Final shape given to draft agreement on Darjeeling

The state government will now send the draft to the Centre, said Gorkha Janmukti Morcha General Secretary Roshan Giri after a meeting with Chief Secretary Samar Ghosh and Home Secretary G D Gautama.

Noting that the draft was mutually agreed upon, he said all differences had been settled.
"I hope the Centre will call a tripartite meeting within a week or 10 days when the MoA will be signed," he said.

Giri told reporters at Writers' Buildings that a nine-member committee would be formed to explore the demand for incorporating Gorkha-dominated Terai and Dooars areas in adjoining Jalpaiguri district in the plains, in the proposed new hill council in Darjeeling.

It was earlier proposed that four representatives each from the state government and the GJM and one from Central government would be part of the committee.

Giri later told PTI that the committee would make a survey on the Morcha's demand of including 199 mouzas in Terai and Siliguri and another 199 mouzas in the Dooars region in the proposed council.

On June 7, GJM signed a bipartite agreement with the state government agreeing to formation of a new hill council with more autonomy and financial and executive powers.
Accompanied by L V Pariyar, the study forum chairman set up by GJM, Giri later called on Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.