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Powers of new council for Darjeeling hills finalised

Special Correspondent

Kolakata: The powers and jurisdiction of the new council proposed for the Darjeeling hills of West Bengal in place of the Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council (DGHC), set up in August 1988, have been finalised. With this, the stage is set for placing a Bill in Parliament, to seek an amendment in the Constitution for according the proposed council Sixth Schedule status. This is expected to be tabled in the monsoon session.

The details regarding the new council, which is to be named the Gorkha Hill Council, Darjeeling, were finalised at a meeting between Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, and the caretaker-administrator of the DGHC Subash Ghisingh, here on Monday.

That the proposed council will be granted the status of districts under the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution was agreed upon at a meeting between Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil, Mr. Bhattacharjee and Mr. Ghisingh in New Delhi in December 2005. This followed a memorandum of settlement signed by the parties concerned.

Elections to the DGHC have been put on hold since March 2004 following a threat to boycott the polls by Mr. Ghisingh, who is also a leader of the Gorkha National Liberation Front (GNLF), until Sixth Schedule status is granted to the council.

He had warned of reviving the movement for a separate Gorkhaland state, which was first raised in the mid-1980s and was called off with the formation of the DGHC.

It has now been decided that the elections will be held after the council is accorded Sixth Schedule status.

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Powers of new council for Darjeeling hills finalised

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