ABAVP threatens stir if Sen Committee fails to expand GTA

 DARJEELING, : Mr John Barla says his pro-GJMM faction of the ABAVP will go for a vigorous agitation if the Shymal Sen Committee fails to support the expansion of the GTA's territory. 

 The high-power committee chaired by retired justice Shymal Sen is likely to submit its report to the state government early next month. The stir-decision came out following a meeting of the Barla-led Joint Action Coordination Committee (JACC) and the GJMM's central committee at Darjeeling Gymkhana Hall this morning. Speaking after the meeting, Mr Barla said his group was waiting for the report. "If the report goes against the long-standing land demand being raised by a majority section of the Adivasi people inhabiting the Terai-Dooars region, we would go for a vigorous movement," he said. In a warning to the state government, the Adivasi leader said the region would go up in flames if the report runs roughshod over Adivasi sentiment about the land demand. "If the Mamata Banerjee government wants enduring peace and to avoid tension in the region, it must ensure that the report is accordance with what the JACC has been demanding. The alternative is chaos and disorder," Mr Barla said. GJMM general secretary Roshan Giri, however, said peace would prevail in the Hills irrespective of the contents of the report. "We are for development and peace in the long-restless Hills," he said after the meeting.