To win over the residents of the Darjeeling Hills CM announced several development schemes

 Mamata tries to woo Hills leaders

DARJEELING, 29 FEB: In a bid to win over the residents of the Darjeeling Hills, chief minister Mamata Banerjee today announced several development schemes for the area. She also said that presidential assent to the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration Bill in the Darjeeling Hills was expected to be signed within a few days.

“The Bill is expected to receive presidential assent within a few days,” she said at a meeting with Gorkha Jan Mukti Morcha president Bimal Gurung and other leaders. She said that during her recent visit to Delhi she took up the issue of the tripartite agreement with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

The chief minister arrived at Darjeeling around 7 p.m. and surprised the gathering with addressing a few words in Nepali. The meeting was scheduled to begin at 5:30 p.m.

The chief minister attended a meeting with GJMM leaders and government officials. She distributed 99.54 acres of land to 277 landless people. Miss Banerjee also promised stipend to around 7,964 scheduled caste and scheduled tribe people. The total amount to be paid is around Rs 14.98 crore. She announced a Rs 13-crore pension project for 4,952 and 23,621 Ex-servicemen from the urban and rural areas of the Hills, respectively. She said 572 students have been granted scholarship with a special funding of Rs 3.9 crore. The chief minister announced that all the funds will be released within March.

The chief minister also announced to facilitate the rural areas of the Hills by setting up ITI, Polytechnic and degree colleges. The GJMM chief, however, refused to address the gathering and asked Kalimpong MLA Harka Bahadur Chhetri to speak on behalf of the party. Mr Chhetri said: “The GJMM chief is willing to speak only after 27 March.” The GJMM has given an ultimatum if the GTA is not implemented by that day, it would resume its agitation. Mr Chhetri, however, did not mention a point on the delay of the GTA implementation. He also made his party’s stand clear that they will not force the residents to pay the outstanding electricity bills.

“The Centre, state government and the GTA will work together to ensure development in the Darjeeling hills, neglected in the past 34 years of Left Front rule,” the chief minister said. She claimed that there was heartburn in the CPI-M as peace had returned to the hills after a long time. “If there is peace in the hills, there will be peace in the plains also. “I am asking them not to stoke fire. Do not try to create a division between people living in the hills and the plains.” The state government planned to turn Darjeeling and the adjoining Dooars and Terai into Switzerland, she said, adding that Rs 100 crore had been sanctioned for north Bengal tourism development. sns