KOLKATA: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee commenced her four-day visit of Kalimpong
district in northern part of the state from Monday to discuss conduct of elections to Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA) after monsoon.
Election to the 45-seat semi-autonomous council has been pending since last year. Besides, the West Bengal Chief Minister will hold meetings with 15 ethnic development boards on May 29 and conduct
Darjeeling and Kalimpong district review meetings in Kalimpong on May 30. Sources revealed that projects for new tourist circuits and development of the existing ones are expected to be discussed
in the review meeting.
During the meeting with Mamata Banerjee, leaders of hill political parties Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (Binay Tamang-Anit Thapa), Gorkha National Liberation Front, Akhil Bharatiya Gorkha League, Jan Andolan Party and the hill unit of Trinamool Congress are likely to press for conduct of GTA elections after monsoon, sources revealed.
With the absence of GJM leader Bimal Gurung from the hills and Binay Tamang heading the Board of Administrators (BoA) of the GTA with representatives of the hill parties finding place in other posts of
the BoA, several hill-based politicians believe the time is conducive for the elections to ensure rout of the Bimal Gurung faction, sources added.
This is Mamata Banerjee’s first visit to Kalimpong since declaring it a separate district on February 14 last year. Her visit to Darjeeling in the first week of June last year to conduct cabinet meeting was marred by violence and sparked off the 105-day Gorkhaland statehood agitation. Since then, she had visited Darjeeling for a Business Summit earlier this year.
The West Bengal Chief Minister will return to Siliguri on June 1 and hold an administrative meet at Uttarkanya Secretariat before flying down to Kolkata. ‘No vehicles for tourists, locals’ Meanwhile, many commercial vehicles in the hills have been hired by the state for policemen and entourage of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee during her visit which has hit the tourists and locals alike in the peak tourist season.
In a video that has gone viral in the social media, Kalimpong district’s Loleygaon Taxi Association leader Pemba Sherpa said: “We have opened eco-tourism in small villages and are receiving tourists this season. However, we have been told to send our vehicles for the ‘Chief Minister’s duty’ and ‘Police duty’ on
May 29 and May 30 for which tourists are facing severe problems. There are no vehicles even for patients. I request other taxi union leaders and politicians to look into this issue,” he said.
Tourists too voiced their concerns over the lack of vehicles due to the upcoming visit. “I have my train from New Jalpaiguri Junction to Kolkata on May 30 but there is a severe shortage of vehicles so I might have to pay some private vehicle a hefty sum to drop me to Siliguri. But I am even not sure whether
the locals would agree to use their private vehicles for commercial purposes which may land them in trouble,” said Kolkata resident Shampa Sen.