KOLKATA: In one of the first dissent against the present Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA) headed by Gorkha Janmukti Morcha chief Binay Tamang, Gorkha National Liberation Front (GNLF) spokesperson Niraj Zimba said that a party delegation will meet state government officials and ministers after May 17 and hand over proof of ‘victimisation and nepotism’ in GTA demanding that an independent bureaucrat administer the semi-autonomous council of Darjeeling and Kalimpong districts of West Bengal until a political solution of Gorkhaland statehood demand is met.
Gorkha Janmukti Morcha’s rebel leader Binay Tamang was made the chairman of the Board of Administrators to run the GTA after the 104-day-long strike for Gorkhaland statehood last year. However, the semi-autonomous council’s election is due since July 2017.
“The present GTA has Binay Tamang as the administrator and he belongs to a political party which does not have any mandate. This is unfair for other political parties as they were the ones who also worked for peace restoration with the actual peace process started by the GNLF,” Zimba said. “It is their party (GJM) which was the principal architect of the recent disturbances here. We have evidence of how the GTA is being run and we will put it forward to the state government,” he added.
A GNLF central committee meeting on Monday decided that they will strive for implementation of sixth schedule and also demand removal of GTA and restoration of Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council (DGHC), the predecessor of GTA.