Binoy Tamang wants tripartite meeting to review performance of GTA

EOI, DARJEELING, 26 APRIL 2023: Former leader of Gorkha Janmukti Morcha and of Trinamool Congress Binoy Tamang has written to Union Home Minister Amit Shah urging the latter to convene a tripartite review meeting of the performance of the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration. 

Tamang said on Wednesday the Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council was formed in 1988 and the GTA in2011 after signing of accords between the Centre, the West Bengal Government and the Gorkha National Liberation Front and the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha, respectively. Yet, these autonomous councils had failed to fulfill the aspirations of the people.

"The DGHC was run for 20 years by the GNLF, the GTA for 10 years by the GJM and in the interim bureaucrats were at the helm for four years. 

However even after 35years of long experimentation with the two autonomous bodies, the political, economic and social aspirations and promise of justice to the Gorkhas have not been fulfilled," said Tamang. 

The former chairman of Board of Administrators of the GTA alleged lack of sincerity on the part of the Centre and the West Bengal government. "On record only one tripartite review was called after the DGHC was formed in 1988. In fact, no tripartite review meeting has been convened since the formation of the GTA. This has led to a political, constitutional, parliamentary and judicial impasse," said Tamang. 

Tamang said the DGHC and the GTA were only a stop gap solution; keeping the interest of the nation in mind. "The demand for a separate state was only kept in abeyance. The DGHC and GTA are temporary solutions.

The Darjeeling hills and i's people require a permanent solution to fulfill their aspirations," he said. Along with the Union Home Minister, Tamang has also written to the West Bengal Governor and Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and also to the GNLF and GJM which were signatories to the DGHC and GTA accords and settlement. 

With the panchayat election expected to be held after over two decades, Tamang demanded a constitutional amendment to the GTA agreement of 2011. "The GTA agreement has provision for a three tier panchayat system. 

However the West Bengal government will hold only a two tier panchayat election in the hills. This is clearly a violation of the GTA act and agreement," said Tamang, who is a GTA Sabhasad from the Rishihat-Bloomfield constituency. 

Interestingly, the other political parties including the Bharatiya Gorkha Prajatantrik Morcha, the ruling dispensation in the hills, have not objected to the panchayat election.