Trek off road before start - Mamata cancels Sandakphu trip, colleagues cite blast & Saradha worries

Tourist lodges at Sandakphu. File picture

TT, Darjeeling/ Calcutta, Oct. 9:The chief minister has cancelled her October 14 trip to Sandakphu-Phalut, altitude-wise the highest area in Bengal, making many a panting official sigh in relief.

Some senior ministers The Telegraph spoke to said current developments in Bengal, such as the Saradha CBI probe and the Burdwan blast, were weighing on Mamata Banerjee’s mind. “She had planned the trip in advance and was keen to go to Sandakphu. But she realised that the current situation is extremely volatile. The CBI probe into the Saradha scam and the Burdwan terror module are her immediate concerns. In this condition it would have been difficult to leave Calcutta,” said a senior minister.

Nabanna sources said several senior bureaucrats had requested Mamata not to go on the trip, a part of which was planned as a trek, citing security, difficulty of terrain, the near lack of telecommunication network and the chilly weather as reasons.

Those officials who were planning the logistics for the trip are not the only ones who would be glad about the chief minister’s decision. Some officials were also supposed to accompany her on an 11km trek. They would be happier, considering the cold weather up there.

A police officer in Darjeeling, who was making arrangements for the trip, said he was “very happy that the visit has been called off”.

Sandakphu is in the Darjeeling district and a trek enthusiast’s must-do.

“She (the chief minister) was told that it’s ill-advised to undertake the tour at this time of the year at her age,” said a government source. Though the 59-year-old chief minister is known for taking brisk walks and a frugal diet, trekking at high altitudes is not quite the same as a treadmill workout. “Besides, many senior officials in her proposed entourage do not possess the level of physical fitness necessary to accompany her on the trek,” the source added.

“She had been insisting on going, so accordingly arrangements were being made, but today she suddenly said she won’t go there and might go to Jhargram instead…. The bureaucrats have heaved a sigh of relief,” he said.

The trip was to begin on October 14.

A senior administrative official said that according to the chief minister’s itinerary, she was to stay at the Jorepokhari tourist bungalow on October 13. Jorepokhari is about 20km from Darjeeling.

“She was to go to Maneybhanjyang the next day (October 14) and trek to Tonglu that day. After a night halt at Tonglu, she was to drive to Sandakphu and return the next day,” the official said.

The district officials were planning to take tents to Tonglu. “There is a district magistrate’s bungalow which has three double-bed rooms and an annexure for drivers which can accommodate eight people. There is also a private lodge at Tonglu that can accommodate 20-22 people,” said another source.

A district official said: “We were expecting around 50-60 people to accompany the chief minister and many would have had to stay in tents,” said the official.

According to the itinerary, the chief minister was to take a three-hour Land Rover ride to Sandakphu.

In all probability, she would have gone to Phalut from Sandakphu, at an altitude of 12,200ft and about 21km from Sandakphu.

Officials in north Bengal listed several problems that the chief minister and her team would have faced had she stuck to her plan.

Only some old-model Land Rovers with four-wheel drive ply the Maneybhanjyang-Sandakphu route. Maneybhanjyang, which is about 35km from Darjeeling, is the base for the Sandakphu trek.

The road between Maneybhanjyang and Sandakphu is not only steep, but also laid with cobbled stones. Drivers from other parts of Darjeeling hills refuse to take their vehicles to Sandakphu.

The Sandakphu-Phalut area has poor cellphone connectivity. Also, accommodating a large entourage, that would follow the chief minister, would have been a problem.

With day temperatures hovering around 10°C coupled with a strong afternoon breeze and cold nights, the officials accompanying Mamata were bracing for an uncomfortable trip.

“We have found out that signals from two cellular networks are available at some stretches in Tonglu but in Sandakphu only one network works, that too at only one spot,” the official said. The “spot” literally means an area of about 20ftX20ft.

Governor Keshari Nath Tripathi would be in the hills around the same time and the GTA has already invited him to attend a programme on the death anniversary of Sister Nivedita on October 13.

Sources said no invitation has yet reached the chief minister’s office. A source said that had Mamata gone to the hills, “it would have been extremely embarrassing for her if she wasn’t invited at all or at the last moment to attend the event”.