Darjeeling-based political leader Ajoy Edwards, president of the Hamro Party, has urged chief minister Mamata Banerjee to address pressing issues affecting the region under the jurisdiction of the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA).
Chief minister Mamata Banerjee arrived at Bagdogra this afternoon and left for Darjeeling, where she will attend several meetings focused on development in the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA), starting tomorrow.
In a major development, Canadian Police have arrested the main organiser of the violent Khalistani protest in connection with the November 3 attack on a Hindu temple in the Greater Toronto Area
This meeting comes in response to growing unrest among tea workers, who have been protesting under the banner of over eight trade unions.
The Tea Workers’ Protection Committee (Chiya Shramik Suraksha Samiti) in Darjeeling has called for an indefinite bandh in the Hills starting Monday after the tripartite meeting convened by the Labour Department ended inconclusively today over the demand for a 20 per cent Puja bonus for workers in the 87 Hill tea gardens.
A notification issued by the Home and Hill Affairs Department of the government today said that the last extended tenure of the GTA will expire on 19 March and that the new six-month tenure would begin on 20 March.
The Kalimpong chapter of the association had also joined the TMC on 7 November.
Apart from hotels, home-stays, GTA to open spots.
The required staff and nurses have already been appointed there, along with medical officers, nursing officers and paramedics, a team of whom would work for seven days and go into seven days of quarantine, while the other team takes over.
According to Mr Sharma, the GTA will have to prepare an SOP, along with awareness and interactive programmes. "It could be said that we are starting the groundwork so that we can prepare for the upcoming tourist season.
