Tripartite pact on Darjeeling to be inked on July 18

Sat Jul 16 2011: After hectic parleys with the leaders of Gorkha Janmutki Morcha (GJM), the West Bengal government has been able to pave the way for the signing of a tripartite accord that is expected to end the five-year-long stalemate in Darjeeling, which witnessed prolonged phase of intermittent violence, series of bandhs and forced ouster of GNLF chief Subash Ghisingh in the spring of 2008.
The tripartite agreement between the Centre, state government and GJM, will be signed at Sukna, in the outskirts of Siliguri town, on July 18, and the ceremony will be attended by Union Home Minister P Chidambaram, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and GJM chief Bimal Gurung.
The breakthrough came after Mamata Banerjee directly intervened and succeeded in convincing the GJM leadership to agree to some “minor” amendments suggested by the Central government to the proposed draft of Memorandum of Agreement (MoA). As per the agreed draft of MoA, the nomenclature of the proposed interim set-up, agreed earlier as “Gorkhaland Territorial Administration” (GTA), will, however, remain unchanged. 
The minor amendments include replacing the words like “Speaker and Deputy Speaker” with “Chairman and Deputy Chairman”, respectively. Similarly, the word “Assembly” will be replaced by “Sabha” — a word Gorkhas are familiar with. The “sabha”, which will have 45 members, will be empowered to frame minor rules, prepare budget and conduct question-answer hour.
In addition to it, the state and central governments have agreed to offer an economic package of Rs 600 crore for the region. The fund will be given over a period of three years, with one time allocation of Rs 200 core every year. 
As agreed earlier, the contentious issue of territory of the GTA has been referred to a nine-member committee representing the state, the centre and the GJM. The committee will look into the issue of territorial jurisdiction of the GTA as the GJM has been demanding inclusion of over 400 plus mouzas of Dooars and terai areas.
The earlier Left Front government under Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee had held as many as 11 rounds of tripartite talks but failed to achieve a breakthrough.
The proposed agreement has, meanwhile, already triggered protests from different quarters, including the Adivasi Vikas Parishad - a body of tribals in the foothills of Darjeeling. A series of bandhs have been called - the first bandh was on Friday called by a pro-Bengali outfit that crippled life in large parts of Siliguri town but failed to make in impact in the tea gardens and other nearby areas. The Adivasi Vikas Parishad, which is apprehensive about the “territorial” jurisdiction of the GTA, has called a two-day bandh beginning July 18. “The adivasis will never accept the rule of Gorkhas and would not allow any area of the Doors or terai to be brought under GTA,” said Birsa Tirkey, a tribal leader. 
The chief minister, however, seemed undeterred and said her government will not tolerate “disturbances triggered out of political compulsions” that could derail the settlement process in the Hills. “One or two minor groups are trying to foment trouble. They are separatist organisations and don’t want peace in the region,” she said in Kolkata and added that her government will focus on other areas of north Bengal as well.  
She said a mini secretariat will be set up in north Bengal to decentralise administration and expedite all development programmes in the region.
In the Hills, the announcement was welcomed with enthusiasm, even as many considered the restoration of normalcy, as “transitory”. Though the civil society welcomed the announcement of an economic package for the region, it felt that the GTA was not going to address the issue of the identity of Gorkhas. 

~indianexpress