MAMATA’S UPCOMING NORTH BENGAL VISIT

Prashant Acharya, EOI, Siliguri, 18 January 2014: Chief minister Mamata Banerjee will see more security people surrounding her when she visits the region this time given the heightened tension in the region after last month’s bomb blast in Jalpaiguri. The CM will be staying in North Bengal from January 20 to 23 and is scheduled to attend a number of functions in Siliguri and the Darjeeling hills.
Banerjee will inaugurate the mini-secretariat, christened ‘Uttar Kanya’, in Phulbari, Jalpaiguri district on January 20. The mini-secretariat has been set up to facilitate residents of North Bengal who otherwise would have to travel all the way to Kolkata for official work.
Siliguri police commissioner Jag Mohan and North Bengal Development minister Gautam Deb today visited the spot to supervise the security arrangements.
Jag Mohan said sniffer dogs and a bomb disposal squad are scanning the entire area and the police have been given strict orders to maintain sharp vigil. A large contingent of police and security forces will be deployed across Siliguri ahead of the CM's visit, he added.
Deb said the 70,000 sq ft building will function as the mini-secretariat for the state government. There are 20 departments in the mini-secretariat with separate rooms for the chief minister, cabinet ministers, chief secretary and departmental secretaries and their subordinates, he informed.
The CM had recently posted a message on a social networking site: “As soon as our government came to power, we had taken a decision to set up a branch secretariat in North Bengal, as people from far-flung places had to come to Kolkata for many important works. I am happy to share with you that ‘Uttar Kanya’, as the new branch secretariat will be known, is now ready to function. It is a fully ‘Green Building’ and was built in a record time of less than a year.”
She further said, “The mini-secretariat will be inaugurated on January 20, 2014. ‘Uttar Kanya’ is our gift to meet the long-standing demand of the people of North Bengal. I reiterate - fulfillment of commitment is our credential. We always do what we say.”