The youth wing of the Jana Andolan Party today held demonstrations in
Calcutta to protest the construction of a tourist lodge at Tiger Hill
in a clear message that the hill party would no longer play second
fiddle to Trinamul in the hills.
The JAP headed by Harka Bahadur Chhetri and other hill parties have
opposed the constructions at Tiger Hill in Senchel Wildlife Sanctuary,
alleging that the work is being carried out without proper environmental
clearances.
A 21-member group of the JAP’s Yuwai Ekai
demonstrated in front of Nabanna and the new secretariat building of the
tourism department in Calcutta but the protest had to be cut short
after police intervened. The JAP members then held the protests at Park
Street and Chowringhee.
Amir Basnet, the spokesman for the Yuwai Ekai, said over the phone
from Calcutta: “At both Nabanna and the new secretariat, police cited
prohibitory orders to stop our protests. We told them the fact that we
had come not to protest, but to protect our hills from being degraded by
rampant constructions.”
Basnet said they had shifted the demonstration to Chowringhee and
Park Street to spread awareness among the ordinary people of Calcutta of
“the unwanted constructions” at Tiger Hill in Darjeeling district.
The protest in Calcutta is seen as a clear message by the JAP that it
won’t go along with Trinamul in the hills any more. In the last
Assembly elections, the JAP had joined hands with Trinamul and the
GNLF.
Today, Harka Bahadur Chhetri also said that the JAP would contest the coming municipal polls alone.
“We will go alone as we have not found any party whose ideals match
with those of us. We are an independent entity with our own vision but
some political elements both in Darjeeling (read Morcha) and outside
(read Trinamul) tried to confuse the hill people. Our demonstration is
also a message for chief minister Mamata Banerjee that we will not
accept anything and everything,” said Chhetri. (TT)
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