Mamata promises High School for forest-encircled Kherkata Village

Jalpaiguri: Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee visited flood-hit Tondu and Bamandanga on Monday, met residents and promised a secondary school in Kherkata village, where children now cross dense forests to reach the nearest high school.

At Bamandanga, she handed over appointment letters for Special Home Guard jobs to the family members of eight people who died in Nagrakata and two from Mathabhanga.

Following this, she inspected the Bamandanga relief camp before proceeding on foot to the Tondu camp, where she personally checked on residents and addressed their concerns.

Anwara Bibi, a resident of Kherkata, told her that the village has only one primary school and is surrounded by Chapramari and Gorumara forests. Children often fear traveling the three kilometers to the nearest high school, especially during the monsoon.

Responding to this, Banerjee assured: “The children are too afraid to cross the forest to attend the high school. It would be good to establish a secondary school here. I will speak with the Education minister to upgrade the existing primary school.”

During the visit, Banerjee inspected the community kitchen and interacted with children. Noticing a child crying due to the heat, she picked up the child in her arms, calming the little one instantly, and remarked: “Just as I love children, they love me very much too.”

The relief camps at Bamandanga and Tondu came alive during the visit, with children like Suresh, Kamal and Tarak enjoying meals heartily. The district administration had arranged a feast for nearly 8,000 flood-affected residents with rice with meat curry, two types of vegetable curries, fried items, and chutney.

Seeta Oraon, a resident of Model Village, said: “We don’t have regular earnings. I can’t even remember the last time I had meat and rice. After the flood on Saturday, we didn’t get proper food for the first few days. Today, we got to eat meat and rice to our heart’s content.”