Kolkata: The Bharatiya Gorkha Prajatantrik Morcha (BGPM) founder, Anit Thapa, on Wednesday resigned as the Chief Executive of the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA), the autonomous body managing the civic affairs in the hills of Darjeeling, Kalimpong and Kurseong in North Bengal.
His resignation comes just 24 hours after Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari, at a public meeting in Kurseong on Tuesday afternoon, announced a probe into the alleged rampant corruption in the functioning of the GTA.
BGPM is the hill ally of the previous ruling party in West Bengal, Trinamool Congress. Thapa occupied the chair of the Chief Executive of the GTA in 2022. As per schedule, his tenure in that chair was supposed to be till 2027. However, he voluntarily ended his tenure a year ahead by resigning from that chair on Wednesday.
At the time the report was filed, Thapa had not offered any comment to the media persons on the reasons behind his early resignation from that chair.
On Monday, while addressing a public meeting in Kurseong, CM Adhikari spoke about allegations of rampant corruption in the GTA, especially in recruitment of teachers for the GTA-run schools in the hills.
Speaking on the occasion, the Chief Minister also said that those behind such corruption would be identified by his administration and put behind bars.
GTA was formed following a tripartite agreement between the then United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government at the Centre, the West Bengal government and Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) in 2011, soon after the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress took charge, ending the 34-year Left Front regime in West Bengal.
Since then, GTA has been functioning as an autonomous body in various fields including infrastructure development and education in the hills.
GTA started functioning in 2011, replacing the previous Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council (DGHC), which was established in 1988. The administrative areas of GTA mainly consist of various subdivisions and areas of Darjeeling and Kalimpong districts. GTA has administrative and financial powers over about 59 departments, including education, health, agriculture, tourism, and public works.
(IANS)
