Gurung oath at Ghisingh bhavan

Darjeeling, July 17.TT: The building that Subash Ghisingh started making in 1997 thinking it would become Darjeeling’s town hall will host the swearing-in of his one-time follower and now adversary Bimal Gurung on August 4.   

The Gorkha Ranga Mancha Bhavan, a four-storey white building with a statue of goddess Saraswati at the gateway, is in the Mall area. On August 4, all the winners of the Gorkha Territorial Administration (GTA) Sabha will be sworn in here. It will mark the beginning of a new administrative set-up in the hills that will replace the Ghisingh-run Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council after several years of turmoil.

The bhavan complex, which cost the DGHC Rs 20 crore, is incomplete.

In his heyday, Ghisingh was often spotted at the site overseeing the smallest construction detail of the bhavan.

Today, Ghisingh does not live in the hills but in Jalpaiguri, and rarely speaks to journalists.

“Preparations are being finalised to conduct the swearing-in at Bhanu Bhawan (the earlier name of the building). Even though no official order has been issued, the ceremony will be attended by chief minister Mamata Banerjee, who is expected to reach here a day before,” said a senior district official.

Gurung has held several party meetings at the bhavan.

“Even though it will take another four-five months to complete the Rs 20-crore project, we have already started renting out this property for public events,” said a senior official of the DGHC.

Ghisingh was sworn in at Bhanu Bhavan, the earlier avatar of the Gorkha Ranga Mancha.

Bhanu Bhavan, which was much smaller, was brought down and the Gorkha Ranga Mancha built.

The structure on Victoria Park — later christened Mahatma Gandhi — was not always called Bhanu Bhavan, though. The building was first called Rabindra Bhavan and later rechristened Bhanu Bhavan after Nepali poet Bhanu Bhakta Acharya.

In 1997, Bhanu Bhavan was torn down to make way for the much larger Gorkha Ranga Mancha Bhavan.

Sources said Darjeeling district officials are trying to work out where the GTA Sabha office would be. It is not clear if Gurung, who is expected to head the GTA, will sit in Lal Khoti, which was Ghisingh’s seat of power.

The Lal Khoti cannot accommodate offices of 45 the councillors. During Ghisingh’s regime, the complex housed only the offices of the DGHC chairman, his deputy and the office of the council’s finance secretary.

“There are provisions in the GTA agreement to set up administrative buildings for the new body and also to make quarters for the councillors,” said the DGHC official.

24-hour strike

Anti-Morcha outfits like Bangla O Bangla Bhasha Bachao Committee and Amra Bangali have called a 24 hour state-wide strike tomorrow as a mark of protest to the completion of one year of the GTA.