Kalimpong-based Gorkha Gaurav Sansthan has demanded that the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA) give priority to local unemployed youths while leasing out its tourism properties like lodges and cafes. The social organization formed in 2022 has successfully set up Gorkha Haats (markets by and for local people) from Kalimpong to Siliguri and launched the Save Teesta movement.
Citing a report in The Telegraph, members of the organization wrote to GTA chief executive Anit Thapa, GTA Sabha member in charge of tourism Norden Lama, and GTA Sabha members Ajoy Edwards (Hamro Party), Binay Tamang (independent), Palden Tamang (independent), and Suman Gurung (Trinamool Congress) on Saturday.
“It is through a news report in The Telegraph (dated July 1) that we have come to know that the GTA is looking to lease out tourism properties across the Darjeeling Hills,” Narendra Tamang, the coordinator of the organization, told a news conference. ‘We are worried that outsiders will take the properties on lease.
Unemployment is growing in the hills, and we are asking the GTA to lease out the properties to local people even if it means forming cooperatives of self-help groups,” Narendra said while warning that the organization would hit the streets if their demands were not met. ” The news report also states that properties in Sandakphu and Siliguri have already been leased out.
We will be filing RTI applications to determine if the proper processes were adopted and whether tender information “We are worried that it was not properly circulated,” said Narendra. Norden Sherpa, the GTA Sabha member in charge of tourism, had earlier told this newspaper that in an attempt to test the waters, the GTA had leased out nine cottages along the Maneybhanjyang-Sandak-Phu trekking route.
The GTA said the hill body’s engineers estimated a cost of ₹6.8 crore to repair the nine cottages. “These cottages were earning only about 6-7 lakh per annum,” said Sherpa. The GTA had leased out the nine properties for 38.5 lakh per annum. “It is for a period of 30 years, and the lease amount will increase.