Darjeeling: Binay Tamang on Thursday held "very fruitful"
meetings with the state government in Calcutta on GTA-related matters in
an indication that development will be speeded up in the hills after
months of disruption.
Tamang, accompanied by Darjeeling MLA Amar Singh Rai, Kurseong
legislator Rohit Sharma and School Education Board chief Tshering
Dahal, met finance minister Amit Mishra, education minister Partha
Chatterjee, home secretary Atri Bhattacharya and the principal secretary
of the fire department, A. Roy.
"The meetings were very fruitful. We discussed problems
related to education in the hills, including those faced by voluntary,
para and ad hoc teachers. The minister (Chatterjee) was aware of the
problems and the issues will be solved in a phased manner," said Tamang.
The voluntary and ad hoc teachers have been demanding
regularisation of jobs, a prime concern as many posts are yet to be
filled with regular teachers in the absence of the School Service
Commission in the hills for more than a decade.
The GTA delegation discussed development matters with finance
minister Mitra. "We discussed various projects related to the GTA's
annual action plan of 2017-18 and 2018-19. The minister (Mitra) agreed
to release the remaining funds of the GTA," said Tamang.
Issues related to increasing the salaries of doctors and
engineers and other employees of the GTA were also discussed. The state
government agreed to set up three fire stations in the hills, at
Gorubathan, Algarah and Sukhiapokhri.
"During our meeting with the state fire secretary, we were
told that the process of setting up the fire station at Gorbuthan has
been completed and only tenders need to floated. There seem to be
land-related problems in Algarah and Sukhiapokhri but at Thursday's
meeting, it was decided that efforts would be made to solve them as
early as possible," said Tamang.
Thursday's meetings marked the second round of talks in just over a week between the government and the Tamang-led GTA team.
Chief minister Mamata Banerjee had held several meetings with
GTA, the district administration and chairpersons of community boards
during her visit to the hills last week.
"After these meetings, we are hopeful that there will be major changes in the hills," Tamang said.
The Telegraph
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