Mamata asks N Bengal officials to handle things with velvet gloves

Mamata asks N Bengal officials to handle things with velvet gloves

13 October 2011

statesman news service
SILIGURI, 13 OCT: A seemingly worried chief minister, Miss Mamata Banerjee, today asked the administrative and police officials of both the Darjeeling and Jalpaiguri districts to deal with the sensitive situation with utmost care and circumspection in view of the volatility prevailing over the GJMM demand for land from the Terai-Dooars region in reference to the territorial jurisdiction of the Gorkhaland Administrative Tribunal, an official said. 
It has been learnt that the chief minister held a meeting with the senior north Bengal-based civil and police officials, particularly with those from the two districts, Darjeeling and Jalpaiguri, on the law and order situation at the NHPC office premises on the outskirts of Siliguri.
“The chief minister looked a bit worried with both the GJMM and the Akhil Bharatiya Adivasi Vikas Parishad doggedly clinging to their respective stances regarding the GTA land issue. She asked us all to ensure peace and inter-ethnic amity in view of the situation remaining volatile. She insisted that under no circumstances the administration would allow the peace to be disturbed,” said the senior administrative official.
It has also been learnt that the chief minister’s Dooars trip had failed to break the ice involving the relation between the Gorkhas and the Adivasis inhabiting the Terai-Dooars area for generations. “It seems that the chief minister has realised that the land issue would remain a bone of contention in time to come and the situation might take a turn for the worse any time in view of the mutual antipathy and suspicion prevailing,” the official said.
In order to fulfil her electoral commitment, Chief minister Miss Mamata Banerjee will lay the foundation stone for the construction of 1,400 meters long Nayagram-Vasraghat bridge over the Subarnarekha river during her Junglemahal trip on Saturday. 
The project will require Rs 118.44 crore. The state irrigation department has also planned to set up a barrage on one side (upstream) of the bridge. Once the bridge is constructed, road connectivity among Nayagram, Gopiballavpur and people living in bordering Midnapore and Orissa will get an upgrade. It was a longstanding demand of the local people who travel almost 111 km to reach Kharagpur. If the bridge comes up, the distance will reduce by 69 km. The bridge will also improve the inter-state transport.