WB govt revives Gorkha Territorial Administration with Tamang as chairman

Rebel leader Binay Tamang to replace Bimal Gurung, who resigned from the body in June this year

After talks between West Bengal government and the Darjeeling hill parties failed for the second time to resolve the onoging indefinite shutdown in the hills, the Mamata Banerjee-led government revived the Gorkha Territorial Administration (GTA) and appointed rebel Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) leader Binay Tamang as its chairperson.

The GTA was formed in 2011 after a tripartite agreement between the Centre, the state government and the hill parties which had administrative powers to govern the hills in northern West Bengal. However, all the 45 elected members of the GTA, including its then chairman and GJM supremo, Bimal Gurung, resigned from the body in June this year after the call for a separate state of Gorkhaland gained momentum.

In effect, this led to the GTA becoming non-functional for nearly three months and no development agenda could be taken up. Following the mass resignation, Barun Roy, acting chairman of North Bengal Development Department and commissioner of the Jalpaiguri division in the state, was made the administrator by the state government but it still remained in a non-functional stage.

“We cannot let the GTA idle for a long time. Development work needs to be taken up and we don’t want to stall development in the hills,” Banerjee said.

Reasoning that the GTA is an essential part of the state administration for that region, Banerjee revived the body under Section 65 (B) of the GTA Act by appointing Tamang as its chairman and another rebel GJM leader Anil Thapa, a close aide of Tamang, as the vice-chairman. M Ghising, president of Gorkha National Liberation Front and GJM MLA from Darjeeling Amar Singh Rai have also been included in the nine-member board of administrators in the GTA.

“The new board will undertake development works in the hills from now onwards. It has been formed with representatives from Darjeeling, Kalimpong, Kurseong, and Mirik. They will work till a fresh election is held. The moment is not right to conduct an election in the GTA but as soon as the situation is right, we will do it,” Banerjee said.

The move follows after Tamang and Rai met Banerjee in Kolkata to discuss bringing back normalcy in the hills which are undergoing a self-imposed blockade since June 10 this year.

Last month, Tamang and Thapa defected from the GJM by going against the party line by after calling off the shutdown. Currently, although some shops are opening up for fixed hours in small parts in Mirik and Kurseong, Darjeeling and majority parts in the hills continue to reel under the shutdown.

The Calcutta High Court has termed the shutdown as illegal.