Mamata Banerjee meets Gorkha leaders to take stock of development work

Siliguri, Feb 12 (ANI): West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee met the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) leaders here on Saturday to take stock of the development work in northern areas of the state.

Banerjee was accompanied by 12 ministers along with secretaries and senior officials of six districts in the review meeting that was held here on Saturday.

The Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA) Bill that was passed by the state government on September 2 last year was also taken up for discussion in the meeting . The Bill is now awaiting the approval of the Indian President for further implementation.

Banerjee met GJM General Secretary Roshan Giri and discussed the problems being faced by the locals.

Meanwhile, the representatives of GJM appeared to be happy after the meeting, but nevertheless questioned Banerjee over the delay in the Bill's implementation.

Banerjee later in the day attended a cultural event where she promised to look into the region's issues.

"Today, there was a meeting of our administration where we decided to start 100 days of work in rural areas. We will start a rural electrification scheme, construction of new water treatment plants, as well as new industries. We will provide special credit cards and insurance facilities to farmers," said Banerjee.

The GJM had signed a tripartite treaty with the West Bengal Government and the Central Government on the issue of granting semi-autonomous territorial status to the region of Gorkhaland. (ANI)