'Be with me, Didi is with you': Mamata Banerjee gives Siliguri big gifts, seeks support

The infrastructure projects announced by Mamata include a drinking water project, a cancer hospital, an underground power cable network and a sewerage treatment plant

Mamata Banerjee addresses the government service distribution event in Siliguri on Tuesday.

Passang Yolmo

Bireswar Banerjee, TT,  Siliguri, 13.12.23 : Chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday announced a slew of infrastructure projects for Siliguri, the largest urban centre in north Bengal, as she sought people's support.

The announcements include a drinking water project, a cancer hospital, an underground power cable network and a sewerage treatment plant.

Sources said that these announcements are significant as the Darjeeling Lok Sabha seat under which the Siliguri subdivision falls, has never been won by Trinamul.

“Be with me, Didi is with you,” Mamata told the crowd at the public service distribution event at Kanchenjungha Stadium.

"Today, I laid the foundation stones of 47 projects (in Siliguri sub-division), the estimated cost of which is Rs 1,149.12 crore. I also inaugurated projects for which another Rs 28.12 crore would be spent," she said.

After the 2021 Assembly elections, Darjeeling and Kalimpong are the only two districts that don't have a single MLA from Trinamul. It was the same in Alipurduar district, but later, the BJP MLA of Alipurduar defected to Trinamul.

“In some recent local polls in the plains and hills (polls of civic and rural bodies and the GTA), her party and her hill ally (Anit Thapa’s Bharatiya Gorkha Prajatantrik Morcha) have achieved success. Ahead of general elections, the announcement of major projects for Siliguri and its surroundings implies Trinamul is keen on bagging the Darjeeling Lok Sabha seat,” said a political observer.

Among the projects that Mamata announced are Rs 511-crore drinking water project for Siliguri civic area, a Rs 100-crore cancer care hospital, an underground power cable network across the city for which Rs 218 crore would be spent in the first phase and a Rs 225-crore sewerage treatment plant at the confluence of the Mahananda and the Balason rivers.

She inaugurated several roads and allied infrastructure, both in urban and rural areas and gave away assistance under social welfare schemes to beneficiaries.

“Today, we handed over direct benefits to 12,000 people here through the event,” said Mamata.

Throughout her current visit to north Bengal, which concluded on Tuesday, the chief minister covered Darjeeling, Kalimpong, Jalpaiguri and Alipurduar districts.

“These are areas where the BJP emerged winner in all three Lok Sabha seats and most Assembly seats (14 of 17 seats). Now that Lok Sabha polls are drawing near, Mamata Banerjee is playing the development card again and her government is also meeting some of the longstanding demands such as land rights to tea workers,” the observer added.

Raju Bista, the BJP MP of Darjeeling, alleged the region was ignored by the state government for years.

“They consider the region a frontier outpost for revenue generation. Even though north Bengal contributes Rs 25,000 crore to Rs 30,000 crore to the state exchequer, the Trinamul government has ignored developmental needs of the region,” he said in a statement.