Sikkim Govt to assist GTA’s capacity building initiative

VISHNU NEOPANEY

Sikkim will support the Gorkha Territorial Administration of Darjeeling in its developmental activities by providing intellectual support and providing technical inputs for Capacity Building activities, Chief Minister Pawan Chamling said while addressing a joint press conference with the GTA chief Bimal Gurung here in Gangtok today.
He said that Sikkim will provide the human resource to train GTA officials on improving capacity building measures to provide job security in the Hills.

The Chief Minister pointed out that the socio-cultural and other aspects of the Darjeeling Hills are similar to Sikkim and hence the Sikkim model for capacity building would work well there as well and help them promote tourism and other service sector initiatives in a better way.
The GTA chief also acknowledged that programmes framed by the Centre are not always applicable in the Hills and it’s better to coordinate such efforts with a hill state. Thanks to this collaboration, GTA will benefit in the long run, he said.
“Darjeeling has a lot to learn from Sikkim in terms of promotion of tourism and developmental aspects,” said Mr. Gurung, stressing that Darjeeling wants to learn from the Sikkim model of development and social security issues.