NO GORKHALAND : Mamata says Darjeeling an inalienable part of Bengal

Darjeeling: In a stark message to the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha which is agitating for a separate state out of Darjeeling, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday said in the presence of Bimal Gurung, GJM chief, that the hills were an indivisible part of West Bengal and that she wanted peace to reign in the region. "Darjeeling is the heart of Mother Bengal," she said at a programme where Gurung was present. "I want Darjeeling to remain in peace, failing which, tourism a major revenue earner for the hills will suffer. Let there be development in Darjeeling which is part of Bengal," she said announcing a slew of development projects including infrastructure development. She said that development of Darjeeling should be the main focus and there should not be politics around it, while urging the people living in Darjeeling to remain alert against those trying to create provocation to disrupt peace. "Conspiracies to strain our relation will not work. I want to build a bridge a between the hills and the plains and for that we will work together," she said asserting that she had a cordial relationship with the people of Darjeeling and the GJM. Banerjee arrived in Darjeeling yesterday on a three-day visit. 

She held a meeting earlier in the day with the GTA officials and attended a government function to announce development schemes for the region. Banerjee's meeting with the GJM leadership was considered crucial especially after the relation between the two had nosedived earlier this year. GJM had accused Banerjee of infringing on the rights of the GTA, a newly formed hill development body, and announced the renewal of its demand for a separate state of Gorkhaland to be carved out of parts of Darjeeling and Jalpaiguri districts of north Bengal. The relation between the state and the GJM had hit an all-time low following the chief minister's assertion that Bengal would not be divided at a public function on January 29. Gurung yesterday attributed the January 29 development to a 'miscommunication'. "There was some communication gap which has been sorted out now. Our meeting (yesterday with the chief minister) was cordial and positive," he said. Mamata noted that power problem was causing a lot of hardship in Kurseong, Kalimpong and Darjeeling and said that towards tackling the problem, her government had sanctioned Rs 103 crore for augmenting power generation. She said that a sum of Rs 2,000 crore was being spent for power generation in the hills. A part of the package is the construction of power sub stations at Kurseong and Kalimpong, she says. 

She said that with Darjeeling, Kurseong and Kalimpong facing acute water shortage, a Rs 155-crore water development project was being taken up by her government. She announced setting up of three Industrial Training Institutes at Siliguri, Darjeeling and Kalimpong. The chief minister said that her government and the GTA would take up with the Centre establishment of a central university in Darjeeling. She inaugurated a fair price medicine shop in Darjeeling. Stressing the neeed for development of tourism in a big way, she said the vacant land in the tea gardens in Darjeeling hill areas would be used for tourism development so that tourists can stay there which would generate income for for the local people. The chief minister also laid the foundation for a fire service station, polytechnic college at Mirik, a polytechnic college at Kalimpong, ITI for Kalimpong, Mongpu and Gorubathan. The foundation stone was also laid for a new government college at Pedong. She said that traffic in Darjeeling town is congested and the state government will help improve the traffic system, if there was a proposal in this regard from the GTA.