GJM receives letter from WB govt

The West Bengal government has written to Gorkha Janmukti Morcha chief Bimal Gurung that the tripartite agreement in the Darjeeling hills should be honoured and all unresolved issues would be sorted out, which senior GJM leader Roshan Giri on Wednesday termed as 'positive'.

Giri the GJM General Secretary told reporters here that the letter stated that government was making efforts to transfer all departments to the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration, the new hill council in Darjeeling.

The letter by Chief Secretary Sanjay Mitra stated that all issues would be solved through negotiations and there should be peace and harmony in the hills and all should honour the tripartite agreement, he said.

Stating that the letter was sent on February 26, he said that it reached Darjeeling District Magistrate on March 6, but was surprisingly received by the GJM yesterday in the evening.

Giri said "the letter is a positive one and as it has been addressed to our chief we have sent it to him at Kumani in the Dooars where he is at present camping."

Yesterday, Gurung had said that the GJM would not sell its self respect and would continue to press for the Gorkhaland demand and inclusion of 396 mouzas in the plains in Terai and Dooars under the jurisdiction of the GTA.