CM Mamata Banerjee set to visit Siliguri for north Bengal scan

Mamata Banerjee: File picture

Avijit Sinha   |   TT  |   Siliguri   |  28.08.21: Mamata Banerjee is slated to be in Siliguri for five days next month to hold administrative meetings for five districts — Darjeeling, Kalimpong, Jalpaiguri, Alipurduar and Cooch Behar.

It will be Mamata’s first trip to north Bengal after assuming the chief minister’s office for the third time in May.

“She is likely to reach here on the afternoon of September 5 and will stay at Uttarkanya (north Bengal branch secretariat). She will review the progress of social welfare schemes as well as infrastructure projects of five districts. On September 9, the chief minister is likely to return to Calcutta,” said a source.

The chief minister, who is also in charge of the north Bengal development department that was formed by her in 2011, is likely to focus on the region’s growth in the backdrop of changes in the political landscape after the Assembly polls.

First, most leaders of the BJP have started playing the card of separate statehood in the region and there are chances that the demand may find resonance among people.

The Kamtapur Liberation Organisation (KLO) — a banned militant outfit constituted in the nineties by a section of Rajbanshi youths over the demand of a separate Kamtapur state — has already started renewing its demand.

Even on Friday, a video was released by a self-styled leader of the KLO, who introduced himself as Pavel and reiterated that the outfit would renew the armed struggle for the separate Kamtapur state.

“The chief minister will try to address the statehood demand with development,” said a source.

Besides, Binay Tamang had quit the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha. Anit Thapa, Tamang’s former deputy, on Friday announced that he would float a new party on September 9 when Mamata would be touring north Bengal.

“The chief minister will surely try to address the issue of leadership vacuum in the hills,” said the source.

The visit is significant from the administrative point of view as well because Mamata had earlier announced several projects like free housing for tea garden workers and setting up of Rajbanshi medium schools. She would review the progress made in this regard.

“That the chief minister intends to focus on north Bengal, a region from where BJP bagged 30 Assembly seats, was evident when she kept the north Bengal development department with herself. She will obviously review the progress of development work in the region, keeping in mind the Rajbanshi and tribal population of the region,” said a state government official.

(https://www.telegraphindia.com/west-bengal/cm-mamata-banerjee-set-to-visit-siliguri-for-north-bengal-scan/cid/1828276)