Nine tribal and adivasi organisations demands self governance for Darjeeling foothills

CHALSA/MALBAZAR: Nine tribal and adivasi organizations, including the Akhil Bharatiya Adivasi Vikash Parishad ( ABAVP) and the West Bengal Bodo Peoples Forum ( WBBPF), have demanded the formation of an Adivasi Territorial Administration ( ATA) under the sixth schedule of the Indian constitution.

"The ATA should be formed on the lines of the Gorkha Territorial Administration, of which the chief minister is the architect. But here, we want it to be under the sixth schedule of the constitution, developed for tribal dominated areas," said A K Narjinary, chief advisor of WBBPF.

The ATA demand is basically a demand for self-governance of the foothills, a cry that tribals raised around the time that the Gorkhas started screaming for Gorkhaland. It hadn't got too publicised, however, so long.

But on Wednesday, the tribal demand for self governance got official, with this emerging as the most important criterion in the 12-point charter of demands that tribal leaders presented to Mamata Banerjee at Chalsa in Jalpaiguri district.