GTF lauds youth initiative for Gorkhaland,GTA completes two years

Kalimpong,Pradip Lohagun: The Gorkhaland Task Force has welcomed the call made by the youths and students in getting the Gorkhaland Territorial Agreement quashed. 

At a press meet today, GTF coordinator R Moktan expressed his happiness over the youths’ move. “The youths and Vidyarthi Morcha have stressed on Gorkhaland and demanded for the boycott of the GTA. We heartily welcome this step taken,” he said
Moktan also appealed to all parties to come together saying “we have a vision where all parties come together to fight for statehood. We have tried to contact the GJM on this but to no avail. But since important wings of the GJM are now expressing the same vision, there has been a rekindling of hope”.

The GTF coordinator further said, “If the GJM has problems joining us, it can form a separate organisation and support us through that.” 

While describing Thursday’s protest rally by the youths as the beginning of a new agitation for Gorkhaland, Moktan said, “We too demand for Gorkhaland like the GJM is doing, so there should not be any differences between us. I feel the time has now come for us to unite and agitate.”

GTA completes two years

Various opinions have surfaced across the hills in the wake of the second anniversary of the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration, the pact for which was signed on July 18, 2011 between the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha and the state and central governments.

While some are reluctant to support the GTA because they feel nothing worth appreciating has happened in the hills even after two years, others believe it the autonomous body has brought a huge change here within a short span of its formation. Then there are still others who believe the setup needs time to prove itself and evaluating its performance just after two years is gross injustice.

Even so, a Kurseong resident who wanted to maintain anonymity said the GTA has created a situation of insecurity. After its set up, nothing fruitful has been implemented for the public and the fruits have been picked up only by the leaders and some supporters, he alleged. 

Further, the person said taxes have been increased and there has been no solution to the water problem prevailing across the Hills. There also has been no development in education and the region, which once had a regular flow of tourists, is seeing visitor numbers plummeting. But there are also some residents in Kurseong who believe the GTA has been doing its work steadily and needs time to run as a proper setup. According to this group, several departments of the GTA are yet to be formed to ensure full functioning of the autonomous body. The responsibility of making the GTA a success also lies with the state and central governments, they say, adding blaming the GTA chief and other members would not sort out problems. (EOIC)