The Gorkha Janmukti Morcha today said it was against the government’s move to set up a police commissionerate in Siliguri, terming it as a ploy to divide Darjeeling district and create a separate Siliguri district.
Roshan Giri, the general secretary of the Morcha, told at a news conference: “We want the state government to shelve its plan to create a Siliguri police commissionerate. The move is a ploy to carve out a separate Siliguri district to which we are vehemently opposed.”
Chief minister Mamata Banerjee is likely to open the new commissionerate on August 3 before going to Darjeeling to attend the swearing-in of the GTA Sabha councillors the next day.
Giri said: “During the tripartite meetings held between the Centre, state and our party representatives we repeatedly demanded the formation of a police commissionerate for the GTA area”.
He said the Morcha was told that “we should first accept the GTA, following which this demand would be discussed”.
“We now find that the state government, in total disregard to our demand, has planned to go ahead with a commissionerate in Siliguri.”
Naparajit Mukherjee, the state director-general of police, earlier this month announced the opening of the commissionerate. He said five police stations — Siliguri, Pradhannagar, Matigara and Bagodgra from Darjeeling district and Bhaktinagar police station from Jalpaiguri — would come under the new commissionerate.
Giri today said: “The final decision on the territory of the GTA has also not been taken. We are still sticking to our demand for the inclusion of the 197 mouzas from the Terai and 199 mouzas from the Dooars.Before a decision on the territory is taken, it would be wrong to set up the commissionerate. The commissionerate should not be set up in haste.”
The Justice Shyamal Sen committee had recommended the inclusion of only five of the 396 mouzas that the Morcha had demanded in the GTA.
After the Morcha protested Justice Sen’s recommendations, the state government formed a three-member fact-finding committee to look into the hill party’s grievances.
Asked if the Morcha had lodged a written protest with the government on the issue, Giri said: “We want to convey our decision to the state government through the media. Any other course of action would be planned by the party. We had voiced our objections during the chief secretary’s visit to Darjeeling last Saturday.”
The commissionerate announcement has received mixed reactions.
While the Left Front wants the entire Siliguri subdivision to be brought under its jurisdiction, the adding of Bhaktinagar has led to some heartburn among lawyers and Youth Congress workers in the area.
Bhaktinagar police station covers 14 wards of the Siliguri Municipal Corporation and Salugara, the Eastern Bypass and NH31 areas.
The Youth Congress has maintained that Jalpaiguri district is already on the verge of a partition with the state government proposing to make Alipurduar subdivision a separate district. The Youth Congress wants the Bhaktinagar area to be left out of the commissionerate.
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