By IANS,
Kalimpong (West Bengal) : Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) Friday said it is hopeful that the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA) Bill will get presidential assent within the next 10-12 days and the new autonomous hill council in Darjeeling will be formed soon.
“We are hopeful that the GTA will be formed soon. We are expecting that the bill will receive presidential assent within the next ten to twelve days,” GJM general secretary Roshan Giri said after a meeting with West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee here.
Top GJM leaders, including party president Bimal Gurung and Giri, held talks with Banerjee.
Gurung has recently threatened that unless there is visible progress in the process of formation of the GTA, the party will re-launch its demand for a separate state from March 27.
Earlier, the chief minister, during her recent visit to New Delhi in February-end, took up the GTA issue with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
A tripartite agreement between the central and state governments and the JGM was signed in the presence of Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram, Banerjee and Gurung at Pintail village July 18, 2011.