The draft of the tripartite agreement to resolve the Darjeeling impasse was finalised on Friday in a meeting between the state government and the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) leaders at the Writers’ Buildings. The draft of the memorandum of agreement (MoA) was sent to the Centre for its approval. The state government has requested the
Centre to convene a tripartite meeting for signing the final agreement in Darjeeling by July 12 or 13 in keeping with chief minister Mamata Banerjee’s wishes. After two rounds of separate meetings with the top brass of the state administration and the chief minister, GJM general secretary Roshan Giri said, “All the contentious issues over the draft MoA have been resolved and both parties have reached a consensus on the final draft. We hope that the Centre will convene a tripartite meeting in 7-10 days for the signing of the final agreement.”
Later state chief secretary Samar Ghosh informed that the name of the proposed new autonomous authority for the Darjeeling Hills would be Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA) which would replace the existing Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council (DGHC). “This name was finalised in today’s meeting. A bill would be introduced in the state Assembly for the creation of this proposed authority which would be formed on the basis of direct election,” Mr Ghosh elaborated.
Later Ms Banerjee explained that there was no basic difference between the DGHC and the GTA except in the name. “But what is kept in a name?” she asked. The CPI(M) begged to differ because the new council had the term “Gorkhaland” in it.