Mamata says Darjeeling issue settled with pact on autonomy

The demand for a separate Gorkhaland State raised by the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) seems to have been put on a backburner, at least for the moment, with the West Bengal government today entering into an agreement with the GJM for constitution of an autonomous body with financial, executive and administrative powers.

A Bill would be passed in the next Assembly session to pave the way for the formation of the Council.

‘Issue settled'

“The Darjeeling matter has been settled. A formal agreement has been signed at the official level. I have informed the Union Home Minister, Mr P. Chidambaram,” the Chief Minister, Ms Mamata Banerjee, told newspersons at the Writers' Building after a two-day meeting with GJM on Tuesday.

“Every area is our (West Bengal) area,” she said, indicating that GJM's demand for Gorkhaland had been put aside. According to Ms Banerjee, the State Chief Secretary, Mr Samar Ghosh, will talk to the Centre and hold a formal tripartite meeting in Darjeeling to formalise the agreement. According to the agreement, a nine-member committee (four from the government, four from GJM and an administrator) would be set up in the next two days to see if the new body should have jurisdiction over the Dooars, Siliguri and Terai along with the Darjeeling hills where the Gorkhas are in a majority.

The committee will submit its report within six months.

GJM non-committal

The GJM was non-committal on the settlement of the issues. Its demand for Gorkhaland has not been diluted, said Mr Roshan Giri, GJM General Secretary.

“We have not compromised with the demand for Gorkhaland. The committee has been formed, which will give its report. The agreement is yet to be reached, which will be done in due course. On the issue of land management of tea garden, a committee has been formed to look into it,” he said.

“We were expecting that once the new government is in place, there will be some positive development. A lot of our demands have been met,” he added.

The transfer of ‘tauji' or the right over tea gardens and resolution of the problem of casual employees of the Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council were some of the decisions that were arrived at the meeting, he said.

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