Kumar Pradhan is in possession of 20 decimals of land in ward 3 of
Mirik municipality and diligently deposits his holding tax with the
civic body for the house that stands on his plot. The land, however,
does not belong to him officially.
Pradhan, like almost all other hill residents, believe in the idea of
a separate state of Gorkhaland but for now, he wants his own land like
many in Mirik.
The Gorkha Janmukti Morcha might have pitched the
civic polls as a "Gorkhaland versus Bengal" fight but in Mirik, the
debate that is raging is: My Land versus Gorkhaland.
Pradhan said: "Whether it is in Gorkhaland or in Bengal, the land
issue has to be solved. Since the land is not registered in our names,
we get nothing. Every land transaction is unofficial. We cannot avail
ourselves of house loans or even agriculture loans from government. Even
to get an electricity connection, one needs a no-objection
certification from the tea garden."
Apart from wards 4 and 5, which include the Deosay Dara and
Krishnanagar localities in Mirik, the entire land that makes up seven
other wards is on lease to Thurbo tea garden.
Mirik has 8,875 voters and land rights might not be a major issue for only 1,799 residents of the two wards.
The state government has already completed a survey on granting land
rights for Mirik residents. Chief minister Mamata Banerjee had announced
the survey while announcing the upgrade of Mirik block to an
subdivision on March 30.
Within a month of the announcement, the Trinamul Congress, which was
not a force to be reckoned with in Mirik town, is confident of forming
the civic board at Mirik.
The land issue has clearly put the Morcha on the backfoot. "We are
not opposing the granting of land rights. We are against the intention
of the state government which is using all tricks to capture power and
erase the Gorkhaland demand," said Phoebe Rai, a GTA Sabha member from
Mirik
"If they were sincere in granting land rights, why did they announce
the same just when civic election was round the corner? What about land
rights to tea garden workers not just in Darjeeling but across north
Bengal," added Rai.
The Morcha is still confident that it will win all nine wards in Mirik but so is Trinamul now.
"We (TMC is supporting the GNLF in two wards) should win all nine
wards. In fact, a proper contest will only take place in wards 4 and 6.
In ward 6, our contest will be with an Independent Vikram Tamang and in
ward 4, some problems have cropped up in our organisation recently,"
said Anil Chhetri, the president of Trinamul (Mirik subdivision).(TT)
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