Morcha hardsells ‘powerful’ set-up

Darjeeling, June 8: The Gorkha Janmukti Morcha today said the proposed administrative set-up for the hills would be the “most powerful body” ever conceived for Darjeeling, suggesting that the immediate focus would be on “delivering development” to the region rather than bickering over outstanding issues. After a meeting with party chief Bimal Gurung, where the Morcha president was briefed in detail about the discussions with the state government in Calcutta, party general secretary Roshan Giri said: “The administrative arrangement that has been agreed upon is the most powerful body ever conceived for the hills. It is far superior to the current Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council and the Sixth Schedule (special status now given to tribals in the Northeast).” Giri said it had been agreed that the new administrative authority would have jurisdiction over 57 departments. They will include fire services, public works department (both roads and construction), forest department barring reserved forests, regional transport authority and motor vehicles department, cinchona plantation and registration of land, marriages and buildings. At the same time, the Morcha kept alive the hopes of the people of Darjeeling for a separate state. Arriving in Siliguri this morning after meeting state government officials in Writers’ Buildings, the Morcha’s Kalimpong MLA Harka Bahadur Chhetri said: “Signing an agreement for setting up a new administrative arrangement is a path to Gorkhaland. It is like laying the foundation before building a house. We have signed the agreement for achieving our demand of separate state.” In private, Morcha leaders admitted that they do not “realistically” see a separate Gorkhaland state coming into being, at least not in the immediate future. But they said that the “time was ripe” to deliver to the people of the hills who have stood by the party throughout the agitation. “The people of the Darjeeling hills have given our party’s candidates a resounding victory in the Assembly elections,” a Morcha leader said. “They have huge expectations from us. Now is not the time to bicker and agitate but the bring development to the hills. We have got an opportunity and we have to seize it with both hands.” The party now wants to place the agreement signed with the state government as a “major achievement” before the people of the hills, one that is bound to benefit them. But, a Morcha leader said, lest they be seen as betraying the cause of statehood, the party would keep alive the slogan of Gorkhaland. The Morcha has called a meeting of its central committee on June 14 to discuss how to take forward the process of setting up the new authority. The Morcha has also started to scout for “experts” from various fields to handle these departments. “Many talented and educated members of our community are outside the hills, in other parts of the country and abroad,” a Morcha leader said. “We must now make all efforts to bring them back so that we can govern the hills effectively and bring prosperity to the people here.” State government officials pointed out that the powers of the new authority had already been agreed upon during the tripartite talks held between the Centre, the Left Front government and the Morcha before the Assembly elections. “It has to been seen what comes of the additional contentious points that are yet to be resolved,” the official said. “There are difficult issues like the territorial jurisdiction of the new set-up as well as the transfer of the tauzi department (which deals with tea garden land).”

(TT)ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY BIRESWAR BANERJEE IN SILIGURI