CM to be at Lepcha meet

TT, Siliguri, Oct. 18: The chief minister will hold a meeting with members of the Lepcha development board in Kurseong on October 23 during her five-day tour of north Bengal next week.

North Bengal development minister Gautam Deb said Mamata Banerjee would also hold a meeting with officials of four districts during her trip that starts on October 22.

“The chief minister will meet the representatives of the Lepcha development board in Kurseong on October 23 before going to Darjeeling where she will address her first political meeting of the Trinamul in the hills around noon the next day (October 24),” Deb said today.

The meeting will be held in the Darjeeling Chowrastha.

Deb, however, didn’t mention the venue and time of the meeting in Kurseong. He didn’t say anything about the agenda of the Lepcha meeting either.

“After attending the programmes in the hills, she will return to Calcutta on October 26. Before boarding the flight at Bagdogra, the chief minister will attend a government programme at Atharokhai on the outskirts of Siliguri,” said the minister.

He did not say what Mamata would do on October 25.

Sources said Mamata’s trip to the region would start on October 22 with an administrative meeting in the conference hall of North Bengal University. The officials of Darjeeling, Jalpaiguri, Cooch Behar and North Dinajpur districts will attend it.

Deb said Trinamul workers had been pressing for a long time for a political rally to be attended by Mamata in the hills. “There has been a long-standing demand from party workers to hold a meeting in the hills in the presence of the chief minister. The Darjeeling meeting will be a historic one. The residents of the hills are also looking for speedy development like in other parts of Bengal. We would like to send them a message that we are giving thrust to the development of the hills also.”

The minister held a meeting today to discuss the preparations for Mamata’s visit.

Trinamul leader Binny Sharma said supporters would submit a memorandum to Mamata in Darjeeling, requesting measures for the development of tea and tourism sectors.