Morcha renews claim for plains mouzas

Vivek Chhetri, TT, Darjeeling, Feb. 9: The Gorkha Janmukti Morcha has raked up the issue of bringing Gorkha-dominated areas of the Terai and the Dooars under the GTA Sabha, which sources in the plains said was done with an eye on the Assembly elections next year.

Sources in the Morcha said party chief Bimal Gurung's Facebook post coincided with his one-month tour of the plains that started yesterday when he addressed a meeting at Sipchu in Jalpaiguri to mourn the death of three party supporters in police firing on February 8, 2011.

Gurung, who is also the GTA chief executive, said yesterday that the party would form a committee to highlight its grievances against the Justice Shyamal Sen Committee which had recommended the inclusion of five mouzas in the Terai and the Dooars in the hill body.

The Morcha has claimed that Gorkhas were the majority group in 199 mouzas each in the Dooars and the Terai and they should be made part of the GTA.

In a Facebook post yesterday, Gurung said: "In the last tripartite talks between the Union Government and the State Government, the GJM has clearly expressed it's disappointment over the issue of non-inclusion of Gorkha dominated areas from Terai and Dooars in the GTA. The GJM is committed to include these areas in the GTA... for which we have decided to form a committee..."

He said the party "has appointed Shri S.N. Pradhan and Shri Santosh Rai from Dooars and Shri Hari Niroula and Shri Shankar Adhikari from Terai to be a part of this committee".

He said the committee, which will also have members of the GTA, "will prepare a report regarding the inclusion of the Gorkha-dominated mouzas in the GTA area which we will place to the Government".

During the last tripartite meeting in Delhi on January 29, the Morcha claimed, the Centre had directed the party to submit its grievances against the rejection of its demand to bring 398 mouzas under the GTA in writing to the state government.

Roshan Giri, the general secretary of the Morcha, said: "The committee will immediately start preparing a report."

Observers in the hills say the land inclusion slogan was being raised again to prepare the Morcha cadres for the next year's Assembly polls and boost the party's strength in certain seats in the plains.

"The Morcha's renewed focus on the Gorkha-dominated mouzas in the plains will galvanise the supporters who have virtually remained inactive over a period of time. There is nothing much for the Morcha leaders in the plains to talk about, as the land inclusion issue had died a natural death. The Morcha is probably raking up this issue again keeping the upcoming Assembly elections in mind," said a hill observer.

Elections are to be held soon to Malbazar municipality in the Dooars also.

During the last Assembly elections, the Morcha-supported Independent, Wilson Chapramary, had won from Kalchini in the Dooars but he joined Trinamul later in 2013.

"Besides Kalchini, the Morcha enjoys considerable support in other Assembly segments in the plains also. The mouza demand is a subject that the party can depend on during the campaign," said the observer.

A source in the Morcha said the party president had "more or less" made up his mind to field its own candidate in Kalchini in the coming Assembly elections. "We are confident of winning the Kalchini seat once again," said the source.

Elections are to be held soon to Malbazar municipality in the Dooars also.

The Morcha had voiced its grievances against the committee's recommendation before also. Soon after the Sen commission's recommendation was made public, the Morcha claimed he had prepared the report even without conducting a single field visit. The party complained that the recommendation was made merely on reports submitted by the district magistrates of Darjeeling and Jalpaiguri, both of whom were members of the panel.

The committee also comprised four representatives of the Morcha and the state government, apart from a representative of the Centre. Samsing and Chilaunay (Dooars) and MM Terai, Purba Karaibari and Gulmakhari (Terai) were the mouzas brought under the GTA.

Heeding the Morcha's grouse against the recommendations, the Mamata Banerjee government agreed to form a three-member committee headed by Manoj Agarawal, an IAS officer, to look into the party's complaints. "Till date, the report has not been submitted by the three-member panel," said Giri.