Mamata Four on woo-hills mission - Hiten, Sunil, Bratya and Gautam trek to Sukhiapokhr

Sukhiapokhri, June 20: Four Bengal ministers came calling on Darjeeling on a single day with a host of promises, unheard of during the Left Front regime when even the chief minister cancelled a trip to the hills fearing hostility.

All three hill MLAs from the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha shared the dais with the ministers in the Mamata Banerjee-led government as they reeled off their new projects for the hills (see chart).

Forest minister Hiten Barman and minister for consumer affairs Sunil Chandra Tirkey were the first to reach Sukhiapokhri today to attend the closing ceremony of Aranya Saptha or the forest week. Soon after planting saplings at Balason near Sukhia bazar, Barman said: “The Darjeeling ropeway will be made functional by October end. We have already asked McKinsey (a consultancy firm) to provide the required fitness certificate. “We will also upgrade the Darjeeling zoo and the forest, tourism and environment departments will have to work together for the betterment of the hills.”

The popular 2-km long Darjeeling-Rangit Valley ropeway services was suspended on October 19, 2003, after three gondolas slipped off the conveyer wheel and plunged 50 feet down into the tea bushes of Patabung garden in Tukvar.

Four tourists were killed and 11 injured in the accident.

The ropeway belongs to the West Bengal Forest Development Corporation of which Barman is the chairman. Since then, the ropeway has been repaired but a final clearance for renewing operation has not yet come through.

Later during the day, Gautam Deb, the minister in charge of the development for north Bengal, arrived at Sukhiapokhri along with higher education minister Bratya Basu. More promises were made.

Trinamul Congress sources in Calcutta denied that Mamata had given any “special instruction” to the ministers to visit the small town 20km from Darjeeling. Rather, Barman had announced earlier this month that the forest week celebration would be a “special affair” in Darjeeling. “The others who were free went on his request to make the occasion special,” the source said.

The three hill MLAs, Trilok Dewan from Darjeeling, Rohit Sharma from Kurseong and Kalimpong’s Harka Bahadur Chhetri shared the dais with the Bengal ministers. “Dr Chhetri wants two colleges to be set up at Pedong and Gorubathan. The government has started mapping the details of the higher education in Bengal in terms of infrastructure and the staff and student strength and the report will be completed within six months. We will definitely focus on the hills,” said Basu, referring to the Kalimpong MLA. He added that his department would be looking at introducing hill specific subjects in the region’s curriculum.

Asked about a separate university for the hills, Basu said: “Provided we get the finance department’s clearance we will set up 300 colleges and 11 universities within the next five years. The hill demand could also be considered. We have already submitted a proposal for setting up either an IIT or an IIM in Darjeeling and the Centre is looking at including these proposals in the 12th Five Year Plan.” Educational institutes in the hills, which often lose out on classes because of the long winter vacation, had been demanding a separate university with a different academic calendar.

Deb said Mamata Banerjee would visit the hills later this month and more development announcements would follow.

In the past, the Left Front ministers hardly visited Darjeeling. The lone representative of the cabinet in the region was former municipal affairs minister Asok Bhattacharya. The CPM cancelled its party meeting in Darjeeling in 2007 fearing a hostile reception for then chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee

TT