Mamata takes stock of situation in Darjeeling hills

Kolkata, Jul 13: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday held a meeting with senior officials to take stock of the situation in Darjeeling hills.

Official sources said Chief Secretary Malay De, Home Secretary Atri Bhattacharya, DGP Surajit Kar Purkayastha and three IPS officers entrusted to oversee the law and order situation of the hills were at the meeting with Banerjee.

The three IPS officers are Javed Shamim, Siddhanath Gupta and Ajay Nanda. Banerjee, who came to the secretariat after a three-day tour to Digha to hold administrative meetings there, was briefed about the current situation in the hills, sources said. However, what transpired in the meeting is not known.

A GTA office, a railway station and a forest bungalow were torched and several vehicles were damaged in the hills by agitators demanding separate Gorkhaland state the 29th day of the indefinite shutdown today. State Tourism minister Gautam Deb also alleged that GJM activists hurled stones at him when he had gone there to attend a programme.

PTI