This Article is From Aug 03, 2012

Swearing-in of Gorkha Territorial Administration members on Saturday

Darjeeling: A subdued air of excitement ran through Darjeeling on Friday with a new regime, the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration, to take over the governance of the hills on Saturday.

The members of the new hill council, which will replace the Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council, will take oath at a function in which Union Home Minister Sushil Shinde, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and Railway Minister Mukul Roy will be present.

A tripartite agreement paving the way for the setting up of the GTA was signed at Pintail village, near Siliguri, on July 18 last year in the presence of Gorkha Janmukti Morcha president Bimal Gurung, Banerjee and the then Union home minister P Chidamabaram after three and a half years of unrest on the demand for a separate state of Gorkhaland.

Bringing peace in the Darjeeling hills was one of the priorities of Ms Banerjee after her Trinamool Congress swept to power in the state in May last year.

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