Govt may release 10 GTA members

People take part in a torchlight procession demanding separate Gorkhaland state, near Siliguri, Thursday.

Sabyasachi Bandopdhyay, IE, Kolkata, Aug 30 2013: In order to enable the members of Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA) attend the meeting on September 4 — when the new chief executive of the hill council will be elected — the state government is planning to release the 10 members of the regional body it arrested after Gorkha Janmukti Morcha president Bimal Gurung quit the GTA top post to start the agitation for a separate state.

The move, further aimed at meeting the Morcha's demand to release all 800 detainees put behind the bars by the state, however, failed to draw support from the GJM. "We want the release of all our detainees. Cases have been filed against several of our boys who are totally innocent. Without them, we can not attend the meeting. The party will take a call on this,'' Morcha spokesman Harka Bahadur Chhetri told The Indian Express from Kalimpong.

The Gorkhaland Joint Action Committee is going to hold a meet Friday in the hills to decide on the further course of agitation.

Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, meanwhile, accused the Congress and the BJP of creating unrest in the region for electoral gains."This is a deliberate strategy to create unrest in the hills. The Congress and the BJP are trying to politicise the Gorkhaland issue for electoral gains," Banerjee said on Thursday.

The CM also accused the GJM of holding the region to ransom for their interests, despite having been granted autonomy through the GTA. "Ninety-five per cent of the departments have been given to them. I don't know what more they need. They have the money; even the name Gorkhaland has been given to them. Only the statehood status has not been given and that is not possible because it remains a part of West Bengal and we are against any further division of the state," Banerjee said. 
(Courtesy: Republished by KalimNews -from  http://www.indianexpress.com/news/govt-may-release-10-gta-members/1162092/ )