Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee may visit Darjeeling next week

Amitava Banerjee, MP, 6 Nov 2024, Darjeeling: The Darjeeling district administration is a beehive of activity with the Chief Minister likely to visit the Darjeeling Hills next week. 

Though no official itinerary has come in yet and the administration is keeping tight-lipped, Trinamool Congress (TMC) sources claim that the Chief Minister could visit the Darjeeling Hills between November 11 and 15. 

The district administration held a preparatory meeting in Darjeeling on Monday to discuss arrangements. Sources state that in Darjeeling the Chief Minister could inaugurate a Sale of Articles of Rural Artisan Society (SARAS) Mela in Darjeeling. 

The SARAS mela provides a platform for rural artisans and Self Help Group (SHGs) women to showcase and sell their products and produce including handicrafts, handlooms, organic products and food. 

The Chief Minister has been emphasising alternative livelihoods including SHGs for the economic empowerment of women. The SHGs have been running successfully in the Hills. 

The 6th SARAS Mela was held from January 5 to 16, 2024 in Siliguri with 86 stalls, 2 pavilions, 24 open spaces and 10 food courts. Out of these, 59 stalls were from West Bengal and the remaining from other states, including Kerala, UP, Bihar, Rajasthan, Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab and Assam.

In 2023 the fair in Siliguri sold products worth Rs 8.5 crore. There are talks of the Chief Minister also holding a meeting with GTA representatives, including Anit Thapa. 

There are many grey areas that have cropped up recently in the Hills revolving around the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration and in the tea industry. Issues, including full-fledged transfer of powers and functions to the GTA; relief and rehabilitation of the Teesta flash flood affected; appointments to the GTA; minimum wages and land right documents for tea garden workers could find prominence in the talks. 

Political observers feel that it could be a runup to the next crucial assembly election of 2026 with the TMC already having started preparing ground and testing waters. 

If the Chief Minister visits Darjeeling next week she will be in North Bengal when the Madarihat Assembly Constituency in Alipurduar district and Sitai Constituency of Cooch Behar go to bypolls on November 13. Madarihat Constituency is a prestige fight for the TMC that has never tasted victory in Assembly polls in that Constituency, opine political pundits. 

The Chief Minister could be departing for Kolkata either on November 14 or 15. The Chief Minister had last visited this region on September 29 when she chaired an administrative review meeting on the flood and landslide situation in the North Bengal districts at Uttar Kanya, the mini secretariat in Siliguri. 

However, she had last visited the Hills when her nephew Abesh Banerjee tied the wedding knot in Kurseong in December 2023. 

Courtesy & source- Millennium Post

 https://www.millenniumpost.in/bengal/cm-may-visit-darjeeling-next-week-585826