DARJEELING, : The West Bengal government has assured to
refrain from interfering in land matters within the GTA area a day after
Bharatiya Gorkha Prajatantrik Morcha president and GTA chief executive Anit
Thapa’s public dissatisfaction over the installation of government signboards
on lands in the Hills without consulting the GTA.
On Thursday, Thapa made public his
annoyance against sign boards being put up at different places in the Hills,
asserting that such actions should involve the GTA. The GTA chief had expressed
his disapproval of the district magistrates of Darjeeling and Kalimpong for not
taking the GTA in confidence while doing so.
The issue was escalated to the Bengal
Chief Minister. However, with the CM currently out of station, the matter was
addressed with State ministers.
In a press release today, GTA Sabha deputy
chairman Rajesh Chauhan detailed his meeting with Land and Land Reform minister
Chandrika Bhattacharya and Law minister Molay Ghatak in Kolkata. Chauhan
communicated the GTA's concerns, emphasizing that the district administration's
actions contradicted the GTA's jurisdiction over land and land reforms which
are transferred departments to the GTA.
He stated, "I informed the
ministers about the actions being taken by the district administration in the
GTA area maintaining that their action was against the GTA as Land and Land
Reforms was a transferred department to the GTA. I also told the ministers that
they were putting up the signboards without informing the GTA and if the action
continued then many people would be rendered homeless."
He added, "If something has been
made illegally in occupied land of the government then the GTA will take action
against them. They have listened to what we had to say and according to the
directions of the CM, the district administration will not take action in the
lands which fall in the GTA area."
The release adds that the GTA Act was
established with the signatures of both the Central and State governments,
affirming that land rights within the GTA area lie with the GTA and not the State
government.
