New districts to affect Gorkhaland Territorial Administration deal: GJM

DARJEELING: The GJM leadership has taken exception to the formation of new districts in Bengal as has been envisaged by chief minister Mamata Banerjee and which will feature in the all-party meeting in Kolkata on August 3.
Along with other state parties, GJM has also been invited to attend the all-party meeting in Kolkata, to give their views on the formation of new districts and also to deliberate on changing the state's name.
Harka Bahadur Chhetri, GJM MLA from Kalimpong, said it would be against the principles of the agreement signed on July 18 to form the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA). tnn"We (GJM) have demanded certain areas of Terai and Dooars to be included in the GTA which the state government has agreed. Therefore, we feel that reorganization of districts now would hamper the GTA agreement," said Chhetri.
The GJM core committee held its meeting in Darjeeling on Sunday to deliberate on the creation of new districts. Mamata has made it clear that for better development, some districts need to be created. There has been demand to merge the subdivisions of Birpara and Alipurduar in Jalpaiguri to create a separate district.
However, GJM has demanded the inclusion of 199 mouzas of Jalipaiguri to the GTA. Alipurduar subdivision has several Nepali-dominated areas that GJM wants to be transferred to the new council.
"There are six months to go before the GTA is functional. We don't want the subdivision of Alipurduar to be reorganized," said Chhetri. Incidentally, Kalchini in Alipurduar has a GJM MLA, while areas of Hamiltonganj, Madarihat and Jaigaon are among the many areas of Jalpaiguri that GJM wants in the GTA.
A nine-member committee comprising GJM, state and central government representatives has been formed to look into the demand for inclusion of areas of Terai and Dooars in the GTA.
On the other hand, the Kalimpong MLA reiterated that people should now pay their electricity bills and sales tax that were pending since 2008. "We request people to pay their bills from the month of August. We will talk to the state government and settle all arrears," said Chhetri.
People were asked by GJM not to pay their electricity and telephone bills along with motor vehicle and sales tax since 2008 as part of the non-cooperation movement against the erstwhile CPM-led state government.
~TOI