Kolkata: The state government has reconstituted the Uttarbanga Unnayan Parishad with the former North Bengal Development minister Rabindranath Ghosh as its chairman.
The 14 member parishad also comprises three vice-chairpersons. Former Forest minister Binay Krishna Barman, MLA of Manickchawk in Malda Sabitri Mitra and Mridul Goswamy of Alipurduar district are the
three vice chairpersons of the parishad.
The remaining members of the parishad are James Kujur, Fazle Karim Mia, Kalpana Kisku, Mitali Roy, Pratibha Singh, Bijoy Chandra Barman, Ranjan Sarkar and Goutam Das. Additional Chief Secretary of North Bengal Development Department AR Bardhan is the member secretary of the parishad. The state government has issued a notification in regard to restructuring of the parishad stating that the "duties, responsibilities and functions of the parishad will remain unaltered". The Parishad mainly gives advice for an overall development of north Bengal and also addresses the crucial issues in the region.
The members of the parishad are from Cooch Behar, Malda, Alipurduar, Jalpaiguri,
Darjeeling and North and South Dinajpur.