Calcutta, July 16: Surjya Kanta Mishra today said he won’t attend Monday’s signing of the hill tripartite agreement because the CPM thinks that the formation of the Gorkhaland Territorial Authority (GTA) was the “first step” towards statehood.
“We have come to know that the state government is considering the inclusion of some mouzas in the Dooars and the Terai in the new set-up for the Darjeeling hills. We have serious objections to this,” said Mishra, whom the state government had invited as he is the leader of the Opposition in the Assembly.
“Never had this issue been considered by the Centre and the previous state government. We believe that the inclusion of these areas would create immense problems between the people of the hills and the plains. It appears to be a step towards the creation of a separate state,’’ Mishra told a news conference today.
The deal on the proposed Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA) will be signed on Monday at Pintail village, 1.5km from Siliguri, in the presence of chief minister Mamata Banerjee, Union home minister P. Chidambaram and Gorkha Janmukti Morcha president Bimal Gurung.
The state government has not made any announcement on the inclusion of parts of the Dooars and the Terai in the area under the GTA.
Mamata’s government has formed a committee to suggest the territorial reach of the set-up and the panel is supposed to submit its report in six months.
The Morcha has demanded that the Gorkha-dominated areas of the Dooars and the Terai be included in the set-up.
Mishra accused the state government of “not bothering” to discuss the proposed hill accord in the Assembly. He said the government also did not convene an all-party meeting to deliberate on the issue.
“We want a peaceful and final solution to the Darjeeling problem. Our government had also tried to do that. But such a serious issue wasn’t discussed or debated in the Assembly by the new government. The government could have convened an all-party meeting but that too wasn’t done,” he said.
The CPM leader said the Trinamul-led government did not consider the decisions taken in the tripartite meetings of which the Left government had been a part. He also accused the Mamata government of not making the terms and conditions of the deal public.
“The state government is going to sign an agreement with the Morcha in the Centre’s presence without letting the people know about the terms and conditions of the pact. This is unacceptable. So I will not attend the deal-signing programme,’’ he said.
Mishra said there should have been an “open discussion” in the Assembly on the use of the word “Gorkhaland” in the name of the set-up.
Source: http://www.telegraphindia.com/1110717/jsp/bengal/story_14249744.jsp
“We have come to know that the state government is considering the inclusion of some mouzas in the Dooars and the Terai in the new set-up for the Darjeeling hills. We have serious objections to this,” said Mishra, whom the state government had invited as he is the leader of the Opposition in the Assembly.
“Never had this issue been considered by the Centre and the previous state government. We believe that the inclusion of these areas would create immense problems between the people of the hills and the plains. It appears to be a step towards the creation of a separate state,’’ Mishra told a news conference today.
The deal on the proposed Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA) will be signed on Monday at Pintail village, 1.5km from Siliguri, in the presence of chief minister Mamata Banerjee, Union home minister P. Chidambaram and Gorkha Janmukti Morcha president Bimal Gurung.
The state government has not made any announcement on the inclusion of parts of the Dooars and the Terai in the area under the GTA.
Mamata’s government has formed a committee to suggest the territorial reach of the set-up and the panel is supposed to submit its report in six months.
The Morcha has demanded that the Gorkha-dominated areas of the Dooars and the Terai be included in the set-up.
Mishra accused the state government of “not bothering” to discuss the proposed hill accord in the Assembly. He said the government also did not convene an all-party meeting to deliberate on the issue.
“We want a peaceful and final solution to the Darjeeling problem. Our government had also tried to do that. But such a serious issue wasn’t discussed or debated in the Assembly by the new government. The government could have convened an all-party meeting but that too wasn’t done,” he said.
The CPM leader said the Trinamul-led government did not consider the decisions taken in the tripartite meetings of which the Left government had been a part. He also accused the Mamata government of not making the terms and conditions of the deal public.
“The state government is going to sign an agreement with the Morcha in the Centre’s presence without letting the people know about the terms and conditions of the pact. This is unacceptable. So I will not attend the deal-signing programme,’’ he said.
Mishra said there should have been an “open discussion” in the Assembly on the use of the word “Gorkhaland” in the name of the set-up.
Source: http://www.telegraphindia.com/1110717/jsp/bengal/story_14249744.jsp