CM orders steps for bettering lives of tea garden workers; AIIMS, IIT to come up in north Bengal

West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari on Wednesday said that an AIIMS, an IIT and an IIM will be set up in the northern part of the state, while ordering steps for qualitative development of the lives of tea garden workers in the region.

The BJP's election manifesto for West Bengal promised the establishment of an AIIMS, an IIT and an IIM in North Bengal.

Briefing reporters on Adhikari's first administrative meeting here in north Bengal, BJP's Darjeeling MP Raju Bista said that the CM also stressed the need for improving healthcare infrastructure in the region.

He said that Adhikari, who took oath as the chief minister of the first BJP government in West Bengal on May 9, assured the people that an AIIMS would be set up to ensure proper healthcare in north Bengal.

''Apart from the AIIMS, an IIT, an IIM and a cancer hospital will be set up in north Bengal,'' Bista said.

These institutes will come up in different districts of the region.

''The CM has also directed that no objection certificates (NOC) for various development projects be issued by the authorities without delay,'' the MP said.

Bista said that Adhikari has also asked for special initiatives for development work in the border areas near Bangladesh and Nepal.

He said that with more than five lakh directly employed people and 20 lakh indirect beneficiaries of the tea gardens dotting the northern districts of the state, the chief minister stressed the betterment of the condition of tea garden workers.

''The CM asked the Tea Board chairman and other officials to study the Assam tea garden worker welfare model and asked them to come up with pointers on what would be the issues involved in implementing the same here,'' Bista said.

New labour law will be implemented in the tea gardens in the future, and betterment of the workers' lives in line with that in Assam will be ensured, the BJP said.

''The CM has ordered implementation of the Centre's Chai Srameek Yojana, which was blocked by the previous TMC government for the last three years,'' he said, adding that Rs 350 crore worth of benefits are pending to Bengal's tea garden workers under the scheme.

He said that the CM has assured tea garden workers living inside the gardens that they would be given land rights, and the welfare schemes launched by the previous government will remain in place.

''The CM has announced that the 'VB G RAM G' scheme, under which 125 days' job guarantee is given, will be implemented in West Bengal from June, replacing the earlier 100-day job guarantee MGNREGA scheme,'' Bista said.

He said that Adhikari stressed that the new government will ensure preservation of the culture and languages of north Bengal.

''The CM said land has been allotted for fencing of the international border with Bangladesh,'' Bista said.

Asserting that there will be zero tolerance for illegal activities that allegedly thrived during the TMC rule, the CM called for steps to stop drug peddling in the region, the MP said.

''The CM also spoke to Urban Development Minister Agnimitra Paul over large-scale irregularities in Siliguri Municipal Corporation and asked her to visit the city and speak to the local MP and MLAs in this regard,'' Bista said.

Siliguri MLA Sankar Ghosh said that the CM asked the civil and police administration to work fearlessly and sought cooperation of all ''to take forward the new government's perspective.''.

The CM said the government is committed to give jobs to the next of kin of the BJP workers who lost their lives in violence during the 15-year TMC rule, according to Ghosh.

The Siliguri MLA said that the CM asked the police to submit reports on incidents of violence in Jalpaiguri district's Nagrakata where BJP MP Khagen Murmu was attacked by a mob when he went to visit the place following flash floods in October last year.

Adhikari also called for a report on the killing of a man at his home in Malda district's Kaliaganj, allegedly in police firing in April 2023, Ghosh said.

''The way a section of the police was used by the previous government in carrying out nefarious activities will come under the purview of the investigation,'' the Siliguri BJP MLA said.

Civil and police administration heads of five north Bengal districts of Darjeeling, Kalimpong, Jalpaiguri, Alipurduar and Cooch Behar were present in the administrative meeting held by the new CM.

The people of north Bengal believe that their aspirations, which were denied to them for the last 50 years, will be fulfilled by the Suvendu Adhikari government, Bista claimed.

''The main thrust of the meeting was to ensure synergy among the departments, including that with the police administration, to fast-track development work under this double-engine government,'' he said.

Bista said that, noting the devastations caused by floods in recent years in the hills and Dooars region, Adhikari stressed the need to remain prepared and coordinate among the police, civil administration, NDRF and SDRF to deal with any such eventuality in future.

Bista said that the chief secretary, DGP and other senior officials participated in the meeting to discuss issues involving the development of the state's northern region.

He said that all BJP MPs and the MLAs from the five districts attended the meeting, which continued for more than two and a half hours.

''The chief minister has said that elections to municipalities in the region, especially in the hills, will be held soon after the monsoon,'' Bista said.

The Darjeeling MP said that Adhikari asked him and the three MLAs from the hills to monitor the work of the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA), a semi-autonomous administrative body governing Darjeeling and Kalimpong districts.

Ghosh said that the government has decided to hold 10 administrative review meetings initially, where elected representatives of all parties will be invited.

The lone TMC MLA from these districts was invited to the administrative meeting, but he did not attend, he said.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)