Congress proposal for the Darjeeling Hills

The district hill Congress committee today said it would propose to the Centre to confer Union Territory status to the Darjeeling hills to end the ongoing agitation.

K.B Chhetri, president of the Darjeeling district Congress (hills), said he would meet the Union home minister P. Chidambaram and place the proposal before him.

“So far, the AICC had not sought any suggestion or opinion from the Darjeeling district Congress, be it the plains or the hills, on statehood. However, as the Congress-led central government is carrying out negotiations with the Morcha on the interim set-up, we will visit Delhi next month and propose conferring Union Territory status to the three hill sub-divisions of the district. This is the only way to meet the aspirations of the people and the final solution to the Darjeeling problem,” Chhetri said.

“Once formed, the Union Territory would be under the control of the Centre and will help in serving the purpose, as far as the lack of development and other grievances of the hill residents are concerned.”

Source: The Telegraph