GTA talks in Calcutta next week Morcha readies demands

Rosan giriPicture by Suman Tamang 

TT;VIVEK CHHETRINDajeeling, Nov. 13: The Gorkha Janmukti Morcha will seek 29 amendments to the GTA Act for proper functioning of the autonomous hill body during talks with the state and later central officials in Calcutta next week. The meeting between the Morcha and the Bengal government will be held on November 20, and the tripartite talks involving the party, the state and the Centre are scheduled for the next day. It is not clear yet who will represent the Centre at the talks. 

 “I have just received a letter which states that the bipartite and tripartite meetings will be held in Calcutta on November 20 and 21, respectively. The meetings have been called to review the problems that are being faced by the GTA Sabha,” said Roshan Giri, the general secretary of the Morcha and also an executive member of the GTA Sabha. Sources said during both the meetings, the Morcha leadership would raise the demand to bring 29 amendments to the GTA Act.

 “The amendments are necessary for the proper functioning of the GTA Sabha. Primary among the amendments is reservation of seats for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in the GTA elections as well as quota for the two sections in jobs. Members of Scheduled Castes comprise 33.72 per cent of the population in the Darjeeling hills. The Scheduled Tribes form 9.32 per cent of the population.

 Giri told a public meeting at Bijanbari, 35km from here, today that issues such as granting of ST status to all hill communities (except SCs), inclusion of the GTA in the North East Council, establishment of a central university and transfer of reserved forest to the GTA would be discussed at the bipartite and tripartite talks. The Morcha leader also said the review of cases registered against party activists during the Gorkhaland agitation from 2007 to 2011, as agreed upon in the GTA memorandum of agreement, would also be raised at the Calcutta meetings. 

 “We are working on a strategy to strengthen the GTA so that it will help achieve a separate state of Gorkhaland,” said Giri. He stressed that the Morcha had not dropped the demand of Gorkhaland, as laid down in the GTA MoA. Chief minister Mamata Banerjee had promised the Morcha during her visit to the hills in October that the state government would hold bipartite and tripartite talks in November. Her visit helped improve the relationship between the state and the Morcha. 

 That there is a thaw in the relations between the GTA and the state could be gauged from the fact that the Darjeeling district administration met the representatives of the hill body to discuss the creation of 10 new blocks in the GTA area. At the moment, there are three blocks each in Darjeeling and Kalimpong subdivisions and two in Kurseong subdivision.

 GNLF 6 arrested 

 Six GNLF workers were arrested in Darjeeling on Wednesday for allegedly breaching peace and tranquillity and forcefully selling CDs containing party chief Subash Ghisingh’s speeches. They were arrested while planting GNLF flags in town. The GNLF said the arrests had been made on false complaints filed by Morcha workers.