Mamata Banerjee solves Darjeeling hill problems
The Economic Times
KOLKATA: Mamata Banerjee has done a magic. Within 19 days after she was sworn in as the chief minister, Mamata on Tuesday solved the Darjeeling hill crisis by convincing the Gorkha Janamukti Morcha (GJM) to accept an agreement with her government which will intend to address all the key issues raised by the GJM. Mamata also assured the GJM leaders that her government will take up all the development activities for the Hills.
"Darjeeling problem has been solved. The next tripartite meeting among the Centre, the state government and GJM will be held in Darjeeling hills very soon and the discord in the hills will be nipped in the bud there," chief minister Mamata Banerjee announced at Writers' Buildings after a successful meeting between the GJM and senior state government officials including the chief secretary Samar Ghosh.
She also said that she had asked the state's chief secretary Samar Ghosh to talk to the Centre so that the agreement could be finalised at Darjeeling. "I will personally be there in Darjeeling during the tripartite talks," said Mamata.
Asked whether her government will offer any financial package to the people of Darjeeling hills, the chief minister said "certainly." When asked to explain the magic formula through which she has managed to sort out the hill crisis so easily, Mamata said "only development is my magic formula. I believe in carrying out development work every where and I have promised the GJM leaders that our government will leave no stone unturned to develop the hills."
She also said that she had a talk with the Union home minister P.Chidambaram on Tuesday's development and the Union minister was also very happy about this. The chief minister also informed that an expert committee will be set up comprising the state government officials and GJM leaders. Informed sources in Writers' Buildings said that the government had a plan to set up a nine-member committee of which four each will be from the GJM and the state government. There will be one member from the Union government in the proposed expert committee, which will be constituted within two weeks from Tuesday.
The expert committee will consider among other issues, the territory of the proposed new hill council which will replace the existing Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council (DGHC) which runs the administration in the three hill sub-divisions of Kalimpong, Kurseong and Darjeeling.
It is learnt that the state government might consider the GJM's demand for inclusion of some parts of Terai and Dooars into the new council which will be formed through elections. The GJM has been demanding inclusion of some pockets of Terai and Dooars into the separate Gorkha state for which they have been fighting.
The GJM general secretary Roshan Giri who had attended Tuesday's meeting, said that they were very happy with the discussion and felt that the chief minister was very much sincere in solving the hill problems.
When asked whether they were giving up their demand for a separate state for the Gorkhas, Giri told ET over phone that "our demand for separate Gorkha state is always there." He also said that the state government was actively considering their demand for control of hill council over the tea gardens in Darjeling, Terai and Dooars.
The GJM which was launched on October 7, 2007 has been spearheading their movement in Darjeeling for getting a separate state for the Gorkhas. The GJM had also attended a number of tripartite talks in the last five years in Delhi and Darjeeling to convince the Centre and the state government about their demand for the separate state.
The GJM has been demanding inclusion of Banarhat, Bhaktinagar, Birpara, Chalsa, Jaigaon, Kalchini, Kumargram, Madarihat, Malbazar, Mirik and Nagrakata into the Gorkhaland for which they have been fighting for long.
An autonomous body till Gorkhaland!
www.darjeelingTimes.com
Darjeeling, June 7: Finally the GJMM and new government of Mamata Banerjee has come into conclusion, which is yet to ascertain that the accord between two parties has carried out the aspiration of people or not. Meanwhile, GJMM has welcome the agreement reached at today’s bipartite meeting held in Kolkata, while, Mamata Banerjee has affirmed the resolved of Gorkhaland issue.
An autonomous body will be formed which is neither Interim Set-up nor DGHC. However, an autonomous body will be equipped with Executive, Administrative and Financial powers. All the demands of GJMM have been fulfilled, stated in a GJMM press meet at Singamari today.
Transfer of ‘tauji’ or the right over tea gardens and the problem of casual employees of the Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council were reached at the meeting.
Till the formation of an autonomous body, existing DGHC (Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council) will be run by Principal Secretary, District Magistrate and 3 newly elected GJMM MLAs.
A committee will also be formed for Dooars and Tarai consisting of Jalpaiguri DM, Darjeeling DM, 3 newly elected GJMM’s MLA and 5 members of GJMM, which will submit the report within 6 months, accordingly a tripartite meeting with the Centre and the entire agreement would be finalised.
However, GJMM has not announced its programme of celebration in the hills, usually, celebration is traditional trend in the hills on any happy occasion. However, people of hills seem skeptical on the issue resolved so early than expected.
The Economic Times
"Darjeeling problem has been solved. The next tripartite meeting among the Centre, the state government and GJM will be held in Darjeeling hills very soon and the discord in the hills will be nipped in the bud there," chief minister Mamata Banerjee announced at Writers' Buildings after a successful meeting between the GJM and senior state government officials including the chief secretary Samar Ghosh.
She also said that she had asked the state's chief secretary Samar Ghosh to talk to the Centre so that the agreement could be finalised at Darjeeling. "I will personally be there in Darjeeling during the tripartite talks," said Mamata.
Asked whether her government will offer any financial package to the people of Darjeeling hills, the chief minister said "certainly." When asked to explain the magic formula through which she has managed to sort out the hill crisis so easily, Mamata said "only development is my magic formula. I believe in carrying out development work every where and I have promised the GJM leaders that our government will leave no stone unturned to develop the hills."
She also said that she had a talk with the Union home minister P.Chidambaram on Tuesday's development and the Union minister was also very happy about this. The chief minister also informed that an expert committee will be set up comprising the state government officials and GJM leaders. Informed sources in Writers' Buildings said that the government had a plan to set up a nine-member committee of which four each will be from the GJM and the state government. There will be one member from the Union government in the proposed expert committee, which will be constituted within two weeks from Tuesday.
The expert committee will consider among other issues, the territory of the proposed new hill council which will replace the existing Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council (DGHC) which runs the administration in the three hill sub-divisions of Kalimpong, Kurseong and Darjeeling.
It is learnt that the state government might consider the GJM's demand for inclusion of some parts of Terai and Dooars into the new council which will be formed through elections. The GJM has been demanding inclusion of some pockets of Terai and Dooars into the separate Gorkha state for which they have been fighting.
The GJM general secretary Roshan Giri who had attended Tuesday's meeting, said that they were very happy with the discussion and felt that the chief minister was very much sincere in solving the hill problems.
When asked whether they were giving up their demand for a separate state for the Gorkhas, Giri told ET over phone that "our demand for separate Gorkha state is always there." He also said that the state government was actively considering their demand for control of hill council over the tea gardens in Darjeling, Terai and Dooars.
The GJM which was launched on October 7, 2007 has been spearheading their movement in Darjeeling for getting a separate state for the Gorkhas. The GJM had also attended a number of tripartite talks in the last five years in Delhi and Darjeeling to convince the Centre and the state government about their demand for the separate state.
The GJM has been demanding inclusion of Banarhat, Bhaktinagar, Birpara, Chalsa, Jaigaon, Kalchini, Kumargram, Madarihat, Malbazar, Mirik and Nagrakata into the Gorkhaland for which they have been fighting for long.
An autonomous body till Gorkhaland!
www.darjeelingTimes.com
Darjeeling, June 7: Finally the GJMM and new government of Mamata Banerjee has come into conclusion, which is yet to ascertain that the accord between two parties has carried out the aspiration of people or not. Meanwhile, GJMM has welcome the agreement reached at today’s bipartite meeting held in Kolkata, while, Mamata Banerjee has affirmed the resolved of Gorkhaland issue.
An autonomous body will be formed which is neither Interim Set-up nor DGHC. However, an autonomous body will be equipped with Executive, Administrative and Financial powers. All the demands of GJMM have been fulfilled, stated in a GJMM press meet at Singamari today.
Transfer of ‘tauji’ or the right over tea gardens and the problem of casual employees of the Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council were reached at the meeting.
Till the formation of an autonomous body, existing DGHC (Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council) will be run by Principal Secretary, District Magistrate and 3 newly elected GJMM MLAs.
A committee will also be formed for Dooars and Tarai consisting of Jalpaiguri DM, Darjeeling DM, 3 newly elected GJMM’s MLA and 5 members of GJMM, which will submit the report within 6 months, accordingly a tripartite meeting with the Centre and the entire agreement would be finalised.
However, GJMM has not announced its programme of celebration in the hills, usually, celebration is traditional trend in the hills on any happy occasion. However, people of hills seem skeptical on the issue resolved so early than expected.