudranath Bhattacharya has also visited the airport in the morning.
In Jalpaiguri district, shops and establishments were shut in Malbazar, Nagrakata, Dhupguri, Mainaguri, Banarhat and Alipurduar. Private vehicles did not ply while some schools were open.
Some Trinamul supporters tried to persuade businessmen to open their shops in Malbazar, but the bandh enforcers drove them away. In Cooch Behar, the strike was partial with schools, banks and offices remaining open. But the main markets were closed and private vehicles kept off the roads.
Deb, however, admitted that it would take some more time to convince the business community to keep their establishments open. “We will also talk to schools and other educational institutions to keep their campuses open. Also, banks and some commercial establishments would be requested to open their units during strikes like some banks did today,” he said.
The minister also requested the Parishad and other forums which have called strikes from tomorrow till Tuesday to withdraw them and instead discuss with the government their demands.
A case against strikes filed by lawyers Moumita Pal and Pritam Ghosh in the court of the Siliguri civil judge was heard today. Representatives of Amra Bangali and Bangla O Bangla Bhasha Banchao Committee, parties to the case, have been told by the court to submit by tomorrow in writing why they have called a strike.
The Bhasha Banchao Committee has called a two-day strike from July 18 to protest the formation of the GTA. The Parishad has called a 48-hour strike from tomorrow to protest the formation of a committee that would look into the Morcha demand to bring some of the plains mouzas under the GTA.
Source: http://www.telegraphindia.com/1110716/jsp/siliguri/story_14245442.jsp