West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata
Banerjee is scheduled to make a three-day trip to Darjeeling
from September 1 during which she would have a meeting with Gorkhaland
Territorial Administration members and attend a programme of the Lepcha
community on September 3, according to Nabanna sources in Kolkata.
During the stay of the Chief Minister,
on September 2, the state government has decided to convene a bipartite
meeting with the GTA in Kalimpong to discuss issues related with the
council’s functions and powers. GTA chief executive Bimal Gurung
announced this on Tuesday after an “introductory meeting” between new
GTA principal secretary Gautam Ghosh and council executives in
Darjeeling.
Coming in the wake of Gurung’s recent
visit to Delhi where he had taken with him a team of GTA officials to
discuss developmental projects for the Darjeeling hills, it is to be
watched if Mamata will try to woo the GTA leadership with her own set of
projects. Whenever the chief minister visits North Bengal including the
Darjeeling hills, she announces a lot of development projects for the
area. People in north Bengal, and Darjeeling in particular, are eagerly
awaiting to hear what she will have to announce this time, particularly
because she has just returned from her Singapore tour.
Significantly, Gurung announced he would
leave for Delhi on Wednesday along with GTA members Anit Thapa and Dawa
Lepcha and council secretaries for a meeting with Central
representatives. On August 28, Gurung will meet spiritual guru Ramdev
and lay the foundation stone for a Gorkha Bhawan at Saket, Delhi the
following day before heading back home.
Gurung said, however, that the state
government had not yet sent any written communication on the bipartite
meeting even though it has called for the GTA’s participation. “We
received only a verbal communication from Kolkata telling us about the
proposed bipartite meeting slated to be held on September 2,” he said,
after a meeting held between 45 elected and five nominated GTA sabhasads
and secretaries and executive directors of various departments.
The upcoming bipartite meeting will be
the first one after the one-to-one closed door talks between the Chief
Minister and Gurung in Darjeeling on June 18. The chief minister was in
Darjeeling then to launch a number of projects and also officially
announce the formation of the Tamang Development Cultural Board. The
chief minister had announced then that a bipartite meeting would be
convened within a month which would be followed by a tripartite one to
discuss GTA-related issues.
The GTA has been alleging “unnecessary
interference” by the state government in matters under its jurisdiction
including its smooth functioning ever since its formation on August 4,
2011. Due to all these and a number of other reasons, relations between
the GTA and state government are presently not at their brightest.
Gurung said he has asked the state
government to send an “action taken” report regarding the previous five
rounds of bipartite meetings. “We have had five meetings, but the state
government is yet to give us reports of what actions have been taken.
Such reports are necessary because the GTA sabhasads will have to take
stock of things first before they are taken up in the upcoming September
meeting with the state government,” the GTA chief executive pointed
out, adding the state government has given a verbal assurance of
despatching the reports immediately.
Issues such as transfer of departments
to the GTA and the recent state government notifications to the
Darjeeling municipality are some matters which are expected to be taken
up in the bipartite meeting. The bipartite meeting, notably, is
scheduled after the appointment of Ghosh as the GTA principal secretary
last month. His predecessor RD Meena, who was also the Jalaiguri
divisional commissioner, has retired. The importance of appointment of a
senior IAS officer as the principal secretary of GTA has always been
emphasized by Gorkha Janmukti Morcha leaders.
Observers say that the silence of GJM
leaders on the Gorkhaland issue since the Lok Sabha election and the
recent visit of the top leadership of the party to Delhi has made it
easier for the Mamata Banerjee government to talk development of the
hills with the GTA. It is to be watched if the GJM leadership can rope
in the helps of both Delhi and Kolkata for speedy development of
Darjeeling.(EOIC)
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