Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) leader Roshan Giri on Monday claimed that the state government had virtually acknowledged their complaint that the report of high power committee headed by Justice Shyamal Sen (Retd) was biased.
“The very fact that the state government has agreed to constitute a face verification committee to review the report of the Justice Sen committee is an acknowledgement that the state government accepted our stand that the report was biased and faulty,” Mr Giri said after arriving in Darjeeling on Monday.
To substantiate his claim, Mr Giri said that the GJM had demanded 396 mouzas in Terai and Dooars be included in the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA) but the report recommended only five mouzas. “Justice Sen committee did not even go for field visit and it did not take ground realities into consideration before authoring the report,” he added.
In reply to a question if the GJM was willing to participate in the GTA polls since the state government has said that it would set the poll process in motion shortly, Mr Giri said: “The government may have decided to start the proceedings of the GTA poll but we have not yet taken a call on the matter.”
In reply to another question if the GJM would keep the announced agitation on hold given the state government’s decision to constitute a three-member fact-verifying committee headed by the secretary of the North Bengal development department, Mr Giri said he was not in a position to make any comment of the matter. “