Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) met West Bengal parliamentary affairs minister requested to defer the tabling of Gorkhaland Territorial Administration Bill

A delegation of Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) met the West Bengal parliamentary affairs minister and requested him to defer the tabling of Gorkhaland Territorial Administration Bill 2011 in the state Assembly, scheduled for September 2.
Since October 2007, the Darjeeling hills have been witnessing agitation for a separate statehood led by the GJM. The economical backbone of this region - tourism and the tea industry has felt the brunt of the political turmoil, leaving the hill economy in shambles.

Several rounds of talks between the centre, state and the GJM were finally paved way for the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the centre, state and the GJM for the formation of an autonomous body named the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA) on July 18, 2011.
“After careful scrutiny of the Draft copy of the Bill we feel that the spirit of the Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) is missing in the bill. There are at least 24 grey areas that need to be addressed before the tabling of the Bill. However the Minister advised us to hand in the list of the grey areas to the chief secretary. The Minister claimed that in the past also there have been instances of Bills being tabled along with amendments,” said Harka Bahadur Chettri, spokesperson of GJM.
The GJM will be handing over the list to the state chief secretary, on Thursday. Pointing out some of the grey areas Chettri stated that regarding the transferred subjects to the GTA the MOA has clearly talked of financial, administrative and executive powers whereas the Bill talks of only executive powers.
On the composition front the MoA had stated that the Chief Executive would nominate 14 members whereas the Bills states that 12 members would be nominated by the chief executive and 2 by the Governor.
“Usually a Corum of a house is reached by one-third members. Usually it would require 17 members to reach a Corum of the 50 membered GTA Sabha, whereas the Bill talks of 26 members to reach a Corum. In the case of the 15 membered Executive Body the usual number should be 5, whereas the Bill talks of 9 to reach the Corum,” Chettri added.
The MoA had stated that the GTA would have the power to create posts and also appoint whereas the Bill talks of only appointment and no creation of posts.
“The preamble of the MOA had stated that the GTA would be formed for the overall socio-economic development, cultural development and for establishing the identity of the Gorkhas whereas the Bill has omitted the identity part,” the GJM spokesperson added.
-HT

Morcha unhappy with clauses in GTA Bill

KOLKATA: Unhappy with the way the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration Bill 2011 has been framed, a delegation of the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) called on chief secretary Samar Ghosh at Writers' Buildings on Wednesday and told him about their objections. The Bill has already been circulated in the assembly and will be placed for discussion on Friday.
The GJM said that there are several discrepancies between the Bill and the memorandum of agreement signed on July 18, and asked for amendments before the Bill comes up for discussion.
The GJM team - comprising Roshan Giri and MLA Harka Bahadur Chhetri - that met Ghosh and parliamentary affairs minister Partha Chatterjee was advised to place their demands and objections in writing. Chhetri said that the objections will be placed on Thursday.
The Bill will pave the way for the formation of the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA) in Darjeeling, but there are at least four to five key areas which GJM is objecting to. While the Bill mentions socio-economic and linguistic development of the Hills, there is no mention of the ethnicity of the Gorkhas, which is a very sensitive and perhaps the main issue for the people in the Hills.
The Bill also mentions that the state government can supersede the GTA if it feels it is not functioning properly and this is where the GJM thinks the autonomous nature of the GTA will be compromised.
Also, the agreement mentioned transfer of financial, administrative and executive power to the GTA, but the Bill only mentions of executive power, he said. "Even there, it is not too definitive," he said. According to the Bill, the GTA will only be able to appoint people, but won't be allowed to create posts, said Chhetri. Even the financial power is not specified which leads to the impression that they have to rush to Kolkata every time they need a clearance.
The Bill mentions that the state along with the GTA will have the power to make rules and regulations, which, the GJM feels, is "unnecessary overlapping".
There is also trouble over the nomination of members. While the agreement mentions 14 persons will be nominated by the chief executive of the GTA and one by the governor, the Bill mentions the figures as 12 and two.
According to Roshan Giri, the word "sabha" has been used to indicate the GTA, and the Morcha has objection to that as well. Chhetri said the mention of the word 'sabha' belittles the GTA and does not give it due importance.
Chhetri had earlier said that the state government has introduced a number of controls through the backdoor which had hampered the notion of the autonomy.
The state government though, lobbed the ball in the court of the assembly. The chief secretary Samar Ghosh
said: "The GJM has drawn my attention to some issues they have objections to. However, I have nothing to do in this regard. The assembly will decide." Home secretary G D Gautama, who also handles the hills affairs department, said: "The Bill has been circulated among MLAs and the GJM has some objections.
They feel that the language of the Bill does not correctly reflect the agreement and the assembly will take the call.
Chhetri made it clear that GJM was not in a hurry to get the Bill passed in the assembly
in its current form. "We have on our shoulder the burden to fulfil the aspirations of the people of the hills."
According to government chief whip Sovandeb Chattopadhyay, GJM can move amendments to the bill during discussion on September 2, the government may adopt them if these are acceptable. Or else, the government can move the amendments, but in that case there must be a prior understanding between the government and GJM on the changes. In case the Bill is not passed on September 2, or else referred to the standing committee, its passage could be delayed till the next winter session as Friday is the last day of the current session.
-TOI

GJM expresses reservations over draft Bill on Gorkhaland 

It did not reflect the aspirations of the people'

Expressing disappointment over the draft Bill for the setting up of the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA) in the Darjeeling hills, the Gorkha Janamukti Morcha (GJM) leadership said on Wednesday that it failed to adequately reflect the spirit of the memorandum of agreement signed by it, the Centre and the State government on July 18 for the formation of the GTA.

The draft Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA) Bill, 2011 is slated to be tabled in the West Bengal Assembly on September 2.

“There are several discrepancies in the draft Bill that need to be rectified. We will make a list of what we would like to alter and submit it to the State government on Thursday,” GJM general secretary Roshan Giri told The Hindu here.

The GJM leadership indicated that while it was against any confrontation with the State government on the issue, the draft Bill was unacceptable in its present form as it did not reflect the “aspirations of the people”.

“The very spirit of the memorandum of agreement is missing in certain sections of the draft Bill,” said Mr. Giri, who came to the city expressly to convey to the State government the GJM leadership's anxieties over the draft Bill.

A delegation of the GJM leaders led by Mr. Giri met Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Partha Chatterjee and later, on the recommendation of the Minister, the Chief Secretary, Samar Ghosh. It expressed to them its reservations on some of the contents of the draft Bill as well as certain omissions in it.

“There is always scope for amendments [once the Bill is taken up for discussions in the House],” Mr. Chatterjee said. “That is the procedure of the House; which amendment will be accepted and which will not will be decided by the House through a majority,” he added.

According to the GJM leadership, one of its main points of disagreement with the draft Bill is that it only refers to the executive powers to be enjoyed by the GTA while the memorandum of agreement states that “the administrative, executive and financial powers in respect of the subjects transferred will be vested in such a way that the new body may function in an autonomous and effective way.”

“The financial and administrative powers as stated in the agreement have been omitted in the draft Bill. Moreover we have reservations against the frequent references made to the GTA Sabha and want the term “Sabha” deleted from most of the references,” Trilok Dewan, the MLA from Darjeeling who was a member in the GJM delegation said.

“Neither has the draft Bill any mention of the question of ethnic identity [of the Gorkhas] that the GTA, as an autonomous self governing body, is expected to establish as has been stated in the memorandum of agreement,” Mr. Giri observed.