Adivasi leaders of Dooars and Terai in West Bengal on Wednesday met the State Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and said they would not allow any area from the two tribal regions to be included in the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration formed recently.
The Gorkha Janmukti Morcha had demanded at the time of the GTA agreement that some mouzas of the two adivasi regions be included in the authority. While Dooars has 98 mouzas, Terai has 123.
The Dooars lies on the foothills of the eastern Himalayas around Bhutan while Terai is the area near the Siwalik range, the lowest outer foothills of the Himalayas.
Representatives of various adivasi organisations like the Toto Kalyan Samiti, Bodo People’s Forum and Akhil Bharatiya Adivasi Vikas Parishad in a meeting with the Chief Minister here put forward three alternatives.
Either an authority on the lines of the GTA to be named as Adivasi Territorial Administration for the two regions be formed, an Adivasi Autonomous Council be created or both the regions be included in the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution.
They also submitted some memorandums containing their demands to the Chief Minister.
Ms. Banerjee said she needed some time to consider their demands.
