Talks ‘test’ for CM: Morcha - Calcutta meeting to focus on six subjects

Darjeeling, June 5:  The Gorkha Janmukti Morcha has said the party’s first formal meeting with the state government in Calcutta tomorrow will be “a test” of Mamata Banerjee’s sincerity to solve the hill imbroglio.

“Till date, the new chief minister has managed to create an image among her electorate that she is very humane and stands for the oppressed people. We have had a very healthy and positive discussion with her but this is the first time we are getting involved in a thorough discussion and it will definitely be a test of her government’s intention,” Morcha spokesperson Harka Bahadur Chhetri said today.

Morcha leaders have met Mamata twice after she assumed office on May 20. One of the meetings involved the participation of Bimal Gurung, the president of the Morcha. Following the talks, Gurung had said he was “very happy” with Mamata’s plan for the Darjeeling hills.

Neither Gurung nor Mamata will, however, be attending the talks tomorrow. The meeting will be held between government officials and the Morcha leaders. Roshan Giri, Harka Bahadur Chhetri, L.B. Pariyar, Smardeep Blone, Wilson Chompromary, Kamal Pakhrin and Shankar Adhikhary will represent the Morcha.

Sources in the Morcha said six specific subjects were likely to be discussed in tomorrow’s meeting. Territorial jurisdiction and legislative powers of the new administrative arrangement and transfer of the tauzi department, which keeps land records, to the body are among the subjects.

Regularisation of more than 6,000 causal workers of the DGHC and management of forests, including reserve forests, are the other subjects that will figure in the talks. The meeting will also discuss the granting of “sectoral” tribal status to an agreed area.

The sources said “sectoral” tribal status was an arrangement under which the tribal status would be given to all people living in a marked area, irrespective of the community they belong to.

“There are four to five places in India where such a status has been given. The entire population of such areas are classified as tribes,” said a source. “Territory is the most important issue as we first need to know our area of jurisdiction,” said the source.

Government sources have confirmed to The Telegraph that the Darjeeling district administration had already collected data on the Nepali-dominated areas in the Siliguri subdivision and had submitted a report to the government a couple of days back. Another source confirmed that DGHC officials had been called to Calcutta soon after Mamata had met Gurung on May 30.

The Morcha hoped most of the issues should be amicably solved. “During the last meeting, the chief minister had said since she would bestow so much of power on the hill authority, solving issues like regularisation of DGHC workers would not be a problem. Let us see whether her promise to solve the Darjeeling issue politically was merely an electoral stunt or a sincere effort,” said a Morcha leader.