It will have 50 members, a Bill will be moved in Assembly
A tripartite agreement paving the way for the setting up of the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA), an elected body for the Darjeeling hills, was signed at Pintail village here on Monday.
“The task ahead of you is stupendous. You have to rebuild brick by brick, and when you do so, the West Bengal government and the government of India will stand by you,” Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram told the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) leadership, terming the occasion “historic.”
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and GJM president Bimal Gurung, among others, took part in the function.
Joint Secretary in the Union Home Ministry, K. K. Pathak; West Bengal Home Secretary G.D. Gautama; and GJM general secretary Roshan Giri signed the accord. The contents of the agreement were not made public although Mr. Chidambaram and Ms. Banerjee did refer to certain provisions.
The new set-up will have 50 members: 45 of them will be elected and the rest nominated. A Bill for this will be moved in the Assembly and, on adoption, it will be sent to the President for assent.
Elections to the new body would be held within six months, Ms. Banerjee said.
Resentment on plains
As large numbers of Gorkhas sang and danced at the site to celebrate the signing of the accord, there was a complete shutdown in the nearby town of Siliguri and parts of the Dooars and Terai regions on the plains of north Bengal.
A two-day general strike called by the Bangla O Banglabhasha Bachao Committee evoked a spontaneous response in Siliguri and adjoining areas. The organisation claimed that the treaty was “only a step away from the conspiracy to eventually divide West Bengal.”
However, Ms. Banerjee ruled out any division of the State — a comment that was met with a subdued applause. The GJM leadership maintained that the formation of the GTA was not a compromise on its demand for a separate State and was, in fact, a step in that direction.
Mr. Gurung reiterated the demand for the inclusion, under the GTA, of the Terai and Dooars regions. “Now, a committee will be set up for the inclusion of areas in the Dooars and the Terai. The government will also have to pay attention to this and ensure that it works out.”
Promising all help to the GTA, Ms. Banerjee said “a complete economic package” would be given to Darjeeling.
Salient points of tripartite agreement on Darjeeling
The following are the salient points of the 16 page tripartite Memorandum of Agreement on the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration signed by the Centre, the West Bengal government and the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha:
— The Government of India, the Government of West Bengal and the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha, keeping on record the GJM demand for a separate state of Gorkhaland, agree to form an autonomous body -- the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration -- through direct elections.
— Although the GJM was keen that the elected House of the Territorial Administration be called ‘Assembly,’ the Centre and the State Government persuaded the outfit to settle for ’Sabha.’ (Both the governments wanted to avoid creating an impression that the new autonomous body was being granted symbol of statehood such as an Assembly.)
— The Morcha had demanded that the House be headed by a Speaker and Deputy Speaker. Instead, it has been decided that a chairman and deputy chairman will conduct the business of the House.
— As per the agreement, the GTA Sabha shall constitute of 45 elected members and five to be nominated by the Governor to give representations to Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Minority Communities.
— The MPs, MLAs and chairpersons of municipalities shall be ex-officio members of the GTA Sabha.
-- The term of the Sabha will be for five years.
— The Government of India and the Government of West Bengal will provide all assistance to the GTA for all-out development of the region.
— The Government of India will provide financial assistance of Rs 200 crore per annum for three years for projects to develop socio-economic infrastructure in the GTA over and above the normal plan assistance to the state of West Bengal.
— The GTA, once established, will take up the issues of grant of incentives, subsidies, waiver of taxes and tariff and other benefits as appropriate to the region’s backwardness.
— A three-tier panchayat will be constituted in GTA region.
— The GJM agrees to ensure that peace and normalcy will be nominated in the region.
— A review will be done by the state government of all the cases registered against persons involved in the GJM agitation.
— Steps will be taken in the light of the review not to proceed with the prosecution of all cases except those charged with murder.
— Release of persons in custody will follow the withdrawal of cases.
— The youth in the GTA region will be considered for recruitment in the Police, Army and the Para—Military forces subject to their suitability.
West Bengal won't be divided: Mamata
Says Darjeeling is not outside West Bengal, but the heart of West Bengal
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee asserted here on Monday that the State would not be divided even as the leadership of the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) maintained that the tripartite agreement for the setting up of the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA) was not a compromise on its demand for a separate State.
“There is nothing to fear. Bengal is not being divided,” said Ms. Banerjee at a ceremony where a memorandum of agreement for the new body was signed. She was addressing her political detractors, who have raised apprehensions that the setting up of the GTA was a step away from granting statehood to the region.
GJM president Bimal Gurung made no mention about the future of the statehood demand in his speech. But, talking to journalists later, he said the setting up of the GTA should have happened earlier, although he was happy that it had worked out now.
Asked about the demand for a separate State, he said: “That remains to be done….We'll do it; it will happen if it has to. We have to take this [the GTA] forward and get the work done.”
However, Ms. Banerjee did not mince words while emphasising that statehood cannot be granted to the region. “Darjeeling is not outside West Bengal. Darjeeling is the heart of West Bengal,” she said. “Darjeeling and Siliguri are like two sisters. The hills are my sisters and the plains are also my sisters.”
Ms. Banerjee said the nomenclature of the GTA, particularly the inclusion of the word “Gorkhaland” was being unnecessarily politicised by some, particularly the Left Front.
“Some people are objecting to the word Gorkhaland…..To them I'll say that it was the previous government [the Left Front government] that had agreed to the word Gorkhaland after a tripartite meeting on August 17 last year. Only the words “Regional Authority” had been replaced [from the name proposed then].”
She also sought to clarify her stand on the GJM's demand for inclusion of the Gorkha-dominated areas in the Terai and Dooars within the territorial jurisdiction of the GTA.
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