Assembly adopts resolution on Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council

Kolkata, Mar 16: The West Bengal assembly today adopted a resolution for setting up a new Autonomous Council for the Darjeeling hill areas under the sixth schedule of the Constitution, opening a new chapter in the state's history.

To pass a necessary law in this regard the resolution will now be sent to both houses of Parliament for acceptance after amending article 244 of the Constitution.

After completing all necessary legal and other formalities,the Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council(DGHC) would become the 8th autonomous region in the country after independence. The Bodoland Council is the 7th and last autonomous council.

Initiating a discussion on the important government sponsored resolution during zero hour today,Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacherjee recalled that since the Gorkha National Liberation Front(GNLF), under the leadership of Subhas Ghisingh, had dropped the demand for a separate state,the idea for establishing an Autonomous Council in the hill areas of Darjeeling district was mooted.

But, he said, it took about three years for concretising the idea which ultimately resulted in the signing of a tripartite agreement among the Government of India, Government of West Bengal and the Administrator of the DGHC on December six,2005.

He said in accordance with the principal memorandum of settlement, the DGHC would be brought under an autonomous self-governing council under the sixth schedule of the Constitution after making the necessary amendment.

Negating the opposition criticism,including that of the lone member of GNLF(C) in the House, that bringing the Hill Council under the sixth schedule might spark tension between the majority tribal and the minority non-tribal population in the Darjeeling hills, Mr Bhattacherjee said complete amity persisted in the whole region since the announcement about it nearly a year ago.

Citing the example of other autonomous regions, including that of Bodoland where too non-tribals were in minority, he said there was no ethnic tension and assured the members of taking all stesps to allay fear among the local people.

Regarding the GNLF supremo's demand for inclusion of some areas of the Siliguri region under the autonomous council, he said it was explained to Mr Ghisingh and the matter was expected to be settled amicably soon.

Earlier, participating in the nearly two-hour long debate senior Trinamool Congress leader Saugata Roy criticised the state government for not laying down the exact parametres of the proposed council before signing the tripartite agreement. He was also criticial of the government as well as the chief minister for not taking the opposition into confidence before deciding on the formation of autonomous hill council.

The chief minister later agreed to the administration's unintentional mistake and had even sought some sort of an apology from the opposition for the failure.

Though state Urban Development minister and the legislator from Siliguri town Ashok Bhattacharya welcomed the government initiatives, he also highlighted a number of issues.However, regarding the controversies surrounding the demand for inclusion of some of the fringe areas of the township into the council domain, he underscored the need for further studies.

Among others GNLF(C)legislator D K Pradhan was the most critical about the government steps and felt that the autonomous status to the Darjeeling Hill council under the sixth schedule might open the pandora's box for further and unjustified demands from the council.

He was also apprehensive about the security of the minorities in the hill areas and said if proper steps were not taken it might create some major problems for the administration. But the chief minister in his reply denied having any such problem under the sixth schedule.

The resolution was later passed through voice votes.

UNI