KOLKATA: While West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee is engaged in arm-twisting tactics with New Delhi and Dhaka over the sharing of Teesta river water, resistance to construct a State-sponsored tourist hub on a ‘holy’ hill has turned into a focal point of the Gorkhaland statehood movement.
Residents of Darjeeling and neighbouring Sikkim are up in arms against the proposed tourist hub, not only because of religious sensitivity but due to heavy construction in the Senchal Wildlife Sanctuary – one of India’s oldest protected forests. The construction work is a direct violation of the green norms.
The State government is going ahead with the construction of four big cottages, 20 double bedroom houses and a 20-bed dormitory atop the forested hill.
Locals believe anyone who has tried to mess with the mystical mountain has faced the music. “Tiger Hill is the anglicised name of Sinchel or Singchel, which is derived from Singha (lion), the ‘vahan’ of Singha Devi Maata, the presiding deity of the hill. Legend has it that when the British killed a swan couple in the hills holy lake, they were obliterated from their barracks built atop the hill. Later, a man named Dhanay Sarki stole a bell and some bronze utensils from the shrine and sold them to another man, Sang Dukpa. Both men died unnatural deaths. Since then, people believe no one should disturb the peace of the hill,” narrates Rinchu.
Subhash Ghising, chief of Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council (DGHC) -- precursor to Gorkha Territorial Administration (GTA) -- had proposed to build a golf course on the hill but had to stall the proposal due to stiff local resistance. Many locals believe his political downfall was a result of his attempts to push the project.
Whether religious or environmental concerns, heavy construction atop the hill has led to large-scale mobilisation of people against it. Civil society and students’ organisations have held protests across the region in an attempt to build public awareness against the project.
Students have conducted large-scale signature and social media campaigns, and have filed online petitions to stop construction work on Tiger Hill.
Jumping into the fray, Gorkha Janamukti Morcha president, GTA chief and Mamata Banerjee’s bête noire Bimal Gurung has written a letter to the West Bengal chief minister on March 30 stating that no non-forestry work can be commissioned in Senchal Wildlife Sanctuary without requisite permission of local forest authorities, as per the Forest Conservation Act, 1980.
He has mentioned that the then District Forest Officer (DFO) had stated during a meeting in 2013 that even streetlights could not be installed in the forest as it could affect the insects.
Bimal Gurung has requested that the ongoing works be stopped immediately, as the 38 sq km wildlife sanctuary and its administration was handed over to the then DGHC in 2002 and is now under the GTA’s administration.
Senchal is home to wildlife thriving in high altitudes, such as barking deer, wild pig, Himalayan black bear, leopard, jungle cat, common rhesus monkey, Assam macaque, and the Himalayan flying squirrel besides a rich avian life.
“While Mamata accuses Narendra Modi of not allocating sufficient funds, intervening in her work and trying to bully her, she practices the same policies with the Darjeeling hills,” a top GTA official said on condition of anonymity.
With elections to four municipalities of the Darjeeling and Kalimpong districts slated for May 14, and Gorkhaland proponents accusing Mamata Banerjee of dividing the hill people by creating 17 ethnic development boards, the protection of Senchal Wildlife Sanctuary has become a focal point in uniting people for the Gorkhaland movement in its current phase of dormancy.