Mamata Banerjee leaves for North Bengal to discuss Darjeeling issues

Kolkata, Nov 20: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday left for North Bengal to discuss the current situation in Darjeeling hills with all political parties there tomorrow.

The all-party meeting from the Darjeeling hills will take place at Pintail village during which the chief minister would also take a stock of the ongoing projects there, officials said.

Security arrangements at Pintail village and it's adjoining areas have been tightened to ensure that no untoward incident takes place during the chief minister's visit, Banerjee will also be holding an administrative review meeting of Jalpaiguri, Coochbehar and Alipurduar districts on November 22, the officials said.

Chief Secretary Malay De, Director General of Police Surajit Kar Purkayastha and representatives of local bodies of the three districts would be present at the meeting to be held at 'Uttar Kanya', the state's administrative headquarters in North Bengal. Banerjee is scheduled to return to Kolkata on November 23, the officials said. This all-party meeting on Darjeeling situation would be the fourth one held in the past few months.

Normalcy returned to the hills after Banerjee's first meeting with all political parties of the hills in Kolkata on August 29 and the 104-day long shutdown over a separate Gorkhaland state was called off thereafter.

A new administrative board for the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA) came into existence with the resumption of work of all projects that had come to a standstill due to the agitation. The state government announced earlier announced a Rs 500 crore package and later an additional Rs 174 crore was earmarked for the development of the hills.

PTI