Centre ignoring north Bengal: Deb

SNS, Siliguri, 11 July : The north Bengal development minister, Mr Gautam Deb, slammed the Centre for allegedly neglecting north Bengal.

“The Central government has been neglecting the region. The fate of the railway excel factory is uncertain. There has been no representation from the state at Bramhaputra Board. About the Himalayan Mountaineering Institute (HMI), the Prime Minister is the president of the institute and the chief minister is the vice president by virtue of the posts. 

The institute comes under the defence ministry. Now, as the institute is coming under the union minister of state, it is to be seen how the chief minister would work with this system now," Mr Deb said in a Press meet in Siliguri today. 

The then railway minister, Miss Mamata Banerjee, had laid the foundation stone of the railway excel factory near NJP station in 2010. 

“It is unfortunate that there is not a single representative in the board. The board has made discriminations while releasing funds to the state. The board has not given the annual Rs 158 crore to the state. We had sent a detailed project report of allocation of Rs 40 crore for the repair and strengthening of embankments but we are yet to get any reply. This is a serious issue and the state has been deprived from his rightful share," he added. 

The board maintains 79 rivers of north Bengal.