Confusion prevails over Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA) Bill

Kolkata: Sep 02/IE: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday met Governor M K Narayanan and discussed the Gorkha Territorial Administration (GTA) Sabha Bill with him. She also apprised the Governor of the changes sought by the GJM leadership.
Not all changes demanded by Gorkha leaders have been accepted and the state government is learnt to have overruled some objections. There is apprehension that this might lead to a precarious situation if the GJM leadership is adamant on its demands and goes back on the tripartite agreement it signed with the state government and the Centre.
Earlier in the day, a GJM delegation led by its general secretary Roshan Giri met the Chief Minister and handed over their list of objections to her. The delegation pointed out 14 points which, they said, should be amended and incorporated in the Bill before it is tabled in the state Assembly on Friday. 

"The Chief Minister has accepted our objections and promised that the Bill will be tabled tomorrow with the amendments incorporated,'' Roshan Giri said.
But when Commerce and Industry Minister Partha Chatterjee briefed reporters in the evening after a meeting of the state cabinet where the Bill was discussed, he did not clarify whether the government had accepted the demands.
"The cabinet has discussed the Bill and it will be placed in the Assembly tomorrow,'' the minister said. The GJM reacted in a guarded manner. "We submitted the objections and left. We will raise our voice tomorrow if our demands are not met,'' Harka Bahadur Chhetri, GJM MLA, told The Indian Express in the evening.  

According to the Bill, the GTA will be headed by a chief executive who will have a deputy and a 14-member team. Five members will be nominated, two by the Governor. This executive wing of the GTA Sabha will be called the Executive Sabha.
The GTA Sabha, which will be presided over by a chairman, will have 50 members, including five nominated by the governor and will be chosen mainly from members of SC, ST and women. The MP from Darjeeling, the three MLAs and the chairman of Darjeeling Municipality will be ex-officio members but with no voting rights.

Some of GJM's demands
* The word Sabha has to be deleted.
* On the first page of the Bill, the clause `to establish ethnic identity of Gorkhas' has to be inserted.
* The words `financial and administrative' have to be inserted along with the word `executive'.