Mamata Banerjee Asks North Bengal Leaders To Prepare Development Roadmap
NDTV
"We have kept all the promises that we made," Mamata Banerjee said during an administrative meeting of Darjeeling and Kalimpong districts
Assuring leaders in the Hills that she would find a "permanent solution" for the region that has witnessed several agitations over statehood demand, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee today urged them to prepare a roadmap, keeping in mind the interests of locals, and submit it to the government, which will then carry out further work on it.
Ms Banerjee also ruled out separation of Darjeeling from Bengal, while promising that she would do whatever it takes to usher in development in the Hills.
She said that panchayat elections in the region and polls to Gorkha Territorial Administration (GTA) -- an autonomous district council that governs Darjeeling, Kurseong and Kalimpong and some moujas of Siliguri subdivision -- would be held once the voters' list gets updated.
Panchayat elections in the Hills were last held in 2000.
