Gorkhaland Territorial Administration: Cong trade union seeks freeze on GTA launch

Siliguri, April 4.TT: The Intuc today asked the Bengal government to put on hold the formation of the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration till a decision was reached on the territorial jurisdiction of the hill body.

The trade union of the Congress wanted the dissolution of the high power committee formed to look into the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha’s demand to bring the Terai and Dooars under the GTA. The Intuc also demanded that 13 mouzas that had been added to the DGHC be again brought under the Siliguri subdivision.

“The state Congress president has already made it clear that the party is against the inclusion of any mouza (in the Terai and Dooars) in the GTA. A memorandum addressed to the chief minister was submitted to the subdivisional officer here today by the Intuc, requesting her to put on hold the formation of the GTA till a permanent decision is reached on the area to be brought under the body,” said Aloke Chakravorty, the Darjeeling district president of the Intuc.

“We will vehemently oppose the inclusion of any mouza in the plains in the GTA. We also want all 13 mouzas annexed to the DGHC earlier to be merged with corresponding blocks in the Siliguri subdivision again. Tribal people form a majority in all the 13 mouzas.”

The memorandum was enclosed with documents which purportedly showed that adivasis are in majority in several mouzas in the Terai and the Dooars. The data were originally a part of a survey conducted by the Water and Power Consultancy (India) Ltd (WAPCOS) in September 2010 for the implementation of minor irrigation projects in the state.

The WAPCOS is a central government organisation.

“The report prepared by WAPCOS clearly shows that there are more than 40 per cent tribal people in 125 mouzas in 10 blocks in Darjeeling district and 205 mouzas in 11 blocks in Jalpaiguri district. So, the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha’s claim that Gorkhas are in majority in 398 mouzas in the plains is wrong. Any attempt to add a single mouza in the plains to the GTA will have serious repercussions in the Terai and Dooars,” said Chakravorty, who is also the state general secretary of the Intuc.

He added that the Intuc would oppose any such move by the state tooth and nail and had already started organising tea garden workers.

The trade union has considerable clout in the tea gardens of the Terai and Dooars.

After a meeting with chief minister Mamata Banerjee in Calcutta on March 24, Morcha president Bimal Gurung had declared that they would abide by whatever decision the high power committee would take on the inclusion of the Dooars and Terai in the GTA.

However, the Intuc today wondered if the recommendations of the committee would be without bias as the panel had Morcha representatives among its members.

“People across the state, particularly in north Bengal, have started raising questions over the impartiality of the committee which has four Morcha representatives. It has to be noted that the committee doesn’t have a single member representing other communities in the Terai and the Dooars,” said Prabhat Mukherjee, the general secretary of the National Union of Plantation Workers, an affiliate of the Intuc.

“For unknown reasons, the state government has ignored the interests of the people in the Terai and Dooars. We doubt how impartial the recommendations will be.”

He also said the condition of tea garden workers in the plains might be aggravated if the Terai and Dooars joined the GTA.