Appeal for panel on hills' past Sikkim link

RAJEEV RAVIDAS, TT, 04 Dec 2018, Gangtok: The Gorkha Rashtriya Congress (GRC) on Monday demanded the setting up of a fact-finding commission by the Centre to ascertain whether or not the districts of Darjeeling and Kalimpong and portions of the Dooars were parts of Bengal, and not Sikkim.

A delegation of the Darjeeling-based GRC, which espouses the cause of the merger of the Darjeeling hills and parts of the Dooars with Sikkim, met Sikkim governor Ganga Prasad here and submitted a memorandum in this connection.

"During our frequent meetings with the central leaders, we were advised to seek a factfinding commission. Today, we met the Sikkim governor and placed our demand. We had also met the Bengal governor in Darjeeling on November 21 and placed our demand," said Subodh Pakhrin, the chief coordinator of the GRC.

The GRC memorandum said it wanted the fact-finding commission to be set up by the Central government in order to pave the way for finding a permanent solution to the political problem of the hills.

"We honestly appeal for a commission be put into existence without any delay to preserve our land, race and tradition from Bengal's unethical occupancy," said the memorandum.

For years, the GRC has been arguing that the Darjeeling hills and parts of the Dooars were never a part of Bengal and they were leased to the East India Company through a deed of grant signed on February 1, 1835.

"The fact that after India gained independence in 1947, the Union government continued to pay Sikkim the lease amount of Rs 3 lakh till its merger with India in 1975 proves that it was and continues to be the land of Sikkim," said Pakhrin.