The Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA) and the district administration of Darjeeling and Kalimpong will hold a meeting in Darjeeling on Saturday to resolve the land issue, GTA Sabha deputy chairman Rajesh Chauhan said on Friday.
Anit Thapa, chief executive of the GTA, will be present at the meeting.
Chauhan had flown to Calcutta on Friday to hold meetings with the state government.
The development came a day after Thapa had expressed his ire over the district magistrates of the two districts for being insensitive on an issue like land in Darjeeling hills and putting up boards stating that the particular stretch of land belongs to the Bengal government, without consulting the GTA.
The authorities had launched a crackdown on encroachment on government land across Bengal after chief minister Mamata Banerjee had publicly slammed the practice and ordered officials and civic bodies to reclaim such plots.
Accordingly, the officials had put up “land” boards on several plots across the state. In the hills, however, the plots where the boards have come up were not reclaimed by the government.
“There is a GTA in the districts of Darjeeling and Kalimpong and I would ask the DMs of Darjeeling and Kalimpong to consult the GTA — that was formed after both the state and the Centre agreed, and not work as you feel like,” Thapa had said in a video statement.
Chauhan met land and land reforms minister Chandrima Bhattacharya and law minister Moloy Ghatak on the issue in Calcutta on Friday. “On the instruction of the chief minister, we have been assured that the district administration will not work unilaterally on this issue,” said Chauhan from Calcutta.
In the Darjeeling hills, where the demand for Gorkhaland state is the dominant issue, land is a sensitive issue.
Martyrs’ day
Hamro Party, the Opposition party in GTA, has requested for voluntary closure of shops for an hour from noon to 1pm on July 27 to mark the Gorkhaland martyrs’ day.
On July 27, 1986, 13 people were killed in a police firing at Kalimpong during the Gorkhaland agitation.
