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Wednesday, Feb 09, 2005

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National

Fresh uncertainty over Gorkha autonomous council

By Our Special Correspondent

The Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Autonomous Council Chairman, Subhas Ghising, greets the West Bengal Chief Minister, Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, in Kolkata on Tuesday. — Photo: Sushanta Patronobish

KOLKATA, FEB. 8. Sixteen years after the formation of the Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Autonomous Council (DGHAC), its chairman, Subhas Ghising's description of the body here today as one which has lost its relevance has thrown its future into fresh uncertainty. The council was set up after a prolonged movement for a separate State comprising the hills of north Bengal.

There is an immediate need for a tripartite meeting involving the Centre, the State Government and the DGHAC to determine the "political status" of the council, he said after talks with Chief Minister, Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee. There could be no elections to the council unless this was done, he added.

The present extended term of the DGHAC expires on March 26.

Mr. Bhattacharjee apprised both the Union Home Minister, Shivraj Patil, and the Defence Minister, Pranab Mukherjee, of the developments. Later, he said that the State Government was bent on avoiding any confrontation with Mr. Ghising but wondered why the tripartite talks being demanded by the DGHAC chairman should be a pre-condition to the holding of the elections on time.

The Chief Minister had held talks with Mr. Ghising near Siliguri last month following the latter's threat to wind up the DGHAC unless its powers were increased or an alternative council formed. They then agreed on tripartite talks to review the existing powers of the council which was subsequently held in New Delhi on January 28. Senior officials of the Centre and West Bengal Government attended the talks.

Since then, Mr. Ghising has been insisting that the tripartite talks — held after four years — were of a "bureaucratic" nature and ought to be followed up with another round of talks "on the political level" in which both the Union Home Minister and the West Bengal Chief Minister should be present.

The council, in its present form, is becoming redundant and did not enjoy any "constitutional safeguards," according to Mr. Ghising.

He has been demanding that more departments including Home and Finance be brought within the purview of the council's powers.

The incorporation of the term "autonomous" in the nomenclature of the council following legislation ratified by the Assembly a few years ago has become a bone of contention between Mr. Ghising and the State Government. "At present there exists two councils — the Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council [DGHC] and the DGHAC. I am the chairman only of the former," Mr. Ghising said.

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