Dec. 14.TT: The GTA Sabha today passed
a resolution seeking the inclusion of a proposed Lepcha council under
it, in a move to stop the formation of a parallel authority in the hills
with the state government’s sanction.
The GTA also wanted the proposed
Lepcha council’s name to be changed from Lepcha development council to
Lepcha development board. It said similar bodies should also be formed
for each of the other tribal communities in the hills.
Bhupendra Pradhan,
the chairman of the GTA Sabha, today said a meeting of the GTA Sabha
was today held in Darjeeling where it was decided that “a Lepcha
development board” should be formed and “this be brought under the GTA”.
He added: “There
are many tribal communities in the hills — the Tamang, Sherpa, Bhutia,
Limbu and Yolmos among others — and each of these communities should
also have their own development board to ensure that there is no
discrimination among the tribals.”
Pradhan said the
GTA was not opposed to the government’s decision to form a development
body for the Lepchas. A GTA source said the resolution would be sent to
the state government today for approval.
The Lepchas,
considered the original inhabitants of the hills, make up 20 per cent of
its population. The formation of a Lepcha development council was a
longstanding demand to which the Mamata Banerjee-led government has
agreed in principle.
The Lepchas have
no territorial demand and want the council to be formed to preserve the
community’s culture and work for its general uplift.
Bimal Gurung, the
chief executive of the GTA, said: “I had a talk with Mamata Banerjee on
bringing the Lepcha board under the GTA and forming similar boards for
other communities. I have also invited her to be present during the
Darjeeling Tea and Tourism Festival later this month.”
Observes believe
the GTA passed the resolution to ensure that there is no parallel body
outside its purview. “The GTA seems averse to the idea of a Lepcha
council being outside its purview as it probably wants to be in control
of issues related to people in the hills,” an observer said.
“Even the change
in the nomenclature from council to board seems to be an attempt to
ensure that new development agency for the tribal community is not
outside the GTA, but a board within it.”
He said: “We have
been given the GTA by the government and we have agreed to administer
it. However, if there is unwanted interference from the government, we
will not hesitate to reject the GTA.”
When contacted,
Indigenous Lepcha Tribal Association (ILTA) joint secretary N.T. Lepcha
said the association first has to discuss the matter internally before
forming an opinion.
He said he
personally felt it was for the state government to accept or not accept
the GTA demand for the change in the nomenclature of the Lepcha council
and create similar boards for other tribal communities in the hills.
“It is not us, but
the state government who has to make a decision on the GTA demand. We
managed to secure the development council following a long agitation
last year,” he said.
Lepcha is also the
coordinator of the Lepcha Rights Movement, an umbrella organisation of
different Lepcha bodies, which had spearheaded the agitation
The GTA Sabha
meeting, which was attended by all the 50 Sabha members, also passed a
resolution demanding tribal status for the entire Gorkha community in
the hills. “We want all the Gorkha communities to be given tribal
status, except for the Schedule Caste community,” said Bimal Gurung. At
the moment 32 percent of the hill population are tribal while the SC
population stands at around 10 percent. The GTA also adopted three other
resolutions today.
One of the resolutions adopted was on using Nepali as a language for communication in all the GTA offices.
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