Darjeeling, May 8: The Union home
ministry has decided to hold the next review meeting to look into the
functioning of the GTA Sabha in Darjeeling on May 24.
Decisions on
allotment of additional funds to the GTA and initiating the process for
the amendment to the Constitution to implement the three-tier panchayat
system in the hills are expected to be taken at the meeting.
The review meetings are attended by representatives of the central and state governments and the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha.
“The review
meeting will be held at Richmond Hill in Darjeeling on May 24 from 11am.
While a joint secretary of the Union home ministry is expected to
represent the Centre, the state will be represented by its home
secretary, Basudeb Banerjee,” Morcha general secretary and an executive
GTA Sabha member Roshan Giri said today.
Giri, along with Darjeeling MLA Trilok Dewan, are expected to be present at the meeting on behalf of the Morcha.
The review session
is important as the Morcha has demanded Rs 575 crore as a one-time
grant to put in place the administrative infrastructure of the GTA from
both the state government and the Centre. The demand was placed at a
meeting between a Morcha delegation and chief secretary Sanjay Mitra in
Calcutta on April 30.
Mitra then
suggested that the matter could be taken up at the review meeting as the
Centre, too, had to share the cost of setting up the infrastructure
like buildings and quarters .
“Apart from the
grant of Rs 575 crore, we are also looking towards getting some concrete
assurances on increasing the financial grant to the GTA from Rs 200
crore per annum to Rs 400 crore for the next three years,” said Giri.
The Morcha will
also demand that the fact verification committee, which was formed to
look into the recommendations made by Justice (retired) Shyamal Sen High
Powered Committee, be asked to make a field visit to the Dooars and
Terai. Justice Sen had recommended the inclusion of only five of the 397
mouzas demanded by the party in the GTA.
Giri said the
Morcha would also demand at the May 24 meeting that all Gorkha
communities, except Schedule Caste members, be granted Schedule Tribe
status.
The Morcha also
hopes it would get a positive feedback on amending the Constitution to
implement a three-tier panchayat system in the hills. The state had
earlier said it had already written to the Centre to start the process
for the constitutional amendment.
The Telegraph
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