Gurungs send cultural board memo to Mamata

SNS, Kurseong, 2 December 2014: Demanding a ‘Gorkha Tribal Culture Preservation and Research Development Board’ under the state government, the Gurung Tamu Youth Association (GTYA), Kurseong, today submitted a memorandum to chief minister Mamata Banerjee.

GTYA working president Santa Kishor Gurung said here that they faxed the memorandum to the secretary to the CM, Gautam Sanyal and Chief Secretary Sanjay Mitra.

Mr Gurung said his organisation has been trying to meet the CM for the past several months, and that they went all the way to Siliguri today too, but in vain. Miss Banerjee arrived in Siliguri today on a four-day visit to three districts of north Bengal.

“We will also meet the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA) chief, Bimal Gurung, with the demand, while we will also approach other political organizations and appeal to different Gorkha tribal communities to come together for such a board,” Mr Gurung told reporters here. Earlier, the association had been demanding a development board for the Gurung community after the government gave the Lepchas and the Tamangs separate boards.

However, the GTYA has now changed its stance and has been demanding a single board that will look after all the Gorkha communities, as the association said such a move will bring about unity among the Gorkha people.

“Many tribes within the Gorkha community are now demanding development boards, but all we want is one single board under which all the tribes will become the beneficiaries,” Mr Gurung said.