WBMC preparing roadmap for devp of minorities in Hills

Kolkata: West Bengal Minorities' Commission (WBMC) is preparing a roadmap for smooth and speedy running of the various state and Central schemes associated with the development of minorities in Kalimpong and Darjeeling.

A team from WBMC recently visited the two hill districts of Kalimpong and Darjeeling and reviewed the progress of the development of minorities, which has received a lot of emphasis since Mamata Banerjee took charge of the state in 2011.

Kalimpong district was created on February 14, 2017, after splitting from the Darjeeling district and this was the first time that the WBMC team took stock of the situation of the new district.

"Certain areas of minority development in Kalimpong district need a push. When it comes to application for loan of minorities, Kalimpong has received 175 applications and has processed 58 of them. The district has set a target of distributing 8,375 pre-matric scholarships in the ongoing financial year and has been able to distribute 766. In post-matric scholarships, there have been 113 applications against a target of 400," a senior WBMC official said.

In Darjeeling, the target for post-matric scholarships has already been met with the department disbursing more than the target. The target for the current fiscal was 1,839 and the district administration has already dispatched 2,000 scholarships. In pre-matric scholarships there has been a disbursement of 9,845 out of a target of 33,500.

As per statistics available with WBMC, Kalimpong which comprises of Kalimpong Municipality and three community development blocks - Kalimpong I, Kalimpong II and Gorubathan, has 20.78 percent Buddhists, 14.76 percent Christians, 1.59 percent Muslims, 0.11 percent Sikhs and 0.09 percent Jains. Darjeeling, along with its four community development blocks - Mirik, Darjelling, Siliguri and Kurseong, has 8.92 percent Buddhists, 6.46 percent Christians, 6.96 percent Muslims, 0.13 percent Jains and 0.11 percent Sikhs.

"We will be holding a high level meeting at our office on June 19, where all reports from the district administration will be corroborated, along with our findings. A roadmap will be prepared in the meeting and will be submitted to the state Minority Affairs department, along with recommendations about speeding up work," said Abu Ayes Mondal, chairman of WBMC.

The WBMC is of the opinion that a District Officer Minority Affairs (DOMA) needs to be appointed immediately for Kalimpong. There is a DOMA for Darjeeling but the District Magistrate is presently overseeing minority development work in Kalimpong.

It may be mentioned that minority development work across the state is undertaken under two projects- Multi Sectoral Development Project (MSDP) and Integrated Minority Development project (IMDP), that covers areas like food and social security, OBC/SC/ST certificates, ICDS, slum development and jobs in government and private sector for minorities, to name a few.

The WBMC has also prepared a report on the building of educational classrooms, anganwadi centres, computer rooms, sanitary latrine etc. and in all these areas, the two districts have done reasonably good work.