Darjeeling, July 2: The GTA has
informed the Darjeeling district magistrate that it wants to relocate
the Jamuni tourism project, which ran into trouble after some plot
owners alleged that land was taken from them forcibly and they were not
compensated.
The decision on
the relocation of the project was announced by the district magistrate
immediately after the GTA informed the administration of its decision
today.
The media release
signed by P.D. Bal, district information and cultural officer, read: “A
press brief was issued by the office of the district magistrate,
Darjeeling, wherein it was informed to all concerned that the GTA has
decided to relocate the Jamuni Tourism Project from the disputed plots
in Jamuni area.”
According to
sources in the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha, the GTA has managed to get land
in an area adjacent to the disputed 13 acres.
The landowner was willing to give his plot for the project that has Bimal Gurung’s blessings.
The release said
the decision was conveyed to district magistrate Puneet Yadav by the
executive director, tourism, of the GTA. The release quoted executive
director Sonam Bhutia as saying: “I have been directed to inform you
that the ongoing tourism project at Jamuni is being relocated due to
unavoidable circumstances.”
Gurung, who is the GTA chief executive, wanted to make a garden and install a statue of the Buddha on the 13 acres.
But nine
landowners, who together owned 13 acres, complained to the district
magistrate that the GTA had forcibly taken the land from them in 2011
and not yet paid them compensation.
They said they would part with the land only under the supervision of the district magistrate.
The land problem became a political issue after the hill Trinamul openly said it backed the nine landlosers.
Sources in the
Morcha said today that the hill party wanted to move on “instead of
getting stuck with nine farmers, who were being instigated by Trinamul”.
A Morcha leader
said: “The GTA got a good deal after one farmer of an adjacent plot
decided to hand over land to them. The project will still happen in the
same area and this is most important for us.”
Told about the
GTA’s decision to shift the project to an adjacent plot, Binny Sharma, a
Trinamul leader in the hills, said: “The Trinamul cannot comment on the
decision of the GTA. Our party also wants development in the hills. But
it should be done in the right way and right spirit.”
How much land would be made available to the GTA is not yet clear.
“The details of
the new plot will be known only after a survey is conducted but the
owner has offered the land to the GTA. The rates and other issues,
however, have not yet been finalised,” said a source in the Morcha.
The GTA had
earlier taken over 1.4 acres from Roshan Rai and 0.60 decimals of land
from Lal Bahadur Rasaily at the rate of Rs 8 lakh per acre (100 decimals
make an acre).
The GTA has also
promised to construct a house for the two families and provide a job to a
member of both the families. The GTA has already made a boating complex
in the area adjacent to the disputed 13 acres.
After the landlosers complained, district magistrate Yadav imposed prohibitory orders in the area.
On June 17, police
also seized two bulldozers, an excavator and a pick-up van and arrested
six people for allegedly threatening one of the landowners, Manilal
Tamang, whose family owns 8 of the 13 acres of disputed land.
Manilal had said in his complaint to the district magistrate that the six persons threatened him with the backing of Gurung.
GTA member, Kaziman Lohagun, in whose constituency of Bijanbari-Pulbazar the
disputed land is located, was arrested on June 27 for allegedly
supplying weapons to the six arrested persons.
Lohagun, who is in judicial custory now, will be produced in court on July 14.
The media release today said the district magistrate welcomed the decision taken by the GTA.
“He said this
decision would prevent the project of the statutory body being executed
in conflict with law of the land and in gross violation of the rights of
some SC & ST public of Darjeeling. The District Magistrate assured
of all the assistance for the development project being undertaken in a
rightful and legal manner,” the release read.
The GTA had
earlier said that the nine landlosers had given them their written
consent in 2012 for use of their plots for the project.(TT)