Chandmoni site for CM’s Siliguri office

Chandmoni site for CM’s Siliguri office

statesman news service
SILIGURI, 17 JULY: The chief minister, Miss Mamata Banerjee, was so delighted with the scenic beauty of the deserted Chandmoni Tea Plantation beside National Highway 31 that she decided to set up the chief minister's secretariat or mini-secretariat in the area adjoining Uttarayan, a housing complex near the tea garden.
On her way to Sukna forest bungalow today, Miss Banerjee suddenly stopped her convoy in front of Uttarayan, which was set up at the Chandmoni Tea Plantation in the Matigara police station area in Siliguri. Miss Banerjee then called the district magistrate Mr PMK Gandhi and asked him to earmark a five-acre plot and put up a hoarding tomorrow mentioning "site for chief minister's secretariat".
Asked about her decision to set up the office, Miss Banerjee later said: “This is a nice place. We have decided to set up the chief minister's secretariat here. I have asked the district magistrate to begin procurement of land.”
On her way to the forest bungalow, Miss Banerjee first stopped in front of the Army cantonment and held an informal meeting on the road to chalk out her programme with Trinamul and Congress leaders, including north Bengal development affairs minister Mr Gautam Deb, Siliguri MLA Dr Rudranath Bhattacharya, another MLA from Cooch Behar, Mr Rabindranath Ghosh, Siliguri mayor Ms Gangotri Datta and Siliguri municipal corporation chairperson Mr Nantu Paul.
Although Miss Banerjee was scheduled to hold a meeting with top administrative officials, she suddenly decided to visit Mahananda Wildlife Sanctuary. Even though there was a prohibitory order over entering the forest after 5 p.m., Miss Banerjee started her journey for the 1/4 Gulma camp watchtower where an elephant was badly injured after it was hit by a speeding train.
“We held a meeting with the forest officials over the present scenario of the forests,” Miss Banerjee told reporters.
However, after 6 p.m. the chief minister asked everybody, including the journalists who were following her, to leave the forest.
The chief minister also stopped at Gorkha-dominated Khoirani forest village and interacted with the villagers. A senior forest official said she had asked forest officials to provide basic amenities to the villagers.