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Push for Indian Gurkha state
The Telegraph - September 19, 2009
Dean Nelson, Darjeeling – India's Gurkhas are preparing to unilaterally declare an independent "Gorkhaland" in the area around Darjeeling.
They claim they have been forced to take the step after decades of misrule, which has siphoned millions of dollars from government funds earmarked for them.
Despite the lucrative tea and tourism industries in the area, unemployment is high, electricity supply is sporadic and people must travel for hours to the nearest proper hospital.
Now Gurkhas, who dominate the Darjeeling hills in the country's north-east gateway, are becoming restless.
The state government in Kolkata granted limited autonomy through the Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council in 1988, but Gurkha leaders claim it has no powers and cannot even hire permanent staff.
Earlier this week, its 6000 public servants went on a hunger strike over their casual status. Teachers and senior administrators earn as little as $A53 per month, which is less than rickshaw drivers.
Bimal Gurung, leader of the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha, the nationalist party that dominates the area, has warned that he will declare a separate state within India if ministers reject the demand to break away from West Bengal.
Mr Gurung said his dream was to restore Darjeeling to the high living standards it enjoyed as "Queen of the Hills" during the British Raj. "Darjeeling was a health resort under the British, but since they left nothing has been done," he said from his party office in a warehouse.
Surrounded by his "Gorkhaland Personnel" security force, Mr Gurung said many Gurkhas had fought and died in the Indian Army but their sacrifices had been rewarded with terrible roads, poor schools and an assembly with less power than a village council.
He said a "Gorkhaland" state would be one of India's richest. He would build a new Darjeeling university and set up medical and engineering colleges: "We have three million people and we get #6 million [$A11 million] from the Government. Sikkim has 500,000 people and they get #1 billion."
He said the Gurkhas would begin a Gandhi-style campaign of non-co-operation and withhold taxes if they were not granted statehood by January 1.
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