Even as Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday emphasised that the West Bengal government would not part with Darjeeling, the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha maintained that the demand for a separate State of Gorkhaland had not been dropped.
The government was willing to provide all support to the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration for developmental activities, “but we are not ready to part with Darjeeling,” Ms. Banerjee said at a function at Chowrasta in Darjeeling.
“Ms. Banerjee has said so because, as of now the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration [GTA] is part of West Bengal. But the demand for Gorkhaland is definitely there. It is a part of the tripartite agreement,” Roshan Giri, general secretary of the GJM, told The Hindu over telephone from Darjeeling.
This is Ms. Banerjee's maiden visit to Darjeeling after a tripartite agreement, paving the way for the setting up of the GTA, was signed on July 18.
With the emphasis of her address firmly on “working together” and that “development will secure the future of both the hills and the plains,” Ms. Banerjee said she had made three visits to the district in the four months that she had come to power — an indicator of how committed she was to the development of the Darjeeling hills.
A day after the GJM leadership had pressed for a special package of Rs. 1,000 crore for restoration and rehabilitation of the victims in the Darjeeling hills in the wake of last month's earthquake in Sikkim that also rocked the Darjeeling hills, Ms. Banerjee assured that she would pursue the matter of Central assistance.
