The GJM also recorded its objection against the proposal of the state government to bifurcate Jalpaiguri district till the formation of the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA), with the apparent aim to bring the areas in Dooars the GJM wants to be included in GTA under the administrative jurisdiction of a new district.
GJM general secretary Roshan Giri said later that he had suggested at the meeting that the population of Darjeeling district had grown much and it would help in better administration if the district was bifurcated. Being a hill area, districts of smaller size were preferable, he argued. The GJM delegates, including Kalimpong MLA Harka Bahadur Chhetri, wanted one district to comprise Darjeeling and Kurseong subdivisions on the western part of the Teesta and the Terai areas included in the present Darjeeling district and the second district to comprise the Kalimpong subdivision on the eastern part of the Teesta and parts of Dooars. Both the districts should be placed under GTA, Giri argued. He did not mention anything about the parts of Siliguri subdivision not strictly under Terai.
Giri said Jalpaiguri should not be bifurcated and Alipurduar be constituted into a new district, as suggested by the state government, till the survey of Dooars was completed to finalize the territorial reorganization and GTA was constituted. "Among the 196 mouzas we have demanded in Dooars for inclusion in GTA, some are in Alipurduar subdivision," Giri said. Three other moujas are in the Rajganj area, adjoining Siliguri town.
GJM president Bimal Gurung did not attend the meeting, but met chief minister Mamata Banerjee later in the day. He said he had discussed with her the issue of reserve forests. GJM wants reserve forests to be brought under the control of GTA. In the memorandum of agreement signed between GJM and the state government, "it was agreed that the state government will make a reference to the Centre on the issue of reserve forests as the power delegated to the state government under the central statute cannot be delegated to any other authority straightaway".
Gurung also took up with the chief minister the issue of waivers in taxes and tariffs, which was also a part of the MoA. The question of formation of GTA after territorial reorganization also figured in the talks between the two. "The high power committee has been formed and it will give its report in six months. After that election for formation of GTA will take place," Gurung said.
The GJM chief appeared happy with the approach of the Mamata Banerjee government. "In the past 34 years, the Left Front government has done nothing for the development of the Hills, it has done only politics. Mamata Banerjee's government has given us a lot. It is developing roads, helping in tourism. The state government and GTA will work together," Gurung said.
The chief minister had a closed-door meeting with opposition leader Surjya Kanta Mishra during the day to discuss the Darjeeling situation. Mishra had earlier expressed his reservations about the way the new government had signed an agreement with GJM.
Mishra appeared satisfied after the meeting, but did not disclose anything about it. "Whatever was discussed in the meeting is between me and the chief minister," he said.
Kolkata/
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