‘No bandh if no part of Terai-Dooars put in GTA’

‘No bandh if no part of Terai-Dooars put in GTA’

7 April 2012

statesman news service

SILIGURI, 7 APRIL: Leaders of two groups said they would consider calling off a proposed 10-11 April bandh only if the state government assures them that no Terai-Dooars land will be put under the GTA, while the leader of a third group said his unit would go forward with the strike no matter what.

State industry minister Partha Chatterjee will meet in Siliguri tomorrow with representatives of the Terai-Dooars Joint Action Committee, which has been spearheading the no-land movement. Mr Chatterjee is coming as the chief minister’s emissary ask the anti-GJMM coalition to withdraw its two-day shutdown.

Akhil Bharatiya Adivasi Vikash Parishad state president Birsa Tirkey said Mr Chatterjee’s trip would yield a result only if he declares unambiguously on behalf of the state government that not a single mouja from the region would be included in the GTA territory.

"We would indeed consider withdrawing agitation if he gives such an assurance," Mr Tirkey said.

A development package from the state government would not soften the ABAVP's stance, Mr Tirkey said. "Such a strategy might have succeeded in the past when we were a gullible community. Now the situation has changed. We will not wager land for development," he said.

Echoing Mr Tirkey, Kamtapur Progressive Party president Atul Roy, who is the convener of the Dooars-Terai Joint Action Committee (TDJAC), said he would ask Mr Chatterjee to arrange a meeting with the chief minister on the land issue.  "If the chief minister states no land from the region would be included in the GTA, we would withdraw the bandh," he said.

The president of another TDJAC constituent, the Bangla O Bangla Bhasa Bachao Committee, Mr Mukunda Majumder said there was no question of withdrawing the bandh. "The GTA agreement itself is unconstitutional," he said.