Subhash Ghising - Darjeeling Hills - India News and Travel Times Provides India-centric and other News and Features

Gorkha National Liberation Front (GNLF) chief Subhash Ghising has termed the demand for Interim Council in Darjeeling Hills as baseless. Speaking to media persons here on Sunday, Ghising said that there is already functional Darjeeling Hill Council, and Interim Council is not even a demand. "I have said that there is already a Darjeeling council. The Darjeeling Gorkha Hill council under section 62 is going on for the last five years. Demand for Interim Council is baseless. It does not come under the definition of demand," he added. Earlier, the supporters of 'Gorkha Janmukti Morcha' (GJMM) rallied on the streets in huge numbers demanding Interim Council to start functioning before December 20. "The work going on the Interim authority should be set up as soon as possible, before December 20. If the exceeds 20th then we will start a Gorkhaland movement. We need a final solution this time because there is no point sitting on it. There should be a result of this at the earliest," said Bimal Gurung, Chief of GJMM. GJMM is keen on having the Interim Council put in place before the upcoming Assembly polls in West Bengal . A renewed demand for a separate Gorkhaland region, which would include Darjeeling and some contiguous areas of Jalpaiguri District, has created fresh turmoil over the past few months. At the fifth round of tripartite talks in New Delhi , the GJM had agreed to the constitution of an interim council by 2011 prior to the creation of a separate state. The Gorkhas are demanding a separate state to protect their culture and heritage. The Gorkha population in West Bengal is estimated to be around a million.

Subhash Ghising rejects demand for Interim Council in Darjeeling Hills