Gurung Sceptic Over Transfer of Land Reform Departments to GTA

Gorkha Janmukti Morcha president Bimal Gurung on Wednesday asserted he would not accept the Land and Land Reforms Department if it is not fully transferred to the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration by the state government. On Monday, the state government issued a government order directing the Darjeeling district magistrate to place the services of the officers and employees of the Block Land and Land Reforms Office along with the Sub-Divisional Land and Land Reforms Office within the GTA area under the jurisdiction of the hill body as soon as possible. However, the District Land and Land Reforms Office has been kept out of the purview of the GTA.

Gurung Sceptic Over Transfer of Land Reform Departments to GTA

The GJM president, who is also the GTA chief executive, today expressed scepticism over the transfer saying he would first go through the details.

“I will first minutely study the government order. If we are not satisfied with the way the department is being transferred, we will write to the state government to rectify it. And if nothing happens even after that, we will not accept the transfer,” said Gurung today speaking on the sidelines of a programme to welcome TMC supporters from the Rungbull-Dhotrey constituency into his party. More than 200 TMC supporters from Dhotrey and Balasun under Kurseong sub-division joined the GJM today. The GJM wants 57 departments transferred to the GTA. The state government has complied to most but only in principle.

Important departments such as the PWD, transport, social welfare, fire services and information and cultural affairs and forest and panchayat are yet to be transferred to the GTA.

The SDL&LRO and BL&LRO have been transferred to the GTA, but the DL&LR has been left alone, which is one of the factors behind Gurung’s scepticism.

“Even though some departments have been transferred, we are still facing problems of dual jurisdiction. Under such a circumstance, we want the entire directory of the Land and Land Reforms Department to be brought under the hill body from the district magistrate’s office, as only then will it ensure the GTA’s independent functioning,” he pointed out.

During the days of the Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council too, some departments had been transferred, but the transfers had been for namesake as the state government had the final say in almost all of them.

This time, however, the GJM does not want a repeat of the farce.

Gurung said he would talk to Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee to pursue the demand for the full transfer of the entire department and also seek compensation for the victims of the recent landslides that claimed 32 lives.

Banerjee is slated to visit Darjeeling on August 24 to attend a government programme, but the GJM chief will not be meeting her.

“I will be in Sikkim on August 23 and then leave for Delhi the next day to conduct a puja. But I will take up the issue with the CM on my return,” he said.

Gurung is expected to meet Sikkim Chief Minister Pawan Kumar Chamling to seek his support for the ongoing demand for granting tribal status to 11 Gorkha communities.

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