GJM warns of fresh protest/Hills lacks basic amenities/Fast-track GTA or forget it-Gurung

DARJEELING: The bonhomie is souring. Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) is upset with the state government's neglect of the Hills, just over a month after the 'historic' tripartite agreement that was supposed to end the agitation in Darjeeling.

Party chief Bimal Gurung warned on Sunday that the Morcha would relaunch the Gorkhaland agitation. The Morcha is losing patience with the state government for the delay in sanctioning funds for development work, said Gurung.

"The CM tells us 'Darjeeling ke liye jaldi-jaldi kam kijiye', but how can we work without funds?" Gurung asked.

"When we signed the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA) agreement last month, home minister P Chidambaram asked us to work towards developing the Hills.

But the state government is not helping us with funds. We will be left with no option but to renew our agitation for Gorkhaland," he said at a memorial programme for former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi. 

 

Hills lacks basic amenities: Gurung

DARJEELING: The tripartite agreement had raised expectations in the Hills, especially because chief minister Mamata Banerjee had given her word that the Hills would get all the support it needed. It had brought the hope of peace to Darjeeling and the tourists started flocking back, even in off-season.

"We have a lot of work to do and very little time. Some projects have already been chalked out. We want to develop the Hills and the plains of Terai and Dooars at the earliest," Gorkha Janmukti Morcha chief Bimal Gurung said on Sunday. "GTA will take some time to function formally, but the DGHC is still running. Sadly, it has no funds."

Gurung lamented that Darjeeling, in-spite of being a tourism hotspot, lacked even basic amenities. "There is no parking space in Darjeeling. We need Rs 18 crore to develop the motor stands in Darjeeling, Kalimpong and Kurseong, and Rs 5 crore to develop Mirik Lake," said the Morcha president. The state government provides Rs 22 crore annually to DGHC for development work.

Gurung said that the state government's lackluster attitude was affecting the party's image. "The GTA is a challenge for us. We have to work to show the Centre and the Opposition parties that we are sincere about our promise to develop the Hills," said Gurung.

Gurung praised former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi as a "true friend of the Hills". "He wanted to convert the Hills into a union territory but Subash Ghisingh stopped him. The Hills is still suffering because of that mistake. But we have to move forward afresh," the GJM leader said.

 Fast-track GTA or forget it: Gurung 

Darjeeling, Aug. 21: Bimal Gurung has urged the state government to start immediately the process of forming the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration, saying that his party might forget about the new arrangement — a hint that they might revert to statehood cry — if the delay continues.

The Gorkha Janmukti Morcha chief’s statement comes at a time when the tabling of the GTA bill in the monsoon session of the Assembly is bleak. The session ends on September 2 but the draft of the bill is not yet ready, a source in the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha, which has demanded the setting up of the GTA as early as possible, said.

The bill was not mentioned in the business advisory of the House that contains the list of proposed legislations to be tabled in the monsoon session.

If the GTA bill is not tabled in the monsoon session, the Morcha will have to wait till the winter session, which usually begins in end-November.

“We want to develop the hills and the Terai and the Dooars but if the government continues to delay the setting up of the body, we might have to think about forgetting the GTA,” Gurung told the members of the Janmukti Asthai Karmachari Sangathan in Darjeeling yesterday.

Sources said the state government is minutely examining the tripartite agreement signed between the Centre, state and the Morcha on July 18 before drafting the bill. “In all probability, the bill will be placed only during the winter session,” said a source.

The Trinamul Congress, which heads the government, however, has refused comment on Gurung’s statement. But a party general secretary said the government had not made any commitment that it would bring the GTA bill in this session of the Assembly.

Gurung, however, said he had little time. “We have to show to the government and the Opposition parties in the hills what we can achieve. We want to immediately start the construction of the parking spaces in Darjeeling, Kurseong and Kalimpong. The current DGHC should provide us with Rs 6-7 crore,” said Gurung.

Gurung also requested the people of the hills to dress in traditional attires — stressing it was not mandatory — for a month from October 7. This is part of the annual month-long “cultural movement” that the Morcha had been trying to enforce for the past three years to differentiate between the hills and the plains.