| Gorkhaland Territorial Administration | |
| — territorial council — | |
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Location of Gorkhaland Territorial Administration in India
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| Coordinates | |
| Country | India |
| State | West Bengal |
| Established | 2011 |
| Capital | Darjeeling |
| Official languages | Nepali |
|---|---|
| Time zone | IST (UTC+05:30) |
Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA) (Nepali: गोर्खाल्यान्ड क्षेत्रीय प्रशासन) is a semi-autonomous administrative body for the Darjeeling hills in West Bengal, India. The GTA will replace the Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council, which was formed in 1988 and administered the Darjeeling hills for 23 years. GTA has three hill subdivisions Darjeeling, Kalimpong, and Kurseong and some areas of Siliguri subdivision under its authority.
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Gorkhaland is the name of the proposed state in India demanded by the Nepali/Gorkhali-speaking Gorkha ethnic group in Darjeeling and the Dooars in north West Bengal. The term Gorkhaland was coined by Subhash Ghisingh, leader of Gorkha National Liberation Front, who led a violent agitation for its formation in the 1980s.[1] This movement culminated with the formation of Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council in 1988. The DGHC could not fulfill the aspirations of the people of the Darjeeling hills which led to the downfall of Subhash Ghisingh[2] and the rise of another party Gorkha Janmukti Morcha headed by Bimal Gurung in 2007, which launched a second agitation for a Gorkhaland state.
After three years of agitation for a state of Gorkhaland led by GJM, the GJM reached an agreement with the state government to form a semi-autonomous body to administer the Darjeeling hills.[3] A bill for the creation of GTA was passed in the West Bengal Legislative Assembly on 2 September 2011.[4] The GTA will have administrative, executive and financial powers but no legislative powers.
The Memorandum of Agreement[5] for GTA was signed on 18 July 2011 at Pintail Village near Siliguri in the presence of Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram, West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee and Gorkha Janmukti Morcha leaders.[6] The agreement was signed by West Bengal Home Secretary G.D. Gautama, Union Home Ministry Joint Secretary K.K. Pathak and GJM general secretary Roshan Giri.[7]
On 29 October 2011, the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha and the Akhil Bharatiya Adivasi Vikas Parishad (ABAVP), Dooars Unit signed an 18-point agreement at Mongpong, after which these organizations jointly proposed a new administrative body called the Gorkhaland and Adivasi Territorial Administration (GATA) in place of the GTA.[8] The ABAVP decided to agree to incorporate 196 mouzas of the Dooars and 199 mouzas of the Terai region into the proposed GATA.[9]