Calcutta, Sept. 2: The government today accommodated most of the changes sought by the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha and passed the bill to set up the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration for the Darjeeling hills. The Mamata Banerjee government, through the 54 amendments it brought to the GTA bill, tried to ensure that the legislation was in accordance with the tripartite agreement and the hill body got more autonomy. Soon after the bill was circulated among the MLAs on Monday, the Morcha leadership had said the bill did not reflect all the provisions agreed upon in the deal signed by the hill party, the state and the Centre, on July 18. The Morcha was also cut up because the preamble of the bill did not mention that one of the reasons for the creation of the GTA was to establish the ethnic identity of the Gorkhas. “The state government today made several amendments to the bill and we are happy that all our demands have been fulfilled,” said Morcha general secretary Roshan Giri after the bill was passed in the House by a voice vote. Some demands, however, like removal of “incompetence” as reason for the government to supersede the GTA was not accommodated. The leader of the Opposition, Surjya Kanta Mishra, requested the government to send the bill to a select committee, but the government rejected the suggestion. Unlike a standing committee which exists for every department and for the entire term of the government, a select committee is created only on a need-basis. It consists of expert MLAs who can deal with a particular issue and is dissolved as soon as the issue is resolved. “Unanimous decisions used to be taken (a reference to the Left Front regime) on issues pertaining to the hills. The government should try to reach a consensus over this bill. We also want to include the word ‘Darjeeling’ in the name of the proposed body,” said Mishra. Mishra also protested the setting up of a government panel to look into the Morcha demand to bring territories in the Dooars and the Terai under the GTA. “I have no objection to more autonomy for this body, but further inclusion of territory will open a Pandora’s Box …. Also, the elections to the GTA should be conducted by the state election commission and not the state government,” said Mishra. The government, however, turned down all of Mishra’s suggestions. In reply to Opposition charges, the chief minister cited the Left Front government’s willingness to name the new hill body, the Gorkhaland Regional Authority after a round of tripartite talks in August last year. She also reassured the people of the Dooars and the Terai that “no harm” would come their way. “A campaign is on against us, people are being misinformed that we will give up the Terai and the Dooars and divide the state. The people of Darjeeling are our brothers, those of the Dooars and the Terai are our sisters. We will not let harm come in the way of either our brothers or our sisters,” said Mamata. She also told the House that the government would set up a development board for Lepchas. The Lepchas, one of the indigenous tribes of the Darjeeling hills, have been demanding a development council which will preserve the culture of the community and also help in its growth. They had been demonstrating in front of Writers’ for some time. Many of them had been arrested last month for violating Section 144 in front of Writers’. Of the 54 amendments to the hill bill, 41 involved the omission of the word “sabha”, the repeated use of which the Morcha had objected to. The hill body had said the word undermined the new arrangement by conveying the idea that only a “sabha” or a local body was being created and not an entire administrative set-up. “We have worked hard to ensure that nothing in the bill is against our interest unlike the earlier political leaders who were in a hurry to accept whatever was being offered. We have been sincere to our people and it is their victory,” said an elated Giri, while directing a barb at the GNLF whose chief Subash Ghisingh had signed the agreement for the formation of the DGHC. “It is a historic day for the people of Darjeeling. We are happy with this bill. However, our demand for a separate state stands. We are hopeful that one day this House will rise to justify the just demand for Gorkhaland,” said Morcha MLA Harka Bahadur Chhetri. During the discussion on the bill before its enactment, the Opposition had raised questions on whether the integrity of the state was being jeopardised by the government’s concessions to the Morcha. In his response, Chhetri told the House: “Let the question of integrity no longer be used as a weapon to suppress the voices of the minorities.” Source: The Telegraph
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