The Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA) is undecided on utilising more than Rs 2 crore under the GTA chairman’s relief fund almost two years after it started collecting the money.
Sources admit to a lot of political sensitivity around the fund as the task started in March 2020 when Anit Thapa was the GTA chairman.
Currently, Thapa is the president of the Bharatiya Gorkha Prajantrantik Morcha (BGPM) and not in the GTA.
A hill observer said with elections to the GTA due, the idle fund could be used by Thapa's rivals to corner him and his new party, the BGPM.
A meeting of the GTA core-committee formed to utilise this fund almost a year ago on January 28, 2021, met in Darjeeling last Thursday but no final decision was taken.
The 15-member core-committee has representatives of trade bodies, political parties, teachers’ associations, ex-servicemen and government officials.
Samden Dukpa, executive director, GTA, said it was largely agreed that the fund would go towards tea workers. “A policy decision to use the funds for the benefit of tea garden workers has been agreed. We will again hold a virtual meeting and decide on the utilisation probably by January 15,” said Dukpa.
Thapa had set up the relief fund on March 24, 2020, purportedly to take up the task of “paying tea garden workers during lockdown”. The 87 tea gardens in the hills employ around 55,000 permanent workers and 15,000 temporary workers.
Contributions to the fund continued to pour in and over 11,000 contributors gave in all a sum of Rs 2.12 crore. Thapa had announced that the GTA would contribute a matching amount.
However, unlike other sectors in the country, the tea industry remained shut only from March 25 to April 9 in 2020. Hence, with the tea gardens operating during the pandemic, the fund’s express purpose was defeated.
Thapa as chairman had constituted the core-committee, but a consensus on utilisation eluded the initiative. As the months rolled on, Thapa's political rivals started raising questions.
"I have contributed to this fund. As a contributor I demand that workers should be paid in cash before Pujas," former GTA chairman Binay had said before Durga Puja.
The Akhil Bharatiya Gorkha League (Bharati group) has also raised questions on the funds recently.
