The panel formed to look into the demand to include the Gorkha-majority areas under the new hill administration

Public opinion before survey on territory 

Darjeeling, Aug. 30: The panel formed to look into the demand to include the Gorkha-majority areas under the new hill administration unit will seek public opinion before a field survey.

The submissions can be made to the district magistrates of Darjeeling and Jalpaiguri and the subdivisional officers of Malbazar, Alipurduar and Siliguri till October 31.

The decision was taken in Calcutta today at a meeting of the joint verification committee constituted to look into the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha’s demand to include the plains area in the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration that will be set up for the hills.

L.B. Pariyar, one of the four representatives of the Morcha on the committee, said: “The committee has decided to seek public representation till October 31, 2011. In the meantime the director of census has been asked to provide a mouza-wise break-up of the population in terms of the mother tongue.”

The state government has appointed retired high court judge Shyamal Sen as chairperson of the 10-member committee, which was of the opinion that field visits could be made only after public representation. “There could be politically motivated representations and to nullify such moves we will pay a visit after going through the representations,” said Pariyara, a former principal secretary of the DGHC.

During a tripartite agreement between the Centre, the state and the Morcha on July 18, it was agreed that the committee would look into the Morcha’s demand to bring 199 mouzas each from the Terai and the Dooars under the hill body.

The Morcha’s Terai convener Shankar Adhikari and its Dooars leaders Kitab Singh Rai and Shankar Nath Pradhan are the other members of the panel. The Centre is represented by the director of census, while Anil Verma, the administrator of the DGHC, is the convener, who is responsible for conducting the meetings and co-ordinating with the members of the committee. The state is represented by the district magistrates of Jalpaiguri and Darjeeling and an official of the home department.

The committee is expected to submit its report by February. ( )

 -VIVEK CHHETRI/TT