Aug. 1: Tripartite talks on the Darjeeling hills will be held in the second week of August, the Union home ministry has told the Bengal government.

The date, however, has not been finalised.

The Centre’s decision to hold the three-way talks, also involving the state government and the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha, has been conveyed in a letter to Bengal chief secretary Amit Kiran Deb.

At Writers’ Buildings, state home secretary Asok Mohan Chakrabarti said: “The Centre has sent a letter, which says that the meeting will be held sometime in the second week of this month.”

The chief secretary will represent the state in the talks, he added.

Last month, chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee had urged the Union home ministry to convene a meeting in Delhi on Darjeeling after the Morcha repeatedly rejected his offer for bipartite talks.

Bhattacharjee had ruled out discussions on Gorkhaland, but promised more powers to the hill council.

In Darjeeling, the Morcha welcomed the Centre’s initiative. “We have not yet received any official communication. However, we welcome the efforts made by the Centre. We had been demanding tripartite talks all along,” said general secretary Roshan Giri.

“Gorkhaland is a political demand and can be resolved politically,” he added.

Although the Morcha bandh has been lifted, Chakrabarti said, Darjeeling will take some time to return to nomality. “Development work on various approved schemes couldn’t be started. Now that the monsoon has set in, we cannot initiate any work. We’ll have to wait till the rainy season is over.”

Earlier today, Morcha chief Bimal Gurung said the Assembly should adopt a resolution to set up “powerful autonomous councils” for the “backward” Bankura and Purulia instead of vesting more powers in the hill council. The hills, he said, “want Gorkhaland”.

Gurung was reacting to a motion moved in the Assembly yesterday rejecting the demand for Gorkhaland and suggesting a council with teeth as an alternative.