CM likely to stop at Mirik during Hills visit

DARJEELING, 13 MAY: The chief minister might have a stopover at Mirik before leaving the Hills and might go for announcing some packages meant to boost development for the area that has remained long beyond the focus of development.

This is what the senior GJMM leader and MLA for Kalimpong, Mr Harka Bahadur Chhetri, who is supposed to have a good rapport with Miss Mamata Banerjee hinted today. The chief minister is set to arrive in the Hills tomorrow on a four-day Hill and Siliguri trip.

"When I met her recently at the Writers’ Building she enquired about the distance of Mirik from Siliguri. I believe she will stop at Mirik at least for a few hours after leaving Darjeeling on 16 May," he said.

The Mirik is around 47 km from Siliguri and its distance from Darjeeling is around 69 km.

However, officials are till now unaware of any stopover by the chief minister at Mirik. However, the GJMM believes if Miss Banerjee would move the way the party intends it would shore up the state government’s development-friendly image among the developmentally long starved people of the Hills. sns