Darjeeling, Dec. 7: The Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council has been re-christened Gorkha Hill Council, Darjeeling (GHC), and with it the powers and functions of the new body has only been juggled.

This was the general idea among even die-hard GNLF supporters. Even as they took out a ?victory? rally along National Highway-55, GNLF supporters found it hard to accept that the bargain had fulfilled ?the aspirations of the people?.

?This is the third time that Subash Ghisingh has signed an accord. During the 1988 agreement, he dropped Gorkhaland. In 1999, he inserted ?autonomous?, only to drop it this year and now again he has failed to get anything new,? said Madan Tamang, the chairman of the PDF. Most of the subjects, proposed to be transferred to the new council, are already under the jurisdiction of the DGHC. The only addition is the PWD and transport and development. It, however, needs to be seen whether the GHC will have the power to collect taxes on vehicles.

?The DGHC has received Rs 21,500 crore in the past 17 years for development work. However, Ghisingh cannot contest the elections on the development plank and hence this stunt,? said Tamang. Though the new body has been given the powers to recruit people against vacancies, it needs to be seen whether Ghisingh will actually exercise it. The DGHC too had powers to recruit Group C and D employees, but till date not a single permanent appointment has been made. All DGHC appointees are on contract.

The Opposition maintained that the accord has only strengthened the fact that Darjeeling and the Dooars will continue to remain a part of Bengal. ?By accepting the Sixth Schedule within Bengal the voices of Gorkhaland have died,? said Tamang. The PDF is expected to sit for a meeting soon and will be chart out its next course of action.

In Kalimpong, while the ABGL claimed that most of the provisions of the new body are similar to those given to the DGHC, the GNLF(C) maintained that the settlement was signed only to silence the residents for the time being.

Elections deferred

Elections to the DGHC is likely to be deferred by a year, government officials said on Wednesday. ?Subhas Ghisingh has told us clearly that it is pointless to hold elections to an old council when a new set-up is coming up soon,? said Bengal home secretary Prasad Ranjan Roy.