Darjeeling, March 15: The Gorkha Janmukti Morcha will push for a field survey of the plains areas that the party wants to be brought under the hill set-up during the territory committee meeting in Calcutta tomorrow.
The Morcha believes that the committee should not be stuck with merely discussing its demand since procedures like public submission and hearings (for and against adding plains territories to the hill set-up) are over.
The Morcha wants 196 mouzas from the Dooars, 199 from the Terai and three mouzas from the Raigunj block of Jalpaiguri district to be brought under the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration besides the existing DGHC areas.
L.B. Pariyar, one of the four Morcha representatives on the 10-member territory committee, today said: “We will be pressing for a survey of the areas, now that all other procedures have been completed. But it may not be possible to conduct a field survey of all the 398 mouzas. In that case, we want a sample field survey covering about 10-15 per cent of the area. This would give the committee a fairly good idea of the ground situation.”
Pariyar, however, did not reveal how the Morcha wants the survey to be conducted.
The committee headed by Justice (retd) Shyamal Sen was expected to submit its report by February end but the state government has extended its tenure by another six months.
While the territorial committee is scheduled to meet at 4pm, Morcha general secretary Roshan Giri will call on chief secretary Samar Ghosh at 2.30pm.
“After our discussion with the chief secretary, we will meet the chief minister later in the evening,” said Giri.
The Morcha delegation will convey to the government its decision to oppose the GTA elections till the territorial jurisdiction of the body is finalised.
As of now, the government wants to hold the elections to the GTA within the present DGHC area, a proposal which has been shot down by the Morcha that wants an interim arrangement with nominated members to run the body.
The Morcha has also decided to hold a meeting with the central committee members of the Terai and Dooars in Darjeeling on March 18.
“The meeting will be held with the central committee members of the Dooars and Terai and we will be discussing the way forward. We are determined against holding elections to the GTA unless the territory issue is finalised and during the central committee meeting, we will also be seeking feedback from our plains leaders on the way forward,” said Giri.(Telegraph)
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