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.