Binay to demand Bijanbari sub-division

SNS, DARJEELING. 19 November 2017: The Binay Tamang group of the Gorkha Jan Mukti Morcha (GJM) today said that it will take up a demand for converting the Bijanbari Block in Darjeeling to a sub-division when party leaders hold talks with Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in the fourth bipartite meeting scheduled to take place on Tuesday at Pintail Village in Siliguri. The Tamang camp also said that it will hold discussions on various other issues related to the Hills, while also placing the demand for tripartite talks on the Gorkhaland issue.

Mr Tamang also the chairman of the Board of Administrators for the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA) will lead a six-member delegation to the Siliguri meting.The delegation will have Kurseong MLA Rohit Sharma, Darjeeling MLA Amar Rai, GTA board vice-chairman Anit Thapa, board member Sanchabir Subba and Morcha leader Tshering DaThal.

"We will be taking out issues regarding the problems faced by the GTA and the people of the Hills. Apart from that, we will also take up the issue of Bijanbari Block, which is one of the biggest blocks in Bengal with 23 gram panchayats. We will demand that it be made a sub-division," Mr Tamang told a press meet here today. He also said that they will demand block bifurcation and gram panchayat bifurcation of other places too before the panchayat elections are held.

After I became the chairman, various organizations, along with tea gardens,served memorandums over various issues,. and we will also take up those matters, along with parza-patta (land documents) for 163 villages along with the implementation of the Minimum Wages Act and the parza-patta for tea garden workers too,' he added.

Asked about the political issues that would be raised and what their proposal for a permanent solution for the Hills would be, Mr Tamang said. "As for us, the permanents solution is Gorkhaland, and we will demand tripartite talks for this as soon as possible."