Sunderbans to become district: CM

Gosaba: The Sunderbans will soon be a new district, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee announced on Thursday. Addressing at a public meeting here, she said, "The police district has already been set up and I will be present when the new district will come up."

Sunderbans spans over portions of South and North 24 Parganas and work is on to prepare the map of the new district, along with the moujas of the two districts which will be united to set up the new one. She urged state government officials to work hard and ensure that there is no delay in brining the beneficiaries under various schemes.

She asked South 24 Parganas district magistrate Y Ratnakara Rao to conduct an inquiry into an allegation made by local people to her. "I received a letter this morning alleging certain malfunctions of the district administration. I have asked the district magistrate to conduct an inquiry into the matter," she said.

She said connectivity in Sunderbans has been improved with the construction of two bridges and the third one will be built at Pathankhali. Banerjee named the cottages that have come up in Jharkhali as Jhar and maintained that with the construction of the cottages, the area's tourism potential will go up. This will ultimately help boost the rural economy, she explained, adding that cottages for tourists will be built too at Gangasagar.

She said that fishermen have been given identity cards which will help them when they face any accident during their trips to the sea to catch fish. She asked the state Forest Department to sit with the fishermen and resolve the long-standing issue of whether they can use forest land or not. "The administration will have to sit with the local people and win their confidence," she remarked.

Banerjee said that in the past six and a half years, the state government has not done anything that has adversely affected the interest of the common man — people belonging to the minority community, OBCs, tribals and SCs and STs. "The erstwhile CPIM government did not work and we have to repay loans worth Rs 40,000 crore because of them," she pointed out.

Coming down heavily on the BJP government at the Centre, she said, "BJP leaders talk a lot but do not work. When we make promises, we try to keep them. But they are just the opposite. They talk too much and at the Centre, the leaders are there to make statements." She urged the people not to get provoked or swayed by rumours, warning, "The BJP "will come to you posing as friends but do not trust them." She asked people to get in touch with the police whenever they "see any unknown person."

The Trinamool Congress chief asked her party leaders and workers to bury hatchets and work together. "I have worked seriously for many years and I will not tolerate any slackness in the party", she said, adding "I will not tolerate any difference in opinion— all should work for the betterment of the common people."

Banerjee inaugurated several projects, including expansion of health centres to krishi mandi and mother and child care hub.