Kolkata: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is heading to Darjeeling on Monday to attend a meeting with the representatives of all political parties to discuss the situation there.
The meeting will take place at the mini-secretariat, also known as ‘Uttar Kanya’, on Tuesday in Siliguri.
On Wednesday, she will hold the second round of meeting with the administrative officials at Pintail Village, near Dagapur in Siliguri and is expected to return to Kolkata on the same day.
Bimal Gurung’s Gorkha Janamukti Morcha (GJM) will not be a part of this meeting. However, GJM rebel leaders, led by Binay Tamang, will attend this meeting to discuss more funds for development of the region.
The rift in GJM out in open since August 31 after Tamang was removed as a chief coordinator for going against Gurung’s wish in calling off the GJM-supported indefinite strike. Tamang’s removal came after he (in a public meet in Kurseong) announced to call off the indefinite bandh.
Leaders of major political parties including Gorkha National Liberation Front (GNLF), Jana Andolan Party (JAP) will also attend the meeting.
“CM will take a flight to Bagdogra tomorrow morning and the meeting will be held around 1 PM in Siliguri. She will not visit Darjeeling. All the leaders from the Hills are invited to sit for a talk. We have also asked representatives of the tea gardens to attend the meeting to discuss pending wages and bonus of tea workers,” a senior police officer said.
Earlier, on September 12, Banerjee held similar meetings to come out with a permanent solutions for the people living in the Hills. Then, after the after the all-party meet at the mini secretariat, she had said, “We will immediately restore the public distribution system. We want the bandh to be withdrawn fully and normalcy to be restored as soon as possible. The process of dialogue will continue.”
On September 20, in a major setback for Gurung, Banerjee formed a new body called Board of Administrators for Darjeeling Hills (BoA) till the scheduled election of Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA) and appointed Tamang as its chairman to look in to the Hills Affairs in Darjeeling.
Gurung alleged that Banerjee trying to divide the people in the Hills and appealed the masses not to step back from their demand for a separate state.
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