Gorkhaland Territorial Administration
| Gorkhaland Territorial Administration गोर्खाल्याण्ड क्षेत्रीय प्रशासन (Hindi) and (Nepali) গোর্খাল্যান্ড আঞ্চলিক প্রশাসন (Bengali) |
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| Territorial Council | ||
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 Darjeeling
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| Coordinates: 27°02′N 88°10′E / 27.03°N 88.16°ECoordinates: 27°02′N 88°10′E / 27.03°N 88.16°E | ||
| Country |
 India
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| State | West Bengal | |
| District | Darjeeling, Kalimpong | |
| Established | 14 Mar 2012 | |
| Headquarters | Darjeeling | |
| Covering Territory | Darjeeling Sadar subdivision, Kurseong subdivision, Mirik subdivision, Siliguri subdivision (some part only), Kalimpong district | |
| Government | ||
| • Chief executive | Bimal Gurung | |
| Languages | ||
| • Official | Nepali and English | |
| Time zone | IST (UTC+5:30) | |
| Website | gta-darjeeling.org | |
Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA) is a semi-autonomous administrative body for the Darjeeling and Kalimpong hills in West Bengal, India. GTA replaced the Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council, which was formed in 1988 and administered the Darjeeling hills for 23 years. GTA presently has three hill subdivisions Darjeeling, Kurseong and Mirik and some areas of Siliguri subdivision of Darjeeling district and the whole of Kalimpong district under its authority.
Gorkhaland is the name of the proposed state in India that the Nepali-speaking Gorkha ethnic group in Darjeeling and the Dooars in north West Bengal have expressed a desire to create. The term Gorkhaland was coined by Subhash Ghisingh, leader of Gorkha National Liberation Front, who led a violent agitation for its formation in the 1980s. This movement culminated with the formation of Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council (DGHC) in 1988. The DGHC did not fulfill its goal of forming a new state, which led to the downfall of Subhash Ghisingh and the rise of another party Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) headed by Bimal Gurung in 2007, which launched a second agitation for a Gorkhaland state.
After three years of agitation for a state of Gorkhaland led by GJM, the GJM reached an agreement with the state government to form a semi-autonomous body to administer the Darjeeling hills. A bill for the creation of GTA was passed in the West Bengal Legislative Assembly on 2 September 2011. The GTA aimed to have administrative, executive and financial powers but no legislative powers. A 10-member joint verification committee headed by a retired High Court judge examined the demand to bring the Gorkha-inhabited pockets of the Dooars and the Terai under the GTA.
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