Didi dose forces GTA to put growth in fast lane

THT, Oct 31, DARJEELING: Spurred by chief minister Mamata Banerjee’s urge for development in the Hills, the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA) is all set to take up development projects on a war footing.

Drinking water, rural electrification, tourism and infrastructure development projects feature in the priority list.About R193.98 crore has been sanctioned under the Rajiv Gandhi Grameen Vidhyutkaran Yojna for rural electrification in the GTA area. A total of 50,746 families including 24,423 below poverty line families will benefit from this rural electrification scheme in the 8 blocks under the GTA.

“We will receive the amount in phases. As soon as we receive the first installment, work will ensue. Three agencies have been selected for this job,” said Col (retd.) Ramesh Allay, acting chief, GTA.A golf course is all set to come up at the famous sunrise point Tiger Hill.

“R2.10 crore has been sanctioned for infrastructure development for this including the access road to Tiger Hill from Ghoom,” said Allay. 

Renovation work is on at the Rock Garden, Ganagamaya Park near Darjeeling town at a cost of R6 lakh. However, major renovation work has to be undertaken at the Rock Garden, Gangamaya Park, which had been ravaged by cyclone Aila. 

“A detailed project report for renovation and restoration work pegged at approximately R4 crore will be sent to the state for this,” said Sonam Bhutia, tourism secretary, GTA. 

“We had a meeting of the block development officers of the eight blocks of the GTA area to review the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee scheme work. On an average 20 days of work has already been completed. The challenging task of the completing the remaining 80 days of work in this financial year remains. We will give top priority to this,” said Allay. 

The West Bengal State Electricity Distribution Company Ltd (WBSEDCL) as part of corporate social responsibility extended financial support to the GTA for providing drinking water to villages and development in the tourism sector around the Rammam Hydel Project area. 

The 51 MW project was on River Rammam is located 140 km from Siliguri in the Darjeeling Hills. The project was approved by the Central Electricity Authority in 1977. 

Construction work ensued in 1982. Owing to the political unrest in the Darjeeling Hills, construction work was affected. Finally, Rammam Stage II was commissioned in September 1995 having incurred a cost of R188 crore.