Calcutta: The Bengal government on Monday appointed Kanwaljit
Singh Cheema, a 1993-batch IAS officer, as the full-time secretary of
the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration, days after announcing the
allotment of Rs 640 crore to the hill body to undertake development
projects.
The GTA, which is likely to be used by the government
to reach out to the hill population through development projects, had
been functioning with a part-time secretary since the agitation started
in June.
The commissioner of Jalpaiguri division, Barun Roy, had
been officiating as the secretary along with his regular
responsibilities after the removal of R.I. Singh, the previous GTA
secretary.
"The state government has
announced the allotment of Rs 640 crore for development projects in the
hills. In such a situation, it needs a full-time secretary in the GTA,"
said a senior state government official.
The state has also appointed a board of administrators, with expelled
Gorkha Janmukti Morcha leader Binay Tamang at the helm, to run the GTA.
Sources
said the government needed a full-time secretary at the GTA for two
reasons. First, the state government wants proper implementation of the
projects and second, it needs regular monitoring of the funds.
"The
government doesn't want any allegation of misappropriation of funds.
Besides, timely implementation of the projects is also important to win
over the trust of the hill people," said an official.
Cheema, who
was the mass education secretary, would be replaced by Anup Agarwal,
the secretary of the planning, statistics and programme implementation
department.
Induction advice
Rajen
Mukhia, the president of Darjeeling district (hill) Trinamul, said on
Monday he would the seek the advice of the state leadership on whether
to induct Morcha leaders willing to cross over.
He said people who had deserted Trinamul during the agitation were among those who wanted to return.
Source: The Telegraph
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