Mamata claims tête-à-tête with Gurung was “good”

EOI, Darjeeling, 18 July 2014: Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and Gorkha Janmukti Morcha president Bimal Gurung today holding a one-to-one closed door meeting at the Richmond Hill government guest house in Darjeeling.

The GJM president, neither any of his party’s leaders including Gorkhaland Territorial Administration sabhasads, attended Thursday’s function at Chowrastha citing pre-engagement with Gurung’s 50th birthday celebrations. However, Banerjee showed no visible signs of displeasure and besides ensuring she spelt no harsh words at the Morcha, wished Gurung by sending him congratulatory note along with a bouquet and sweets.

After the meeting with the GJM chief, the chief minister said, “The meeting was good and positive. However, Gurung-ji will not be able to attend the review meeting because of prior engagements.”

Meantime, the GJM leader chose to remain tightlipped despite repeated prodding, but nonetheless said, “The meeting with the CM was good. I will not make any further comments. I will not be able to attend the review meeting but will send the MLAs, GTA sabhasads and the municipality chairmen.” 

After the review meeting that was held at the district magistrate’s office, the chief minister, in tow with the GTA sabhasads and the three hill MLAs, jointly addressed the press describing the discussions had been “good”.

She said, “We had a very good meeting with the GTA members and the municipality chairmen and discussed in detail how best to develop Darjeeling.”

Banerjee chose to steer clear from delving into the strained relation with the GJM and instead said her government is eager to work in tandem with the GTA.

“The GTA will work for the people of the hills and the state government will extend help wherever and whenever required. We have sanctioned funds and will continue to do so, but the GTA must first utilise the money we have already allotted,” said Banerjee.

Further, the chief minister said review meetings would be held every six months henceforth to oversee and take stock of the situation in the hills and bilateral and tripartite meetings will be held within this month.

“We will take discussions to the bipartite and tripartite levels to be held by the end of this month. We (the GTA and state government) must work together for the people,” said Banerjee.

The chief minister also announced a committee would be formed to forge a master plan for the development of the Darjeeling hills.

“At present there is no system for building constructions and solid waste management. We want

to address these problems urgently. I have already sanctioned Rs30 crore for this purpose,” she said, adding an expert committee comprising representatives of the GTA, district administration, municipality and the environment department would be required to submit a detailed project report within the next six months.

As for the master plan, the committee will be required to devise methods to promote water harvesting, setting-up of an IT park and satellite township, skill development centrrs in the eight hill blocks and addressing the sewage system, among several other projects.  Banerjee also said she would discuss with the Centre the need to allocate funds to Darjeeling to deal with post earthquake situations.

“Landslides and earthquakes are frequent in Darjeeling. The North Eastern states get funds from the Union government for this. I will pursue with the central government to allocate funds for Darjeeling also to tackle this problem,” assured the chief minister. She also announced 150 non-refusal taxis and 28 new bus services for the hills would be available soon.

Kalimpong MLA Harka Bahadur Chhetri, who is also the GJM spokesperson, summed up the day’s event saying “some kind of unseen stumbling block seems to have been removed”.

He added, “We have to hope for the best, even though past instances indicate otherwise because what we are basically dealing with is politics,” while expressing satisfaction that the GTA would now be able to work uninhibitedly with the state government’s active cooperation.