Dashing the hopes of the Gorkha Janamukti Morcha (GJM), the high-powered committee on the Gorkhaland Territorial Administr-ation (GTA) has recommended the inclusion of only five mouzas out of the 398 demanded by the GJM under the jurisdiction of the proposed GTA.
The 10-member committee headed by Justice Shyamal Sen (Retd) submitted its report to the Mamata Banerjee government on Friday. On Saturday, state chief secretary Samar Ghosh, accompanied by home secretary Basudeb Banerjee, made the report public at Writers’ Buildings.
“The committee has recommended inclusion of three mouzas of Elemterai, Purba Kalaibari and Gulma-thari under Darjeeling district and two mouzas of Samsing and Chalauni under Jalpaiguri district into the GTA Sabha. The GJM had demanded the inclusion of 199 mouzas from each district into the proposed GTA. But the committee has found only these five mouzas qualify for inclusion as the Gorkha population in these mouzas is over 50 per cent of the total population there,” Mr Ghosh said.
The GJM has rejected the report and threatened to launch an agitation in the hills. “This is a biased report. We had accepted at least 150 mouzas,” GJM general secretary Roshan Giri said.