SNS, KOLKATA, 9 JUNE: The Gorkha Jan Mukti Morcha may withdraw from the elections to the Gorkha Territorial Administration (GTA) in the Hills after it rejected the report of the High Power Committee which recommended inclusion of only five mouzas in the new body out of the 398 demanded by the party in Terai and Dooars region.
Chief minister Mamata Banerjee, however, has urged for peace and reminded the GJMM of their earlier written pledge to abide by the report.
Of the 398 mouzas, 199 each in Darjeeling and Jalpaiguri, the High Power Committee headed by retired Chief Justice Shyamal Sen recommended the inclusion of only five ~ Samsing and Chalouni in Jalpaiguri and MM Terai, Gulmakhari and Purba Kalaibari in Darjeeling district ~ under the GTA.
The committee had made the recommendation for including these five mouzas on the basis of “contiguity, homogeneity and compactness apart from other such ground level considerations”.
However, the Gorkha Jan Mukti Morcha (GJMM) leadership appeared to be in no mood to accept the report of the committee which also included their four representatives. “We are rejecting the report. The committee has betrayed our confidence. The party might stay away from the GTA Sabha election slated next month in the changed situation. The central committee would meet tomorrow in Darjeeling and the final decision would be taken there after a threadbare discussion,” Mr Roshan Giri, the GJMM general secretary said.
Appealing for peace, the chief minister urged the GJMM to accept the committee's report, pointing out that according to the agreement signed between the GJMM and the state government on 24 March both sides had agreed to abide by the committee's report. Urging the people of the Hills to participate in the GTA elections, she said in Kolkata: “Development in Darjeeling Hills had been stalled for the past 15 years due to the agitation and the formation of GTA would bring in funds, jobs, tourists and development.” She pledged a host of development projects for the district, including the upgrade of tourist sites and construction of roads. According to the tripartite agreement signed in July, the Hills would receive Rs 600 crore over a period of three years from the Centre.
There is little room for manoeuvring for the GJMM, since it had already pledged in writing to abide by the committee report when its president, Mr Bimal Gurung, met the chief minister to demand that the committee's report should be submitted before the GTA elections which will be held in the existing area of DGAHC. GJMM members were members of the committee along with representatives of state and Centre, though the final call on inclusion of the mouzas was taken by the chairman.
“The initial consideration was finding out whether 50 per cent of the population was Gorkha and then came the question of contiguity. Hence nearly 149 mouzas demanded by GJMM in Jalpaiguri located near Bhutan could not be considered because they was not contiguous with existing areas under Darjeeling Gorkha Autonomous Hill Council," said state chief secretary Samar Ghosh, who briefed the media on the recommendations of the High Power Committee.
Census reports sourced from the Union home ministry which gave details of population on the basis of religion and language were used to determine homegeneity of the population. In some cases, “ground level consideration” worked, like in the case of Patharjhora, Turibari and Manabari mouzas, since they were dependent on Garubathan block and the only higher secondary school in the area was in Odlabari. Mr Ghosh said the government was yet to decide on the timeline for the GTA elections.
The GJMM president, Mr Bimal Gurung, and other central committee members will hold a meeting with the representatives of the party’s principal affiliates and those of the pro-GJMM ABAVP splinter group led by Mr John Barla at Patley Bash on the outskirts of Darjeeling tomorrow to finalise their stance on the committee’s report.
'Include Only 5 Mouzas in Plains in GTA'
PTI, Kolkata: A West Bengal government-appointed panel has recommended inclusion of only five specific land areas in the plains under the proposed new hill council in Darjeeling as against the demand for inclusion of 398 such areas by GJM, which rejected the report and threatened a fresh stir.
Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee asked Gorkha Janmukti Morcha(GJM) to accept the report of the high-powered committee on the jurisdiction of the Gorkha Territorial Administration, pointing out that all the parties concerned had already agreed to accept it.
The GJM while rejecting the Justice(retd) Shyamal Sen Committee report termed it as 'biased and insulting' and threatened a renewed stir in the hills.
Of the five mouzas recommended for inclusion, two were Samsing and Chalouni in Jalpaiguri district and three-- M M Terai, Gulmakhari and East Kalaibari-- in Darjeeling district, Chief Secretary Samar Ghosh said. A mouza is an area less than a sub-division.
The hill council runs the administration in the three hill subdivisions of Darjeeling district -- Darjeeling, Kalimpong and Kurseong.
Making public the report of the committee, Ghosh told reporters that the recommendations have been made on the basis of "homogeneity, contiguity, compactness and ground- level situation of the mouzas."
The 10-member committee was set up after the signing of the tripartite agreemment by the Centre, the state government and GJM on July 18 last year for setting up a new hill council GTA to replace the existing Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council.
During the signing of the agreement, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had made it clear that there could not be a further division of Bengal.
"We are not accepting the report of Justice Shyamal Sen Committee. This is insulting and biased. We will take recourse to agitation," GJM General Secretary Roshan Giri said.
GJM had demanded that 398 Gorkha-dominated areas in the adjoining plains in the Terai and Dooars in Darjeeling and Jalpaiguri districts should also be included under the jurisdiction of GTA.
Asked when elections to the GTA could take place, the chief secretary said, "We will work out the date of election."
Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee while urging the GJM to participate in the elections to the GTA said, "There was unanimity at the time of forming of the committee by the state government, that all will accept the report and work for the development of the Darjeeling hills which we like most."
"There is no scope for misunderstanding. It is my appeal to the people in the Darjeeling hills, Terai and in Dooars to adhere to the committee's recommendations," the chief minister said.
Asked to comment on GJM's refusal to accept the report, the chief minister said "GJM is a political party and can definitely give its opinion."
Stating that it was not the state government which had taken a decision, she also cautioned, "I don't want eruption of fresh trouble in Darjeeling and I would like to advise those trying to do politics over the issue, not to do so."
A disappointed Giri, on the other hand, said his party had expected that at least 150 mouzas would be included.
Asked if GJM would participate in the elections to GTA if it was held in July as was being planned by the state government, he said "We have not decided that yet. Our party will sit and decide the future course of action."
GJM central committee member Harkabadur Chetri said that the party Central Committee and the study forum would meet tomorrow in which party president Bimal Gurung would be present to take a stand.
Adivasi Vikash Parishad, a tribal organisation in the plains, which was opposed to inclusion of additional areas from the Terai and Dooars in GTA, welcomed the report.
"We welcome the recommendations," said Birsa Tirkey, president of ABVP which along with other groups in the plains of North Bengal had organised anti-GTA bandh in Dooars and Terai in April this year.
Earlier during the signing of the tripartite agreement, the chief minister had made it clear that there could not be a further division of Bengal.
The agreement was reached by the Mamata Banerjee government, which took over the reins of West Bengal in May last ousting the Left Front from power, after a three-and-a- half year agitation by the GJM for a separate state of Gorkhaland.
A high-powered committee appointed by the state government to determine the territorial jurisdiction of Gorkhaland Territorial Administration, has recommended inclusion of only five mouzas from the plains in the GTA as against the demand for inclusion of 398 mouzas by the Gorkha Jan Mukti Morcha (GJM).
An unhappy GJM rejected the recommendation and threatened fresh agitation in the Hills for a separate state.
A tribal body, Adivasi Vikas Parishad, which was opposed to inclusion of additional areas from the Terai and Dooars in the proposed new hill council in Darjeeling, however, welcomed the recommendations.
Chief Secretary Samar Ghosh said the recommendations of the committee, headed by former Chief Justice of Allahabad High Court Shyamal Sen, has to be accepted as an agreement in this regard was signed by all stakeholders on March 24 this year. The state government is working out a plan to hold elections to GTA next month.
Ghosh said the committee recommended inclusion of two mouzas — Samsing tea garden and Chalouni — in GTA from Jalpaiguri district. It also recommended that three mouzas from Darjeeling districts — MM Terai, Purba Kharaibari and Gulmakhari — be included in GTA.
The GJM had demanded inclusion of 398 mouzas — 199 each from Jalpaiguri and Darjeeling districts — in GTA but the Sen committee turned down the inclusion of 394 mouzas for reasons such as lack of contiguity, compactness, homogeneity, ground level situation and accessibility.
“We cannot accept the recommendation. It is an insult to us. We will go back to the path of movement for a separate statehood,” said GJM general secretary Roshan Giri. “
“We welcome the recommendation. This will bring peace back,” said Birsa Tirkey, president, Adivasi Vikas Parishad.
Chief Secretary Ghosh said out of 199 mouzas in Darjeeling, demanded for inclusion in GTA by GJM, the committee recommended inclusion of three mouzas as these meet all the criteria that the committee was asked to consider before reaching a decision. According to the agreement, the final decision was taken by the chairman of the committee.
Of the 199 mouzas sought by the GJM, 149 are located close to Bhutan and there is lack of contiguity, the panel report states. Of the remaining 50 mouzas, three were not recommended for lack of compactness.
The Sen committee found that Gorkha population is more than 50 per cent in 10 mouzas, therefore, only 10 mouzas were considered for inclusion in GTA. Of these, ten mouzas — Paschim Tatgaon, Purba Tatgaon and Sundaribasti Bustee — have no links with the existing DGHC area while Kalaiguti Tea garden mouza lack compactness, according to the panel.
The ten-member Sen committee was constituted on July 29 last year through a notification. The state government and GJM had four members each in the committee while the Centre was represented by the Additional Director General of Census.
The hindu, KOLKATA, JUNE 9: A high-power committee has recommended inclusion of five mouzas from the plains into the newly formed Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA) in the Darjeeling hills.
(Mouza is a land revenue collection unit as well as settlement, a legal term on land records)
The recommendations were made following the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha's (GJM) claim for inclusion of 398 mouzas from the plains, into the Darjeeling-headquartered autonomous administrative body.
GJM is the dominant political organisation in hills that is demanding separate statehood for Darjeeling on ethnic grounds.
As part of the GTA Act, a committee — comprising representatives of State, Central as well as the GJM — reviewed the territorial disputes. The committee was headed by Mr Justice Shyamal Sen.
In a report submitted on Friday, the committee recommended inclusion of five mouzas — three in Darjeeling district and two in Jalpaiguri district — from the plains into the hill administration.
Mr Roshan Giri, General Secretary of GJM, said that the party was unhappy with the committee's suggestions. “It is a humiliation for us. We will take up the matter with our party to decide the future course of action,” he told Business Line.
The GJM had demanded the inclusion of 398 mouzas — 196 from Dooars, 199 from Terai and three from Rajganj — claiming dominance of Nepali ethnicity.
The West Bengal Chief Minister, Ms Mamata Banerjee, however, said: “There is no reason for any misunderstanding. The decision was neither by the State Government nor the Centre. It was by the high-power committee.”
ayan.pramanik@thehindu.co.in
abhishek.l@thehindu.co.in
Upset over panel report, GJM threatens to renew agitation
Kolkata/Darjeeling: Upset over a high-power committee's report on additional areas to be included into the proposed Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA) in northern West Bengal, the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha Saturday threatened to launch a protest agitation.
Going a step further, a faction of a tribal outfit active in the Dooars (foothills of the Himalayas) region of north Bengal said the demand for a "Gorkhaland state" would be revived.
Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee urged the GJM to accept the report.
"During the GTA agreement it was decided that all the parties - the state and the central governments and GJM - will abide by whatever recommendations the high-powered committee makes," Banerjee told the media.
"I, therefore, urge all to abide by its decisions. There is no scope for misunderstanding," she said. The 10-member committee, headed by Justice (retd.) Shyamal Kumar Sen, Friday night submitted the report which was read out to reporters by Chief Secretary Samar Ghosh Saturday.
The committee was set up July 29 last year after the GJM demanded 398 additional mouzas (area less than a sub-division) spread over Darjeeling and Jalpaiguri districts to be included in the GTA -- a new hill council that would run the administration in Darjeeling area.
It is armed with more powers than its predecessor, the Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council (DGHC), formed in the 1980s.
The committee, which considered parameters such as homogeneity (whether over 50 percent of the mouza's population was Gorkha), geographical contiguity, compactness and ground reality, said only two mouzas in Jalpaiguri and three in Darjeeling fulfilled all the criteria for being part of the GTA.
Ghosh said the government has not finalised its stand on the report. "I've come to merely brief you on the report's contents," he said.
He said though members of the GJM and the state government were members of the panel, it had been decided that they would not be part of the committee's decision-making process which was left to Justice Sen.
The GJM was left fuming after knowing contents of the report.
"The recommendation is a farce. We do not accept this. The people of (Darjeeling Hills) are with us. We will go on a stir. We were hoping to get over 150 mouzas," GJM general secretary Roshan Giri said.
GJM spokesman Harka Bahadur Chhetri called the recommendations an insult to the hill people.
"The number of mouzas given are much lower than our expectation. People are alleging that Gorkha majority areas have been shown as minority areas," Chhetri said.
He said the GJM would hold a meeting Sunday in Darjeeling and decide on its next course of action.
Akhil Bharatiya Adivasi Vikas Parishad (ABAVP), a tribal body active in the Dooars and which had been fighting against the inclusion of any additional mouzas in the GTA, welcomed the report.
"We don't have any objection to the mouzas given to the GTA," said ABAVP leader Birsa Tirkey.
However, John Barla, leader of the pro-GJM faction of the ABAVP, rejected the recommendations. "We will start an agitation. We will revive the movement for a separate state."
The opposition Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) said it wanted peace in the hills.
"We also want peaceful resolution to the Darjeeling problem. We are not certain whether peace will return to Darjeeling following the GTA treaty," said CPI-M state committee member Ashok Bhattacharya.
The three picturesque Darjeeling hill subdivisions of Darjeeling, Kurseyong and Kalimpong have been on the boil for nearly three decades due to anti-government protests over the demand for a separate Gorkhaland state.
On July 18 last year, a tripartite agreement was signed between the GJM and the state and central governments for setting up the new autonomous, elected GTA. The hills have been peaceful since then.
PTI, Kolkata, Jun 09 Dealing a blow to the demand by Gorkha Janmukti Morcha for inclusion of 398 mouzas in the plains in the jurisdiction of the proposed new hill council in Darjeeling, a West Bengal government-appointed committee has recommended inclusion of only five.
Gorkha Janmukti Morcha promptly rejected the Justice Shyamal Sen Committee report on the jurisdiction of the Gorkha Territorial Administration terming it as 'biased and insulting' and threatened a renewed stir in the hills.
Making public the report of the Justice (retd) Shyamal Kumar Sen committee, Chief Secretary Samar Ghosh told reporters today that "the recommendations have been made on the basis of homogeneity, contiguity, compactness and ground-level situation of the mouzas."
The 10-member committee was set up after the signing of the tripartite agreemment by the Centre, the state government and GJM on July 18 last year for setting up a new hill council, Gorkhaland Territorial Administration, to replace the existing Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council.
During the signing of the agreement, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had made it clear that there could not be a further division of Bengal.
The agreement was reached by the Mamata Banerjee government, which took over the reins of Bengal in May last ousting the Left Front from power, after three and a half years of agitation by the GJM for a separate state of Gorkhaland.
Of the five mouzas recommended for inclusion, two were Samsing and Chalouni in Jalpaiguri district and three M M Terai, Gulmakhari and East Kalaibari in Darjeeling district, Ghosh said.
A mouza is less than a subdivision. The hill council runs the administration in the three hill subdivisions of Darjeeling district -- Darjeeling, Kalimpong and Kurseong.
GJM had demanded that 398 Gorkha dominated areas in the
adjoining plains in the Terai and Dooars in Darjeeling and Jalpaiguri districts should also be included in the jurisdiction of GTA.
The chief secretary, to whom the report was submitted yesterday, said the committee prepared the report in consultations with all.
On February 24 this year, it was agreed by the state government and GJM that all parties would abide by the recommendations of the committee, Ghosh said.
Asked when the election to GTA could take place, the chief secretary said "we will work out the date of the election."
He said a report on delimitation had earlier been submitted to the Home Secretary. Election would take place in 45 seats while there would be 5 nominated members.
IE,Kolkata: A high-powered committee appointed by the state government to determine the territorial jurisdiction of Gorkhaland Territorial Administration, has recommended inclusion of only five mouzas from the plains in the GTA as against the demand for inclusion of 398 mouzas by the Gorkha Jan Mukti Morcha (GJM).
An unhappy GJM rejected the recommendation and threatened fresh agitation in the Hills for a separate state.
A tribal body, Adivasi Vikas Parishad, which was opposed to inclusion of additional areas from the Terai and Dooars in the proposed new hill council in Darjeeling, however, welcomed the recommendations.
Chief Secretary Samar Ghosh said the recommendations of the committee, headed by former Chief Justice of Allahabad High Court Shyamal Sen, has to be accepted as an agreement in this regard was signed by all stakeholders on March 24 this year. The state government is working out a plan to hold elections to GTA next month.
Ghosh said the committee recommended inclusion of two mouzas — Samsing tea garden and Chalouni — in GTA from Jalpaiguri district. It also recommended that three mouzas from Darjeeling districts — MM Terai, Purba Kharaibari and Gulmakhari — be included in GTA.
The GJM had demanded inclusion of 398 mouzas — 199 each from Jalpaiguri and Darjeeling districts — in GTA but the Sen committee turned down the inclusion of 394 mouzas for reasons such as lack of contiguity, compactness, homogeneity, ground level situation and accessibility.
“We cannot accept the recommendation. It is an insult to us. We will go back to the path of movement for a separate statehood,” said GJM general secretary Roshan Giri. “
“We welcome the recommendation. This will bring peace back,” said Birsa Tirkey, president, Adivasi Vikas Parishad.
Chief Secretary Ghosh said out of 199 mouzas in Darjeeling, demanded for inclusion in GTA by GJM, the committee recommended inclusion of three mouzas as these meet all the criteria that the committee was asked to consider before reaching a decision. According to the agreement, the final decision was taken by the chairman of the committee.
Of the 199 mouzas sought by the GJM, 149 are located close to Bhutan and there is lack of contiguity, the panel report states. Of the remaining 50 mouzas, three were not recommended for lack of compactness.
The Sen committee found that Gorkha population is more than 50 per cent in 10 mouzas, therefore, only 10 mouzas were considered for inclusion in GTA. Of these, ten mouzas — Paschim Tatgaon, Purba Tatgaon and Sundaribasti Bustee — have no links with the existing DGHC area while Kalaiguti Tea garden mouza lack compactness, according to the panel.
The ten-member Sen committee was constituted on July 29 last year through a notification. The state government and GJM had four members each in the committee while the Centre was represented by the Additional Director General of Census.
'Include Only 5 Mouzas in Plains in GTA'
PTI, Kolkata: A West Bengal government-appointed panel has recommended inclusion of only five specific land areas in the plains under the proposed new hill council in Darjeeling as against the demand for inclusion of 398 such areas by GJM, which rejected the report and threatened a fresh stir.
Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee asked Gorkha Janmukti Morcha(GJM) to accept the report of the high-powered committee on the jurisdiction of the Gorkha Territorial Administration, pointing out that all the parties concerned had already agreed to accept it.
The GJM while rejecting the Justice(retd) Shyamal Sen Committee report termed it as 'biased and insulting' and threatened a renewed stir in the hills.
Of the five mouzas recommended for inclusion, two were Samsing and Chalouni in Jalpaiguri district and three-- M M Terai, Gulmakhari and East Kalaibari-- in Darjeeling district, Chief Secretary Samar Ghosh said. A mouza is an area less than a sub-division.
The hill council runs the administration in the three hill subdivisions of Darjeeling district -- Darjeeling, Kalimpong and Kurseong.
Making public the report of the committee, Ghosh told reporters that the recommendations have been made on the basis of "homogeneity, contiguity, compactness and ground- level situation of the mouzas."
The 10-member committee was set up after the signing of the tripartite agreemment by the Centre, the state government and GJM on July 18 last year for setting up a new hill council GTA to replace the existing Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council.
During the signing of the agreement, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had made it clear that there could not be a further division of Bengal.
"We are not accepting the report of Justice Shyamal Sen Committee. This is insulting and biased. We will take recourse to agitation," GJM General Secretary Roshan Giri said.
GJM had demanded that 398 Gorkha-dominated areas in the adjoining plains in the Terai and Dooars in Darjeeling and Jalpaiguri districts should also be included under the jurisdiction of GTA.
Asked when elections to the GTA could take place, the chief secretary said, "We will work out the date of election."
Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee while urging the GJM to participate in the elections to the GTA said, "There was unanimity at the time of forming of the committee by the state government, that all will accept the report and work for the development of the Darjeeling hills which we like most."
"There is no scope for misunderstanding. It is my appeal to the people in the Darjeeling hills, Terai and in Dooars to adhere to the committee's recommendations," the chief minister said.
Asked to comment on GJM's refusal to accept the report, the chief minister said "GJM is a political party and can definitely give its opinion."
Stating that it was not the state government which had taken a decision, she also cautioned, "I don't want eruption of fresh trouble in Darjeeling and I would like to advise those trying to do politics over the issue, not to do so."
A disappointed Giri, on the other hand, said his party had expected that at least 150 mouzas would be included.
Asked if GJM would participate in the elections to GTA if it was held in July as was being planned by the state government, he said "We have not decided that yet. Our party will sit and decide the future course of action."
GJM central committee member Harkabadur Chetri said that the party Central Committee and the study forum would meet tomorrow in which party president Bimal Gurung would be present to take a stand.
Adivasi Vikash Parishad, a tribal organisation in the plains, which was opposed to inclusion of additional areas from the Terai and Dooars in GTA, welcomed the report.
"We welcome the recommendations," said Birsa Tirkey, president of ABVP which along with other groups in the plains of North Bengal had organised anti-GTA bandh in Dooars and Terai in April this year.
Earlier during the signing of the tripartite agreement, the chief minister had made it clear that there could not be a further division of Bengal.
The agreement was reached by the Mamata Banerjee government, which took over the reins of West Bengal in May last ousting the Left Front from power, after a three-and-a- half year agitation by the GJM for a separate state of Gorkhaland.
A high-powered committee appointed by the state government to determine the territorial jurisdiction of Gorkhaland Territorial Administration, has recommended inclusion of only five mouzas from the plains in the GTA as against the demand for inclusion of 398 mouzas by the Gorkha Jan Mukti Morcha (GJM).
An unhappy GJM rejected the recommendation and threatened fresh agitation in the Hills for a separate state.
A tribal body, Adivasi Vikas Parishad, which was opposed to inclusion of additional areas from the Terai and Dooars in the proposed new hill council in Darjeeling, however, welcomed the recommendations.
Chief Secretary Samar Ghosh said the recommendations of the committee, headed by former Chief Justice of Allahabad High Court Shyamal Sen, has to be accepted as an agreement in this regard was signed by all stakeholders on March 24 this year. The state government is working out a plan to hold elections to GTA next month.
Ghosh said the committee recommended inclusion of two mouzas — Samsing tea garden and Chalouni — in GTA from Jalpaiguri district. It also recommended that three mouzas from Darjeeling districts — MM Terai, Purba Kharaibari and Gulmakhari — be included in GTA.
The GJM had demanded inclusion of 398 mouzas — 199 each from Jalpaiguri and Darjeeling districts — in GTA but the Sen committee turned down the inclusion of 394 mouzas for reasons such as lack of contiguity, compactness, homogeneity, ground level situation and accessibility.
“We cannot accept the recommendation. It is an insult to us. We will go back to the path of movement for a separate statehood,” said GJM general secretary Roshan Giri. “
“We welcome the recommendation. This will bring peace back,” said Birsa Tirkey, president, Adivasi Vikas Parishad.
Chief Secretary Ghosh said out of 199 mouzas in Darjeeling, demanded for inclusion in GTA by GJM, the committee recommended inclusion of three mouzas as these meet all the criteria that the committee was asked to consider before reaching a decision. According to the agreement, the final decision was taken by the chairman of the committee.
Of the 199 mouzas sought by the GJM, 149 are located close to Bhutan and there is lack of contiguity, the panel report states. Of the remaining 50 mouzas, three were not recommended for lack of compactness.
The Sen committee found that Gorkha population is more than 50 per cent in 10 mouzas, therefore, only 10 mouzas were considered for inclusion in GTA. Of these, ten mouzas — Paschim Tatgaon, Purba Tatgaon and Sundaribasti Bustee — have no links with the existing DGHC area while Kalaiguti Tea garden mouza lack compactness, according to the panel.
The ten-member Sen committee was constituted on July 29 last year through a notification. The state government and GJM had four members each in the committee while the Centre was represented by the Additional Director General of Census.
The hindu, KOLKATA, JUNE 9: A high-power committee has recommended inclusion of five mouzas from the plains into the newly formed Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA) in the Darjeeling hills.
(Mouza is a land revenue collection unit as well as settlement, a legal term on land records)
The recommendations were made following the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha's (GJM) claim for inclusion of 398 mouzas from the plains, into the Darjeeling-headquartered autonomous administrative body.
GJM is the dominant political organisation in hills that is demanding separate statehood for Darjeeling on ethnic grounds.
As part of the GTA Act, a committee — comprising representatives of State, Central as well as the GJM — reviewed the territorial disputes. The committee was headed by Mr Justice Shyamal Sen.
In a report submitted on Friday, the committee recommended inclusion of five mouzas — three in Darjeeling district and two in Jalpaiguri district — from the plains into the hill administration.
Mr Roshan Giri, General Secretary of GJM, said that the party was unhappy with the committee's suggestions. “It is a humiliation for us. We will take up the matter with our party to decide the future course of action,” he told Business Line.
The GJM had demanded the inclusion of 398 mouzas — 196 from Dooars, 199 from Terai and three from Rajganj — claiming dominance of Nepali ethnicity.
The West Bengal Chief Minister, Ms Mamata Banerjee, however, said: “There is no reason for any misunderstanding. The decision was neither by the State Government nor the Centre. It was by the high-power committee.”
ayan.pramanik@thehindu.co.in
abhishek.l@thehindu.co.in
Upset over panel report, GJM threatens to renew agitation
Kolkata/Darjeeling: Upset over a high-power committee's report on additional areas to be included into the proposed Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA) in northern West Bengal, the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha Saturday threatened to launch a protest agitation.
Going a step further, a faction of a tribal outfit active in the Dooars (foothills of the Himalayas) region of north Bengal said the demand for a "Gorkhaland state" would be revived.
Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee urged the GJM to accept the report.
"During the GTA agreement it was decided that all the parties - the state and the central governments and GJM - will abide by whatever recommendations the high-powered committee makes," Banerjee told the media.
"I, therefore, urge all to abide by its decisions. There is no scope for misunderstanding," she said. The 10-member committee, headed by Justice (retd.) Shyamal Kumar Sen, Friday night submitted the report which was read out to reporters by Chief Secretary Samar Ghosh Saturday.
The committee was set up July 29 last year after the GJM demanded 398 additional mouzas (area less than a sub-division) spread over Darjeeling and Jalpaiguri districts to be included in the GTA -- a new hill council that would run the administration in Darjeeling area.
It is armed with more powers than its predecessor, the Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council (DGHC), formed in the 1980s.
The committee, which considered parameters such as homogeneity (whether over 50 percent of the mouza's population was Gorkha), geographical contiguity, compactness and ground reality, said only two mouzas in Jalpaiguri and three in Darjeeling fulfilled all the criteria for being part of the GTA.
Ghosh said the government has not finalised its stand on the report. "I've come to merely brief you on the report's contents," he said.
He said though members of the GJM and the state government were members of the panel, it had been decided that they would not be part of the committee's decision-making process which was left to Justice Sen.
The GJM was left fuming after knowing contents of the report.
"The recommendation is a farce. We do not accept this. The people of (Darjeeling Hills) are with us. We will go on a stir. We were hoping to get over 150 mouzas," GJM general secretary Roshan Giri said.
GJM spokesman Harka Bahadur Chhetri called the recommendations an insult to the hill people.
"The number of mouzas given are much lower than our expectation. People are alleging that Gorkha majority areas have been shown as minority areas," Chhetri said.
He said the GJM would hold a meeting Sunday in Darjeeling and decide on its next course of action.
Akhil Bharatiya Adivasi Vikas Parishad (ABAVP), a tribal body active in the Dooars and which had been fighting against the inclusion of any additional mouzas in the GTA, welcomed the report.
"We don't have any objection to the mouzas given to the GTA," said ABAVP leader Birsa Tirkey.
However, John Barla, leader of the pro-GJM faction of the ABAVP, rejected the recommendations. "We will start an agitation. We will revive the movement for a separate state."
The opposition Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) said it wanted peace in the hills.
"We also want peaceful resolution to the Darjeeling problem. We are not certain whether peace will return to Darjeeling following the GTA treaty," said CPI-M state committee member Ashok Bhattacharya.
The three picturesque Darjeeling hill subdivisions of Darjeeling, Kurseyong and Kalimpong have been on the boil for nearly three decades due to anti-government protests over the demand for a separate Gorkhaland state.
On July 18 last year, a tripartite agreement was signed between the GJM and the state and central governments for setting up the new autonomous, elected GTA. The hills have been peaceful since then.
PTI, Kolkata, Jun 09 Dealing a blow to the demand by Gorkha Janmukti Morcha for inclusion of 398 mouzas in the plains in the jurisdiction of the proposed new hill council in Darjeeling, a West Bengal government-appointed committee has recommended inclusion of only five.
Gorkha Janmukti Morcha promptly rejected the Justice Shyamal Sen Committee report on the jurisdiction of the Gorkha Territorial Administration terming it as 'biased and insulting' and threatened a renewed stir in the hills.
Making public the report of the Justice (retd) Shyamal Kumar Sen committee, Chief Secretary Samar Ghosh told reporters today that "the recommendations have been made on the basis of homogeneity, contiguity, compactness and ground-level situation of the mouzas."
The 10-member committee was set up after the signing of the tripartite agreemment by the Centre, the state government and GJM on July 18 last year for setting up a new hill council, Gorkhaland Territorial Administration, to replace the existing Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council.
During the signing of the agreement, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had made it clear that there could not be a further division of Bengal.
The agreement was reached by the Mamata Banerjee government, which took over the reins of Bengal in May last ousting the Left Front from power, after three and a half years of agitation by the GJM for a separate state of Gorkhaland.
Of the five mouzas recommended for inclusion, two were Samsing and Chalouni in Jalpaiguri district and three M M Terai, Gulmakhari and East Kalaibari in Darjeeling district, Ghosh said.
A mouza is less than a subdivision. The hill council runs the administration in the three hill subdivisions of Darjeeling district -- Darjeeling, Kalimpong and Kurseong.
GJM had demanded that 398 Gorkha dominated areas in the
adjoining plains in the Terai and Dooars in Darjeeling and Jalpaiguri districts should also be included in the jurisdiction of GTA.
The chief secretary, to whom the report was submitted yesterday, said the committee prepared the report in consultations with all.
On February 24 this year, it was agreed by the state government and GJM that all parties would abide by the recommendations of the committee, Ghosh said.
Asked when the election to GTA could take place, the chief secretary said "we will work out the date of the election."
He said a report on delimitation had earlier been submitted to the Home Secretary. Election would take place in 45 seats while there would be 5 nominated members.
IE,Kolkata: A high-powered committee appointed by the state government to determine the territorial jurisdiction of Gorkhaland Territorial Administration, has recommended inclusion of only five mouzas from the plains in the GTA as against the demand for inclusion of 398 mouzas by the Gorkha Jan Mukti Morcha (GJM).
An unhappy GJM rejected the recommendation and threatened fresh agitation in the Hills for a separate state.
A tribal body, Adivasi Vikas Parishad, which was opposed to inclusion of additional areas from the Terai and Dooars in the proposed new hill council in Darjeeling, however, welcomed the recommendations.
Chief Secretary Samar Ghosh said the recommendations of the committee, headed by former Chief Justice of Allahabad High Court Shyamal Sen, has to be accepted as an agreement in this regard was signed by all stakeholders on March 24 this year. The state government is working out a plan to hold elections to GTA next month.
Ghosh said the committee recommended inclusion of two mouzas — Samsing tea garden and Chalouni — in GTA from Jalpaiguri district. It also recommended that three mouzas from Darjeeling districts — MM Terai, Purba Kharaibari and Gulmakhari — be included in GTA.
The GJM had demanded inclusion of 398 mouzas — 199 each from Jalpaiguri and Darjeeling districts — in GTA but the Sen committee turned down the inclusion of 394 mouzas for reasons such as lack of contiguity, compactness, homogeneity, ground level situation and accessibility.
“We cannot accept the recommendation. It is an insult to us. We will go back to the path of movement for a separate statehood,” said GJM general secretary Roshan Giri. “
“We welcome the recommendation. This will bring peace back,” said Birsa Tirkey, president, Adivasi Vikas Parishad.
Chief Secretary Ghosh said out of 199 mouzas in Darjeeling, demanded for inclusion in GTA by GJM, the committee recommended inclusion of three mouzas as these meet all the criteria that the committee was asked to consider before reaching a decision. According to the agreement, the final decision was taken by the chairman of the committee.
Of the 199 mouzas sought by the GJM, 149 are located close to Bhutan and there is lack of contiguity, the panel report states. Of the remaining 50 mouzas, three were not recommended for lack of compactness.
The Sen committee found that Gorkha population is more than 50 per cent in 10 mouzas, therefore, only 10 mouzas were considered for inclusion in GTA. Of these, ten mouzas — Paschim Tatgaon, Purba Tatgaon and Sundaribasti Bustee — have no links with the existing DGHC area while Kalaiguti Tea garden mouza lack compactness, according to the panel.
The ten-member Sen committee was constituted on July 29 last year through a notification. The state government and GJM had four members each in the committee while the Centre was represented by the Additional Director General of Census.
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