Survey on to allocate land rights to tea garden, village population in Darjeeling, Kalimpong

EOI, DARJEELING, FEBRUARY 9, 2023  :  Gorkhaland Territorial Administration chairman Anit Thapa on Thursday announced that the West Bengal government would conduct a survey and allocate land rights to the tea garden and village population in the hills. 

Thapa is presently camped in Kolkata and has met Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. 

"Today, I want to share a good news with the people of the hills. From tomorrow(Friday) a survey team from Kolkata will visit the tea gardens and other rural areas.

A survey will be conducted and within 10days, land rights will be distributed to the people. The issue of land rights has been our concern for several years. And now it will be a reality," said Thapa. Different political parties over the years have raised the land right issues along with the statehood demand. 

The issues bear significance in the backdrop of the BJP-led Centre deciding to implement Citizenship Amendment Act and National Register for Citizens across the country amidst fears, especially in the Darjeeling and Kalimpong hill regions, where nearly 80 percent of the population do not have proper documents.

Thapa chose to take credit for the decision of the West Bengal government to allot the land rights. "Different political parties have in the past raised the issue without results. But, we have managed to get a result with support of the State Government. We had taken up the issue of "parja patta" with the CM who assured us to look into our demand," he said. 

Thapa who is also the president of the Bharatiya Gorkha Prajatantrik Morcha said the result was the outcome of having a cordial relation with the State Government. 

"I have always maintained that in order to get our work done we must keep good relations with the State Government and we now are seeing the results," he said.

In his meeting with the West Bengal Chief Minister on Wednesday, Thapa submitted a 31 charter of points to redress issues for better and smooth functioning of the GTA. Thapa said he had requested the Chief Minister to set up a separate Primary Education Board for the area that was included in the jurisdiction of the GTA.

Earlier, in the day, the BGPM leader along with the chairmen of the civic bodies of Darjeeling, Kalimpong, Mirik and Kurseong met Urban Development and Municipality Affairs Minister Firhad Hakim and discussed in depth the policies, budget and various initiatives to be taken up by the hills municipalities.