Chief minister Mamata Banerjee to visit North Bengal Next week

Siliguri/Cooch Behar: Chief minister Mamata Banerjee will be on a five-day trip to north Bengal next week, administrative sources said here on Thursday.

During the visit, she will hold administrative review meetings in the districts of Jalpaiguri, Cooch Behar and Alipurduar and is also likely to attend a meeting of the tea advisory council formed by the state in Malbazar.

On July 9, she will arrive in Bagdogra and will head for Jalpaiguri to attend the first review meeting. On July 10, she will go to Changrabandha, located at the India-Bangladesh border in Cooch Behar district - it is also one of the principal land routes to Bangladesh in north Bengal - where she will attend the review meeting of Cooch Behar.

Mamata's plan to visit Changrabandha has led to speculations at administrative and political circles and also among locals. This is her first visit to the land port after the Cabinet decided to constitute Changrabandha Development Authority - the third development authority in north Bengal, on May 29 last year.

Later, Arghya Roy Pradhan, the Trinamul MLA of Mekhliganj - under which Changrabandha is located -was made it chairman. Also, a sum of Rs 5 crores was allotted to the body to carry our development of the area.

"However, those in the development authority used the funds and took projects in different areas across Mekhliganj sub-division, instead of spending it entirely on Changrabandha. That is why, adequate infrastructure development could not be carried out here," said a resident.

"But even now, people have to stand under trees with the passports and visas to carry out formalities. People have time and again expressed anguish at the Centre for not developing infrastructure," said a Trinamul leader.

On July 11, the chief minister will attend the review meeting of Alipurduar district, which would be held in Birpara-Madarihat block. It is the block from where BJP had won (in Madarihat seat) in the 2016 Assembly polls.

"Trinamul has, however, fared well in the recent rural polls in the block. It is significant that the same block has been chosen as venue of the meeting. Trinamul wants to play the development agenda here," said an observer.

The chief minister, sources said, is likely to attend a meeting of the tea advisory council, formed by the state, on July 12, in Malbazar, Jalpaiguri. From there, she will travel to Gajoldoba - the site of the mega tourism hub near the Teesta Barrage. The next day, she will return to Calcutta.

"The Joint Forum (an apex body of non-Trinamul tea unions) has called a three-day strike in July third week. The meeting of the council 10 days before (the strike)in the presence of the chief minister is important," said an observer.

The Telegraph