By IANS,
Siliguri : Amidst the rising political tempers in the hills of West Bengal, the pro-Gorkhaland Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) leadership is all set to meet chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Feb 11 to demand swift implementation of the proposed hill administration.
“Saturday at 12 noon we will meet the chief minister. We will demand quick implementation of the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA) treaty. We also want to know why the promised aid in regard to the earthquake has not reached,” GJM legislator Haraka Bahadur Chetri told IANS.
Earlier, GJM president Bimal Gurung had set Mar 27 deadline for the GTA’s birth and had warned that if that was not done, the treaty would be burnt at a meeting in Sukna, about 20 km from Siliguri in Darjeeling district.
Chetri also expressed his anger over the “unnecessary delay” in implementing the GTA accord — a tripartite agreement that was signed on July 18 last year between the GJM and the state and central governments for setting up a new autonomous, elected GTA. It was to be a hill council armed with more powers than its predecessor, the Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council (DGHC).
“The people of the hills are unable to understand why there is unnecessary delay in the implementation of the pact,” said Chetri.
In accordance with the agreement, an expert committee was set up to conduct survey of the Gorkha-dominated parts of Siliguri, Terai (plains of Darjeeling) and Dooars (foothills of the eastern Himalyas) to see if some territory from these areas could be brought under the proposed GTA.
The committee, headed by Justice (retd) Shyamal Sen, was expected to give its report late by last month, after it was given an extension of six months.
The GJM central committee has expressed anguish over the developments. GJM general secretary Roshan Giri met Governor M.K. Narayanan Tuesday and requested him to ensure that the GTA was formed soon.
The governor, now on a visit to Darjeeling, assured Giri that he would take up the matter with President Pratibha Patil, whose assent is required for the the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration Bill, 2011, passed by the state assembly in December.
“I can assure you that the state government is committed to form the GTA,” the governor told Giri.
Meanwhile, five anti-GJM parties in the hills — the Akhil Bharatiya Gorkha League, the Communist Party of Revolutionary Marxists, the Gorkha National Liberation Front (C.K. Pradhan), the Gorkhaland Rashtriya Nirman Morcha and the Bharatiya Gorkha Parisang — have formed a Gorkhaland Task Force.
The elders of these parties have accused the GJM of betraying the cause of Gorkhaland and getting obsessed with the GTA.