Gautam Deb meets Firhad Hakim to chart out plan to fast-track completion of dev projects

Kolkata: State Tourism minister Gautam Deb met state Urban Development and Municipal Affairs (UD& MA) minister Firhad Hakim on Monday to discuss various ongoing and pending projects which are being executed by Siliguri Jalpaiguri Development Authority (SJDA).

"Some development projects have been pending while work for some ongoing projects under SJDA needs to be fast-tracked. We discussed funding of such projects and easing out the logjams associated with one or two of them. The meeting has been satisfactory," said Deb who is also an MLA from Dabgram–Fulbari .

SJDA entrusted with the responsibility of planning and development of Siliguri — Jalpaiguri Planning Area comes under the aegis of UD & MA department.

Major ongoing projects taken up by SJDA includes development of a pineapple hub at Bidhannagar area in Siliguri that will give a boost to the agro-industry in the area. SJDA has also taken up a project to set up a food processing and packaging park at Berubari in Jalpaiguri.

Deb while laying the foundation stone for rejuvenation of a road in his constituency area last Thursday had alleged delay on the part of North Bengal Development Department in executing work related to roads and drainage in the area. When asked about his outburst against a government department he said: "In a rightist political party like TMC which has such a strong base, there may be some differences of opinion but when we are in a political battle we are all united," Deb asserted.