Governor call to hear GTA grouse

Vivek Chhetri, TT, Darjeeling, May 29: The Gorkha Janmukti Morcha today claimed that Bengal governor Keshari Nath Tripathi had invited the party to Calcutta for a meeting following the hill outfit's complaint about the non-implementation of various provisions of the GTA Act.

A Morcha delegation, which comprised president Bimal Gurung, general secretary Roshan Giri, assistant secretary Jyoti Kumar Rai, Darjeeling municipality chairman Amar Singh Rai, and GTA executive sabha members, Dawa Lepcha and P.T. Ola, called on the governor at Raj Bhawan here at 11am today.

"We raised the issue of Gorkhaland and told him about the need to create a separate state of Gorkhaland. We also raised the issue of non-implementation of the GTA Act... The governor has invited us for talks in Calcutta on June 15. Our party president Bimal Gurung will be attending the talks along with other members," Giri said after the meeting.

Gurung, on his part, invited the governor to attend a religious ceremony that the party will organise at Jamuni, 20km from here, on June 4.

According to Giri, the delegation told the governor about the need to fully implement the various provisions of the GTA Act.

"We told the governor that till date, a separate School Service Commission, College Service Commission, Sub-ordinate Selection Board (for recruitment of Group B, C and D workers in GTA) and the regional pension and provident fund directorate had not been set up by the state government," said Giri.