By IANS
New Delhi : The union cabinet Monday cleared the introduction of two bills in parliament to create an autonomous, self-governing council for the Darjeeling hill areas in West Bengal under the Sixth Schedule of the constitution.
The cabinet, presided over by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, cleared the introduction of the bills to amend Articles 244 and 332 and the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution to create the council, to be called Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council (DGHC).
Briefing newsmen later, Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Priya Ranjan Dasmunsi recalled that the West Bengal assembly had on March 16, 2006 adopted a resolution for setting up an autonomous council for the Darjeeling hill areas.
The resolution was then sent to parliament. Both houses of parliament have to pass necessary law in this regard to facilitate the creation of the council, after amending Article 244 of the constitution.
Once created, the DGHC would become the 8th autonomous region in the country after Independence. The Bodoland Council was the 7th autonomous council thus created.
“The proposed bill will also take into account the demand of Gorkha National Liberation Front (GNLF) chief Subhash Geishing seeking incorporation of some more areas of Siliguri district to make the autonomous region economically and geographically viable,” said Dasmunsi.
In the words of West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharya: “It took three years for concretising the idea, which ultimately resulted in the signing of a tripartite agreement among the government of India, the government of West Bengal and the administrator of the DGHC on Dec 6, 2005.”
Dasmunsi recalled: “The movement for providing autonomy to the Gorkhas of Darjeeling started in the late 1980s. The then prime minister Rajiv Gandhi intervened and brought peace.”
Promising the passage of the bill in the winter session of parliament, Dasmunsi described it as “a tribute to Rajiv Gandhi”.