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West Bengal for Schedule VI status for Darjeeling

KOLKATA: The West Bengal government has reiterated the need for the speedy introduction of the Bill seeking to grant Sixth Schedule status to the Darjeeling hills, which would pave the way for elections to the local council that are due for more than three years.

Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee reportedly discussed the issue with External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee over the telephone, West Bengal Minister for Urban Development Ashok Bhattacharjee said here on Wednesday.

Communist Party of India (Marxist) MPs were working towards introducing the Bill in Parliament without any further delay. “We hope that it will be done later this week so that it can be passed in the coming week,” Mr. Bhattacharjee said. “The earlier the elections to the council are held, the sooner will peace be restored in the region and development work initiated.”

Elections to the Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council were to be held in March 2004, but were deferred when the State government extended its term by a year. Afterwards, all elected members except Chairman Subash Ghising resigned demanding greater powers for it and Sixth Schedule status for the region.

The demand was subsequently acceded by both the State government and the Centre, and a memorandum of settlement was signed for according the Sixth Schedule status to the hills and increasing the powers of the DGHC as well as changing its nomenclature to Gorkha Hill Council, Darjeeling. While the Gorkha National Liberation Front is demanding that the Bill be passed in Parliament without further delay, a rival political group, the Gorkha Jana Mukti Morcha, has revived the demand for a separate Gorkhaland to be carved out of the Darjeeling hills and its contiguous areas.

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