New accord on Darjeeling signed

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A tripartite agreement between the Centre, the West Bengal government and the Gorkha Janmukti Mocha (GJM) for the formation of a Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA), an independent and autonomous body to replace the existing Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council (DGHC), was signed here at 3.43 pm on Monday.

A bill will now be introduced in the West Bengal Assembly and the GTA will be formed once this becomes an act. West Bengal home secretary G.D. Gautama, a joint secretary in the Union home ministry, Mr K.K. Pathak, and GJM general secretary Roshan Giri signed this historic tripartite agreement, the second such on Darjeeling. The Centre and the state government had signed a similar agreement with the Subhas Ghising-led Gorkha National Liberation Front (GNLF) in August 1988 — 23 years ago — which led to the DGHC’s formation.
“The new authority will be formed in six months. It is a historic day for the people of Darjeeling. Make Darjeeling more beautiful. The Government of India and the West Bengal government will give you full support,” a beaming chief minister Mamata Banerjee announced in the presence of Union home minister P. Chidambaram, GJM president Bimal Gurung and some 5,000-odd people at Pintail village, around 6 km from Siliguri. The Left Front boycotted the ceremony while Darjeeling MP Jaswant Singh was a surprise guest.
The signing of this pact brought to an end the GJM’s four-year-long movement for the creation of a separate state. Congratulating Ms Banerjee and Mr Gurung, Mr Chidambaram said: “Today I stand witness to a historic event, when years of strife have come to an end due to the wisdom and sagacity of two people: Mamata Banerjee and Bimal Gurung. Today is the day when we put all the suffering behind us. Today marks the beginning of the GTA. Today marks pariborton — change for a better tomorrow.”
Mr Chidambaram cautioned Mr Gurung that the task before him was stupendous. “You have to rebuild brick by brick, and the Centre and the state government will be by your side. Here is an opportunity to show that you can govern and deliver,” he added.
The GJM president noted that had the state’s former Left Front government wanted it, the accord could have been signed much earlier. “I want to request the state government to seriously consider the report of the committee which would be immediately formed to review the demand for inclusion of some areas of Terai and Dooars into the territorial jurisdiction of GTA,” Mr Gurung said.
The chief minister announced that a comprehensive economic package has already been prepared for the development of the Hills. “There was no elected body here for the last seven years. Darjeeling will be turned into Switzerland. A lot of projects — including multi-speciality hospitals, an IIT, polytechnics, a veterinary college, a nursing college, schools, colleges, an institute for the preservation of the Nepali language and culture, a circular road in Darjeeling — will come up in the Hills soon,” she said.
A senior GJM central committee member and party MLA, Mr Harkabahadur Chhetri, said later that the Centre had already pledged a `600-crore corpus for the development of the Hills. “We had sought `1,500 crores, but they assured us `600 crores as of now. However, considering the number of projects we have submitted, the total package will be around `1,000 crores from the state and the Centre in the next three years,” he said.
Asked about the state government’s commitment to this financial package, state commerce and industries minister Partha Chatterjee said: “The state’s share will have to be decided. But we will act as a facilitator.”
The GTA will be able to frame rules independently and it can recruit Group B, C and D employees on its own. The proposed 50-member body will have 59 major departments, excluding finance, law and judiciary and home. Of the 50 members, 45 will be elected, while five will be nominated by the governor on behalf of the state government. “The powers and functions of the GTA are almost similar to the existing DGHC, besides the recruitment and rule-framing powers. It cannot, however, recruit Group A employees. The GTA will have no legislative and taxation powers,” a senior state official noted.
The GJM hopes to get powers to regulate reserved forests. “We will be getting more departments and more autonomy, but one thing is clear: the demand for Gorkhaland will always be there. This tripartite agreement for the formation of the GTA is the first step towards Gorkhaland,” said GJM central committee member S.P. Warner, who is also general secretary of the All India Ex-military/Paramilitary Morcha.