Hill TMC team meets admin top brass

Darjeeling: A five member team of TMC leaders from the Darjeeling Hills met administrative top brass of the Government of West Bengal at Nabanna with the demand of regularisation of adhoc workers (under payband) of the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA).

The move comes in the wake of around 2,500 payband workers of the GTA joining the TMC in Darjeeling on November 9 and around 8,00 in Kalimpong. Incidentally the Payband or adhoc workers of C and D category of the GTA have been agitating since long demanding regularization. "The delegation led by TMC MP (Rajya Sabha) Shanta Chettri met the Principal Secretary, Chief Ministers office; finance secretary and the Hill Affairs secretaries and handed over memorandums with the demand of the regularization of the adhoc GTA workers. We apprised them that there are many who have been working in the adhoc capacity for more than 30 years. As sanctioned posts in the C and D category already exist we urged them to fill up these posts with the adhoc workers at the earliest," stated NB Khawas, Spokesperson, TMC, Darjeeling (Hills). LB Rai, President TMC, Darjeeling (Hills) was also present in the team. "If there is anyone who can regularise us, it is Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. Despite there being sanctioned posts we have not been regularized till now by the DGHC or the GTA," Deo Prakash Khawas, General Secretary, United Employees Union had earlier stated.