Gurung irked by delay in implementation of GTA
8 February 2012
statesman news service
SILIGURI/DARJEELING, 8 FEB: In a move that might further jeopardise the already-strained relation between the state government and the Gorkha Jan Mukti Morcha (GJMM), Mr Bimal Gurung, the GJMM president, said his party activists would make a bonfire of copies of the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA) at Sukna on 17 April if the state government failed to implement the pact by 27 March.
He also hinted that his party would plunge into the statehood movement with renewed vigour in April while addressing a public meeting at Sipchu in the Dooars organised to mark the first anniversary of the Sipchu killing.
Three GJMM activists were killed when the law enforcers opened fire to quell a party rally that was out to defy the prohibitory order on 8 February last year.
The move has assumed significance as barely two days are left for the chief minister to arrive in Siliguri to inaugurate the North Bengal Festival.
“Our patience has been wearing thin with the state government sitting tight on the GTA pact. We will not budge an inch from the agitation. It will bring into the open the long accumulated collective frustration over the inordinate delay in putting the pact into motion,” Mr Gurung said.
The tripartite GTA pact was signed on 18 July last year at Pintail Village on the outskirts of Siliguri. The Bill was passed in the Assembly, but the implementation process has been delayed as it is yet to get the Presidential Assent which is a constitutional imperative to turn the Bill into an Act.
Aside from the GTA outburst, Mr Gurung again reiterated that the Gorkhaland Liberation Organisation chief, Mr Chhatray Subba was training a group of hardcore Maoists in a camp being run in the Lava forests under Kalimpong sub-division.
“The state government cannot sit idle, as a grave threat might ensue to the peace in the Hills from the subversive forces which are bent on instigating violence in support of some airy ideas,” he said.
GJMM observes Black Day
To mark the police firing at Sipchu in the Dooars, where three GJMM supporters were mowed down last year, the Hill-based party observed Black Day today across the Darjeeling Hills. Black flags were unfurled atop the GJMM offices at all corners of the Hills and the party activists put on black bands to express condolence for the departed souls whom they call martyrs for the cause of Gorkhaland. Black flags were also seen fluttering from shops across Darjeeling town. A meeting was also organised in the town where the speakers stressed on maintaining the statehood resolve in the face of adversities. The party expressed dismay over the delay in the proceedings of the CID probe that the Mamata Banerjee government ordered in June last to pinpoint responsibility behind the firing.
SILIGURI/DARJEELING, 8 FEB: In a move that might further jeopardise the already-strained relation between the state government and the Gorkha Jan Mukti Morcha (GJMM), Mr Bimal Gurung, the GJMM president, said his party activists would make a bonfire of copies of the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA) at Sukna on 17 April if the state government failed to implement the pact by 27 March.
He also hinted that his party would plunge into the statehood movement with renewed vigour in April while addressing a public meeting at Sipchu in the Dooars organised to mark the first anniversary of the Sipchu killing.
Three GJMM activists were killed when the law enforcers opened fire to quell a party rally that was out to defy the prohibitory order on 8 February last year.
The move has assumed significance as barely two days are left for the chief minister to arrive in Siliguri to inaugurate the North Bengal Festival.
“Our patience has been wearing thin with the state government sitting tight on the GTA pact. We will not budge an inch from the agitation. It will bring into the open the long accumulated collective frustration over the inordinate delay in putting the pact into motion,” Mr Gurung said.
The tripartite GTA pact was signed on 18 July last year at Pintail Village on the outskirts of Siliguri. The Bill was passed in the Assembly, but the implementation process has been delayed as it is yet to get the Presidential Assent which is a constitutional imperative to turn the Bill into an Act.
Aside from the GTA outburst, Mr Gurung again reiterated that the Gorkhaland Liberation Organisation chief, Mr Chhatray Subba was training a group of hardcore Maoists in a camp being run in the Lava forests under Kalimpong sub-division.
“The state government cannot sit idle, as a grave threat might ensue to the peace in the Hills from the subversive forces which are bent on instigating violence in support of some airy ideas,” he said.
GJMM observes Black Day
To mark the police firing at Sipchu in the Dooars, where three GJMM supporters were mowed down last year, the Hill-based party observed Black Day today across the Darjeeling Hills. Black flags were unfurled atop the GJMM offices at all corners of the Hills and the party activists put on black bands to express condolence for the departed souls whom they call martyrs for the cause of Gorkhaland. Black flags were also seen fluttering from shops across Darjeeling town. A meeting was also organised in the town where the speakers stressed on maintaining the statehood resolve in the face of adversities. The party expressed dismay over the delay in the proceedings of the CID probe that the Mamata Banerjee government ordered in June last to pinpoint responsibility behind the firing.
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