Kolkata, Aug 22 — A new committee led by former Director General of the Border Security Force (BSF) Pankaj Kumar Singh had been formed on Saturday to suggest ways for achieving the permanent political solution for the hills scattered over Darjeeling, Kalimpong and Kurseong in the northern sector of West Bengal.
The decision to form the committee was taken at a crucial tripartite meeting at Sukna near Siliguri in Darjeeling district on Saturday afternoon, which was chaired by the Union Home Minister Amit Shah.
The meeting was also attended by Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Lok Sabha member from Darjeeling Raju Bista and the three party legislators from the three hill-based Assembly constituencies of Darjeeling (Noman Rai), Kalimpong (Bharat Kumar Chhetri) and Kurseong (Sonam Lama).
Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) President Bimal Gurung and its General Secretary Roshan Giri were also present during the meeting.
The current President of Gorkha National Liberation Front (GNLF), Man Ghisingh, who is also the son of GNLF founder-President late Subash Ghisingh, was also present at the meeting.
Before the West Bengal Assembly elections this year, BSF Chief Pankaj Kumar Singh's name was announced as the interlocutor for this purpose and now an entire new committee had been announced under this leadership to suggest ways for achieving a permanent political solution for the hills in North Bengal.
In the BJP's Sankalp Patra (election manifesto) for the recently concluded Assembly polls it was announced that the permanent political solution for the hills will be announced but without separating the hills and the plains in the Terai and Dooars in North Bengal from West Bengal.
The new committee will also try to find that solution keeping with the spirit of the commitment in the matter made as per the BJP's election manifesto.
"The new committee, under the supervision of the mediator, will visit the hills, Terai and Dooars regions and submit a report to the Union Home Ministry. The proposal by the Union Home Minister was whole-heartedly accepted by the representatives of both GJM and after the meeting, Bimal Gurung, President of the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha, and GNLF, who were present at the meeting," sources aware of the developments in the meeting said.
Speaking to the media persons at the end of the meeting, BJP MP Raju Bista said that the Gorkhas in hills of North Bengal had been struggling on various demands for a long time.
"The leadership of various political parties today expressed their views before the Union Home Minister. Our Chief Minister (Suvendu Adhikari) has also presented his statement. After listening to everything, our Union Home Minister Amit Shah has given the solution. A new committee had been formed by the Union Home Minister with the former BSF DG leading it as the interlocutor. Our Gorkha brothers will now get more than they had been hoping," Bista added.