GJM, West Bengal govt resolve Darjeeling issue

West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday claimed to have resolved the Darjeeling issue, after an agreement with the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) for a new governing body with greater powers than the earlier Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council (DGHC).

“The Darjeeling issue was resolved at an officer level. An agreement was signed between the two main parties and I have conveyed this to the Union home minister over phone. I have asked the chief secretary to hold a tripartite meeting within one week in Darjeeling to come up with a final agreement as a gift for the people of that region,” she said.

She said the government would then take steps to fulfill the promise of making “Darjeeling into Switzerland”.

The GJM, however, maintained that the party was not climbing down from its demand for a separate state or Gorkhaland.

The new body would be patterned on the DGHC but it would be elected and with more financial and executive powers. “A new bill will be presented in the coming assembly session regarding this. Moreover, a high-power committee will be set up to solve the territorial issue and it will be decided through consensus from different parties. The committee will be set up in two weeks and is likely to present the report soon,” said Samar Ghosh, the state’s chief secretary.

Till the new body is set up through the electoral route, an interim board of administration will be set up including the three MLAs from the region (all from the GJM), the district magistrate and the hill administrator. “The committee for solution of territorial issue is not related to the selection of a new governing body at all,” Ghosh said. He added there was already a provision in the DGHC Act to set up such an interim body.

Additional financial powers to the new body include control over the tea gardens, currently under the jurisdiction of the Union ministry of commerce and industry.

“A committee was formed for this and it will submit the report in quick time. It includes the district magistrate, officials from the tea board, labour ministry and from the GJM,” said Harka Bahadur Chettri, Kalimpong MLA and party spokesperson.

However, he said, the party was not going back from the demand for a separate Gorkhaland. “This is just a foundation stone for that. The agreement does not mean that we are diluting our claim for a separate state,” he added.

The government has also promised to take up the GJM concerns regarding reserve forest areas with the central government.

Since Gorkha National Liberation Front leader Subhash Ghising was forced to resign as chairman of the DGHC in March 2008, after losing public support in the hills area to the Bimal Gurung-led GJM, the state government had appointed an IAS officer as administrator of DGHC. It had supervisory power over panchayat samitis and municipalities in the region.