KOLKATA: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday declared that her government would bet big on Information Technology for Darjeeling and Kalimpong districts of the state.
Speaking after Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA) review meeting in Darjeeling on Thursday, she declared that an industrial meeting would be held in March to attract IT sector investments to Darjeeling besides the traditional industries of the hill districts such as horticulture and tourism.
Banerjee said, “There is a great potential for Information Technology sector in the hills. There is a large young educated population here. Besides, we have to focus on traditional strengths of the hills such as horticulture, tourism and the rapidly expanding ‘homestay’ sector. We will contact the industry doyens so that new industries are established in Darjeeling and Kalimpong. The industrial meet in March would be the first step towards that."
Her plans to establish IT industries in the hills may come from the fact that a large Gorkha population from the hills work in the BPO sector in the IT hub of Sector V in Kolkata and in other parts of the country.
The Trinamool Congress supremo also asked the political parties of the hills to keep aside their differences and ‘forget the bygones’ to work together for the development of Darjeeling. “There may be ideological differences between political parties but we have to keep the differences aside and work together for the development of the region. Let us all forget the bygones and work together for the future,” she added.
The Chief Minister had on Wednesday promised to establish a new university in Darjeeling and also attempted to address the pressing unemployment issue in the hills by promising to recruit men and women as civic volunteers in West Bengal Police.