Anit Thapa wants SSC for the hills: I too want that our people get appointment and be regularized

EOI DARJEELING, AUGUST 9, 2022 : Amid the growing uproar over the arrest of former West Bengal Minister Partha Chatterjee in the School Service Commission recruitment scam, Gorkhaland Territorial Administration chief executive Anit Thapa on Tuesday demanded the implementation of the School Service Commission in the hill region of Darjeeling.

Thapa said he had already communicated with the State Government that a School Service Commission be set up in the hills. "I am in regular touch with the State Government and have demanded an SCC for the hill. I too want that our people get appointment and be regularized," he said. 

Thapa admitted that some of the appointments of teachers under the "voluntary teachers" tag over the years by various political parties had been irregular. "There is an unwritten norm in the hills that for people to get jobs, one has to hold the flag of political parties. People are prey of unemployment and a perception has developed that one has to hold party flag for everything. I don't support this," he said. 

The GTA chief executive however said he was trying to restore the administrative system in the council body. "I agree that we lack a proper system. But this has been going on for years. We don't have an SSC in the hills.This is why I am fighting to mend the existing system,"said Thapa.

On the ongoing allegation against GTA, Thapa, who is also the president of the Bharatiya Gorkha Prajatantrik Morcha, said: "In the hills there is a political culture to target and discriminate against rival parties. The truth will come out on its own if there is any wrong-doing."

In one of a kind case only in the hills, voluntary teachers are engaged in schools through a managing committee, and later regularized, if at all. Presently, there is no SSC facility in the GTA region. The system was dropped in 2003 during the tenure of the erstwhile Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council. The GTA chief however gave thumbs up to  teachers being given appointment by the State Government. "Till a system is put in place and SSC implemented, what harm is there if our own people are given jobs. Shouldn't educated youths be provided jobs and regularized," asked Thapa. 

He said he abhorred the idea of corruption ineducation system and asserted those involved would be brought to book."Going by what is happening in the State and country, any attempt to subvert the system will be tracked, some day,"