Taking up the concerns of the delay in setting up of a Gorkha Territorial Administration, the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha leaders met home minister P. Chidambaram on Tuesday. The home ministry has assured the GJM leaders, led by their president Bimal Gurung, that the GTA bill will be sent to the President for assent in the next few days as soon as the comments of the ministries concerned are received by the MHA.
The GJM leaders said that the MHA had set Tuesday as its deadline to receive the comments on the bill from 16 ministries concerned and thereafter the bill will be sent to the President. The GJM leaders are believed to have been assured that two out of three key demands of the outfit are being accepted by the government, including relaxation for Gorkha youth for recruitment in the paramilitary forces and providing identity certificates to Gorkhas. The issue of putting reserve forest under the proposed GTA has still not been resolved with sources disclosing that the ministry concerned has not cleared the proposal for now. The GJM has threatened to launch a fresh agitation for statehood in the Darjeeling Hills if the West Bengal government fails to implement the GTA by March 27.
The GJM leaders said that the MHA had set Tuesday as its deadline to receive the comments on the bill from 16 ministries concerned and thereafter the bill will be sent to the President. The GJM leaders are believed to have been assured that two out of three key demands of the outfit are being accepted by the government, including relaxation for Gorkha youth for recruitment in the paramilitary forces and providing identity certificates to Gorkhas. The issue of putting reserve forest under the proposed GTA has still not been resolved with sources disclosing that the ministry concerned has not cleared the proposal for now. The GJM has threatened to launch a fresh agitation for statehood in the Darjeeling Hills if the West Bengal government fails to implement the GTA by March 27.
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