GTA demands on president table

President Pranab Mukherjee  in Gangtok 

TT, Gangtok: A team of the GTA, led by Bimal Gurung, met the President and submitted a three-point memorandum, which demanded the setting up of a central university, transfer of reserved forest areas to the GTA and a tripartite meeting with the Centre and state government.

Gurung, the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha chief, was accompanied by party general secretary Roshan Giri, the Morcha Kalimpong MLA Harka Bahadur Chettri and GTA councillor RB Bhujel.

The GTA delegates reached Gangtok at 2pm and met the President at Raj Bhavan around 4pm. The meeting lasted for almost half an hour.

“The President has asked the GTA to scout for a suitable land in Darjeeling for the establishment of the central university. He said he will consider the demand,” Giri said after the meeting.

Giri said the central university was a long-standing demand of the Morcha.

“During the tenure of Arjun Singh, the Union human resource development minister, an announcement was made on setting up the central university in the hills but for some reason, it failed to see the light of the day,” the GTA memorandum read.

Gurung said one of the important demands in the memorandum is the transfer of the reserved forests to the GTA. “We have been demanding that the central government transfer the reserved forest to the GTA.”

Giri said the meeting with the President was positive. “The interaction with the President was positive. He said the process to set up a central university in the hills would be initiated immediately. The President was inquiring about the land status and we told him that the GTA has land in Sonada where the university can be set up.” Text by Nirmal Mangar; picture by Prabin Khaling