Siliguri: The stage is set for
on Sunday`s signing of the milestone agreement between the
Centre, Gorkha Janmukti Morcha and West Bengal government on
the contentious Darjeeling issue at Pintail village near here.
Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee today arrived here and
Union Home Minister P Chidambaram is scheduled to arrive
tomorrow to sign the treaty which will pave the way for
setting up a new hill council `Gorkhaland Tarritorial
Administration`.
On the eve of the signing of the agreement, Communist
Party of Revolutionary Marxist (CPRM), a prominent voice in
the hills, today accused the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha of
reneging on its promise to create Gorkhaland by agreeing to be
a party of the accord.
CPRM spokesman Gobinda Chhetri said the Morcha had
betrayed the cause of Gorkhaland on whose promise it had
fought the last Assembly election and won.
Plains-based organisations Amra Bangali, Jana Jagaran and
Jana Chetana have called a 48-hour north Bengal bandh to
protest against the treaty.
The Akhil Bharatiya Adivasi Vikas Parishad, which opposes
inclusion of areas of Dooars and Terai regions in the GTA,
has given the moral support to the bandh, its Terai unit
president Nicodene Minj said.
ABAVP secretary Birsa Tirkey said, ``We are not against
the tripartite agreement, but against inclusion of areas of
Dooars and Terai in the GTA.``
Yesterday CPI-M leader Surya Kanta Mishra had complained
that opposition parties had not been consulted prior to
signing of the agreement.
Mishra, who is also the Opposition leader in the
Assembly, said the proposed name of the new hill council
`Gorkhaland Territorial Administration` was misleading and
confusing and was bound to create disunity in the Darjeeling
hills.
Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee was given a warm welcome
by the hills people who lined the road of his journey from
Bagdogra to Sukna.
She got down from her vehicle and talked to them and
discussed their problems. She also visited the Mahananda
Wildlife Sanctuary near Siliguri.
PTI
