Siliguri: The GJM has made it clear that it
was unwilling to compromise on the demand for inclusion of
Siliguri and Dooars in the interim setup proposed for the
administration of Darjeeling hills.
GJM General Secretary Roshan Giri said over phone
today that his party was not ready to exclude Siliguri and
Dooars from the proposed jurisdiction of the interim hill
council.
The party's leadership had informed this to Vijay Madan,
the interlocutor for talks on separate Gorkhaland, he said.
Madan, who held talks with the GJM leadership including
its chief Bimal Gurung in Kurseong last night, said as an
emissary he would let the Centre know the GJM's standpoint on
the issue of territory for the interim setup.
The interlocutor said he was expecting more positive
talks at the upcoming tripartite meet in the middle of next
month between the GJM, Centre and West Bengal government.
Both West Bengal government and the Centre were sincere
for all-round development of Darjeeling hills, he said.
Meanwhile, Akhil Bharatiya Gorkha League president Madan
Tamang demanded that the GJM leadership, Bimal Gurung in
particular, apologise to the hill people for the "interim
proposal" as it was against their aspirations.
Gurung had first declared that he would achieve
Gorkhaland by March 10 this year.
When the deadline passed, he submitted a "secret
proposal" to the Centre to form an interim council in the
hills till December 2011 with more power and autonomy.
The jurisdiction of the interim setup would not only
include the three hill subdivisions of Darjeeling district --
Darjeeling, Kalimpong and Kurseong, but also Siliguri sub
division in the plains and adjoining areas in the Dooars and
Terai in Jalpaiguri district.
The West Bengal government, which was opposed to the
demand for Gorkhaland, has said that more powers and autonomy
could be given to a GJM-administered hill council.
No meeting has been fixed so far between Prime Minister
Manmohan Singh and his Pakistani counterpart Yusuf Raza Gilani
in Bhutan, says Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao.
PTI
First Published: Thursday, April 22, 2010, 20:10