Centre to call tripartite meeting on Gorkhaland: GJM

The Gorkhaland Joint Action Committee (GJAC) Tuesday claimed the central government will soon convene a tripartite meeting to solve the impasse in the Darjeeling hills of West Bengal over the Gorkhaland issue.

“Today (Tuesday), union Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde assured the hill delegation that the centre would soon convene a tripartite meeting to solve the hill impasse,” Gorkha Janmukti Morcha supremo Bimal Gurung said here.

A GJM delegation, now in New Delhi to discuss the Gorkhaland issue with the central leadership, called on Shinde.

Gurung said the GJAC will consider Shinde’s appeal of withdrawing the ongoing intense separatist movement in hills.

“The home minister has appealed (to us) to withdraw the ongoing agitation and come for dialogue. The GJAC will meet soon and take appropriate action but the movement for Gorkhaland will continue,” he added.

GJAC – a forum of pro Gorkhaland parties – has been carrying on an intensified movement in the Darjeeling hills since Aug 3 following the UPA’s endorsement of a separate Telangana.

On July 18, 2011, a tripartite agreement was signed between the Gorkha outfit and the state and central governments creating the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA) – an autonomous hill council.

The GJM has been at the helm of the GTA after winning its maiden elections last year.

However, the GJM has maintained that the GTA will be “repealed at an appropriate time”. Following the GJM’s decision to give a fresh impetus to the Gorkhaland movement, Gurung resigned as the chief executive of the GTA.

The Gorkhaland movement for a new state – to be carved out of parts of Darjeeling and its neighbouring Jalpaiguri district – has left many dead over the past two-and-half decades, besides affecting the region’s economy based ontea,timberandtourism.

-IANS