Deb reviews projects

TT, Siliguri: Bengal tourism minister Gautam Deb has started holding administrative meetings in the blocks of Siliguri subdivision to review the progress of development projects and welfare schemes launched by the state government.

He has already visited Matigara and Kharibari blocks and held meetings with officials at different levels.

The minister said on Wednesday that similar meetings would be held in two other blocks, Naxalbari and Phansidewa, later this week.

With the Lok Sabha elections drawing near, the move is being seen as an attempt to make an assessment of the development works in the blocks and to gauge performance of the Left-run Siliguri Mahakuma Parishad and the extent to which funds of MPLAD (MP's local area development) of the BJP MP of Darjeeling have been used.

Deb, however, termed the review meetings "official" and said it was necessary to monitor the progress of the development projects.

"The review meetings have nothing to do with elections as I had held a number of such meetings earlier to know whether people are getting benefits of development and whether there is any constraint in executing projects," he said.

According to political observers, it is clear that Trinamul is desperate to win the Darjeeling Parliament seat which it has never won.