Siliguri: Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday announced a compensation package of Rs 161.33 crore for the reconstruction of homes belonging to 14,794 families who lost their houses in the October 4 and October 5 deluge.
Banerjee reviewed flood and landslide relief efforts in North Bengal at a high-level meeting in Siliguri with DMs, SPs, and officials from affected districts. She also distributed land pattas to 3,491 families, including 1,467 in Jalpaiguri, 825 in Alipurduar, and 529 in Darjeeling.
“After the disaster, we had promised to rebuild the affected families’ homes. The funds have now been released and will be directly credited to their bank accounts,” Banerjee said, adding that road restoration is underway, the Dudhiya Bridge has been completed, and work on a permanent bridge is in progress. Banerjee noted that from the time her government came to power till 2022, funds were provided for building 45.7 lakh houses under the ‘Banglar Bari Yojana’. “Even after the Centre stopped releasing funds, we continued supporting people. So far, ₹14,400 crore has been given to 12 lakh families, and funds for another 16 lakh will be released between December and January,” she said. She also said that 2.6 lakh houses have been built for minority women at a cost of Rs. 2,500 crore, while 29,000 disaster-affected families of Raniganj have received assistance for housing.
The Urban Development Department has completed another 6,000 houses. In total, around 1 crore people have received support for building homes. As part of agricultural relief, the government distributed vegetable kits, seeds, and crops to 1.37 lakh farmers who lost their produce in the floods, with an expenditure of Rs 10 crore. Additionally, Rs 47 lakh has been provided to 807 farmers in Darjeeling, Jalpaiguri and Alipurduar for land restoration.
Special saplings of orange, ginger and cardamom have been given to more than 1,000 farmers in Darjeeling, where 212 hectares of farmland were damaged. She also inaugurated 14 health centres and 15 crèches in tea garden areas of Darjeeling, Jalpaiguri and Alipurduar. A total of 98 crèches will be constructed.
Banerjee further announced that the state government has so far distributed pattas to 6.65 lakh families. These include 3.17 lakh house pattas, 1.93 lakh agricultural pattas, 49,000 refugee pattas, 47,000 forest pattas and 39,000 pattas for tea garden workers. 98 families from Malbazar who lost homes in the 2023 Sikkim flash floods have also been given pattas.
The Chief Minister also revealed that a new trust has been formed to oversee the construction of the Mahakal Temple in Siliguri.
The trust will be headed by the Chief Secretary and will include members such as Satyam Roy Chowdhury of Techno India Group, industrialist Harsh Vardhan Neotia, Siliguri Mayor Gautam Deb, SJDA Chairman Dilip Dugar, GTA Chief Executive Anit Thapa, businessman Sanjay Tibruwel and priests from prominent temples, including Darjeeling Mahakal Mandir, Madan Mohan Temple, Shiv Yagya Temple. Work on the Durga Temple and an International Convention Centre is also underway.
Highlighting development in the tea sector, the Chief Minister said: “We have reopened 22 tea gardens in Bengal, benefiting 22,000 workers. 59 tea gardens had reopened earlier. We are providing ration, water, electricity, aprons, shoes and other essential items to labourers. 10 special buses will also be introduced for students in tea gardens and forest areas to take them to school.”
She added that 100 buses equipped with specialised medical facilities will be inaugurated on Tuesday from Kolkata for the districts, with more in the pipeline.