Gurung statehood warning - Morcha threatens agitation if Centre allows Telangana
The hill leaders
have also said that if the Centre fails to do so, the Morcha will have
no alternative but to launch an agitation.
“We have made it
clear that Gorkhaland must be formed if Telangana is created. Otherwise,
we will have no option but to launch an agitation in the region,”
Roshan Giri, the general secretary of the Morcha, said over the phone
from Delhi.
The Morcha delegation comprised party president Bimal Gurung and senior leaders Giri, Binay Tamang and Jyoti Kumar Rai.
The response of home minister Sushil Kumar Shinde was not immediately known.
Giri said the
delegation also demanded that the special central assistance of Rs 200
crore per annum for three years to the Gorkhaland Territorial
Administration must be increased and it should cover more years.
“We have demanded
that the amount should be increased to Rs 400 crore and the duration
must be increased to 10 years instead of three years,” Giri said.
The Rs 200 crore
assistance was agreed upon when the Centre, the state and the Morcha
signed the memorandum of agreement on the GTA July 18, 2011.
Other demands
raised by the Morcha include the extending the benefits of the North
East council to the GTA, relaxation in age and qualification for
recruitment of “GTA Youths” (Gorkhaland Personnel) and granting of
backward region status to the GTA area.
The leaders also
demanded the transfer of reserved forests to the GTA and granting of
Scheduled Tribe status to all hill communities except the Scheduled
Castes.
Observers in the hills believe that Morcha’s threat to start an agitation is out of compulsion.
“They have
realised that if Telangana is formed, they cannot lie low and tell
people that they are committed to Gorkhaland and that the GTA is only a
stepping stone for statehood,” said an observer.
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