Gorkha Territorial Administration (GTA) - inclusion of Dooars and Terai

Justice Shyamal Kumar Sen, chairman of the Joint Verification Committee to decide on the inclusion of Dooars and Terai region within the Gorkha Territorial Administration (GTA) said he has received over 800 claims and objections from the region. After chairing the second meeting in Kolkata on Tuesday in this regard, Justice Sen said “It’s a very sensitive, ticklish issue. It will take time to find a solution to this complicated matter.”

However, the GJM representatives conveyed during the meeting in clear terms that the survey and inclusion of Gorkha-dominated areas are related to the elections to the GTA. As long as the Joint Verification Committee’s recommendations were not released and new areas included, election to the GTA would not be held.

Among the claims and objections received, Justice Sen said one was from the Adivasi Vikash Parishad which was opposed to the idea of any inclusion of new mouzas from Dooars and Terai into the GTA. A small faction however was in favour of merging with the GTA. 


During the meeting on Tuesday the population data of 2001 of the relevant areas was placed before the Commission. While the GJM demanded the 2001 census data as basis for redrawing the GTA map, Justice Sen said there were certain constitutional commitments in the Indo-Nepal treaty of 1950 which had defined as to who could be considered as Indian citizen. It was decided the issue would be taken up in the next meeting slated for December 15.

A senior administrative official said the committee will discuss and frame the guidelines on the areas based on their contiguity, compactness and other factors to decide any change in the geographical status of the region. The over 800 claims and objections would also be analyzed. 


However, the committee on Tuesday could not decide on the modalities of the joint verification of areas in Dooars and Terai and frame guidelines for the survey. The impasse over the process of the survey by the Terai and Dooars joint verification committee for examining the demand for bringing Gorkha pockets of the two regions under the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA) is yet to be resolved.

A representative of the GJM said: “We are still groping in the dark. We are yet to decide on how the process of the survey work will be initiated. No guidelines have been framed yet. Moreover, problems rise on the demographic data of the region. The current data of the population of the area is not available. And the verification committee needs to work on the population of the Nepali speaking people of the region.”

However, the officials of the census directorate claimed the data for the current census will not be available in next five months. To physically verify 400 mouzas will not be possible for the committee. The government of India representative from Union Home Ministry also pointed out that physical verification needed “experts” but it was a time taking affair. 



“We have been asked by our chairman to come up with a suitable idea for resolving the issues in the next meeting,” he added.
Meanwhile, the date of the third meeting of the joint verification committee has been scheduled on December 15. 
-indianexpress