Mamata Banerjee today announced that she would hold a state cabinet
meeting in Darjeeling a day after she had been heard toying with the
idea after being mesmerised with the serenity of Raj Bhavan here.
Attending the 202nd birth anniversary of Nepali poet Bhanu Bhakta at
Chowrasta here today, the chief minister said: "We will hold a cabinet
meeting in Darjeeling."
Yesterday, while waiting to receive President Pranab Mukherjee at Raj
Bhavan in Darjeeling, Mamata was heard telling chief secretary Basudeb
Banerjee and other officials: "This is such a beautiful place. We must
hold a meeting of the cabinet here once."
Government officials in Calcutta said they did not know of another
instance in recent times when a cabinet meeting was held anywhere
outside Calcutta or Nabanna.
Asked how much it would cost the state to transport ministers to
Darjeeling, some officials said it would be tough to tell as how this
would be conducted was not clear yet.
Holding a cabinet meeting in Darjeeling would not be impossible but
given the diversion of traffic during the visit of VIPs and lack of
parking facilities in town, local people believe they would face a
harrowing time.
"Imagine all cabinet ministers and officials moving around at one
time. It would be a logistical nightmare for the organisers as well as
the residents. For the past two three days, the serenity of Chowrasta
has been destroyed by this huge ugly pandal and police leave absolutely
no room for people to walk around at the square," said a Darjeeling
resident, who didn't want to be named.
The pandal had been erected at Chowrasta for today's Bhanu Bhakta's
birth anniversary celebration and to host a reception for President
Pranab Mukherjee yesterday.
Before making public her cabinet meeting plans, Mamata today
announced the formation of development boards for Kami, Dami and Sarki,
which are Nepali scheduled castes.
"When I come to the hills, there are demands for development boards.
People say they should also be given a chance to develop. We will form
three development boards for Kamis, Damis and Sarkis," said Mamata.
The total number of development boards in the hills now stands at 10 with today's announcement.
Late in the evening, GTA chief executive Bimal Gurung issued a press
release, saying "given the chief minister's love for Nepali language,
the state government should declare Bhanu Jayanti as a state holiday,
include Nepali language as an optional language in state's civil service
examinations and print all government hoardings, forms, brochures,
festoons in Nepali which has been recognised as an official language of
the Darjeeling hills".(TT)
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