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Call to remove Ghisingh from DGHC post

KOLKATA: Leaders of the Gorkha Janamukti Morcha (GJM) that has given the call for a separate state of Gorkhaland to be carved out the Darjeeling hills and certain areas contiguous to it met senior officials of the West Bengal government here on Wednesday and demanded the immediate removal of Subash Ghisingh from the post of administrator of the Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council (DGHC).

A seven-member GJM delegation that held discussions with, among others, the State’s Chief Secretary, A.K. Deb, also demanded scrapping of the move to grant Sixth Schedule status to the hills. Leaders of the GJM later told newspersons that the State Government had sought three days time after which it would let its stand on the demands known.

The GJM, formed four months ago, has launched a movement in the Darjeeling hills in support of its call for Statehood.

An indefinite hunger strike by some GJM activists in Darjeeling and the two sub-divisional towns of Kurseong and Kalimpong that entered its seventh day has been put on hold till the State makes its position known, Roshan Giri, GJM general secretary, said.

Mr. Ghisingh, who is also the chief of the Gorkha National Liberation Front (GNLF), has been pressing for the passing of the amendment bills aimed at granting Sixth Schedule status to the Darjeeling hills. But the local people are against such a move, Mr. Giri claimed.

The bills have been referred to a Parliamentary standing committee after their introduction in the winter session of Parliament.

The statehood demand was first raised in the mid-1980s by the GNLF but was dropped with the formation of the DGHC in 1988 with Mr. Ghisingh as its Chairman. He was appointed administrator of the body in March 2005 after elections to it were put on hold following his call for Sixth Schedule status for the hills. The Gorkhaland demand was revived by the GJM shortly after its formation. “We shall not budge from our demand for separate statehood,” Mr. Giri asserted.

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Call to remove Ghisingh from DGHC post

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