GJMM toughens stance over GTA

CM to meet Morcha leaders today; Gurung threatens fresh agitation if demands are not met 

SILIGURI, 10 FEB: Ahead of tomorrow's meeting with the chief minister, Gorkha Jan Mukti Morcha chief Bimal Gurung today said that the GJMM would resume its agitation if the President's approval for the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration agreement does not come by 27 March.  

The GJMM also wants the final report of the committee considering the inclusion of mouzas from the Dooars and Terai in the GTA by then. Mr Gurung’s statement came against the backdrop of growing restiveness among the Hills population over the perceived delay in the GTA implementation since the agreement was signed on 18 July 2011.

Political circles in the Darjeeling Hills today said Mr Gurung had to issue the threat to counter a move by several rival organisations, under the umbrella of the Gorkhaland Task Force, to rally the Hills population behind the call for a separate Gorkhaland state. GJMM spokesperson and Kalimpong MLA Harka Bahadur Chhetri said in Siliguri: "We'll meet the chief minister tomorrow over the GTA issue. It's not that the state government has not done anything much. It has formulated a Bill and sent it to the Centre.”

"We'll ask the chief minister why the state government is not pressing the Centre for signing the GTA Bill," he said, adding that the people of the Hills, especially youths, are becoming impatient. "It's becoming extremely difficult for us to convince  the people about the delay," said the GJMM leader. The GTF has been desperately trying to wean the Hills people away from the GJMM, taking advantage of the delay in the formation of the GTA. This has only made it more difficult to speed up development initiatives in the Hills.   

The Adivasi Bikash Parishad, spearheading the agitation to protect the rights of the tribals by ensuring the Dooars areas are not included in the GTA, has also been making noise against the GJMM's campaign bring over 300 mouzas from the Dooars and Terai region under the GTA. A Trinamul Congress minister said the issue of the tribals is “extremely sensitive” and it has to be “handled with utmost care”. The question, he said, can't be settled in a hurry and it will take time. All this, sources said, has forced the GJMM chief to revive the demand for a separate state in a calibrated manner so that he doesn't lose his turf to his rival factions.

 

No news after threat
KURSEONG 10 FEB: All local news channels in Kalimpong have abruptly stopped telecasting news from 7 February without prior notification to the viewers evidently in the wake of criticism of some of these channels by GJMM president Bimal Gurung. He accused the news channels of, what he called, doctoring news against his party.

 

Statesmen News Service