Three elected representatives — two from the BJP and one from the CPM — articulated their grievances on a number of issues during the four-day visit of chief minister Mamata Banerjee to north Bengal that ended on Thursday.

Raju Bista, the BJP MP of Darjeeling, pointed out that Mamata did not address some prominent issues of the hills, Neeraj Zimba, the Darjeeling MLA who won last year’s bypoll on a BJP ticket, sent a letter to Mamata stating his privilege as a peoples’ representative had been violated as he was not invited to the review meeting at the branch secretariat Uttarkanya here. Asok Bhattacharya, the CPM MLA of Siliguri, alleged that the state was not keen in developing the city’s infrastructure.

Raju Bista File picture

“I welcome the state’s decision to construct homes for tea garden workers but simultaneously want to know why their minimum wages have not yet been fixed. Also, she (Mamata) provided funds to the GTA but did not address the demand for permanency of GTA employees and those working in Darjeeling municipality,” said Bista.

The MP also pointed out that land rights of hill residents were pending, an issue flagged by various political parties these past few months.

On Wednesday, Binay Tamang, who heads a faction of the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha and is an ally of Trinamul, had raised the issue at the administrative review meeting.

However, such assertions from Bista indicates that the BJP, while highlighting some longstanding demands the state government is yet to meet, wants secure the maximum possible Assembly seats in north Bengal.

Neeraj Zimba File picture

Zimba, on the other hand, wrote to Mamata that he was registering his protest that despite being an MLA of Darjeeling district, he was not invited to the review meeting. “As an elected MLA, it is my constitutional right and my responsibility to partake in any discussion regarding the development issues of my constituency. However, by not extending me the invitation, your administration has clearly violated the constitutional privileges of an elected lawmaker of the House,” he wrote.

CPM MLA Asok Bhattacharya, also the chairperson of the board of administrators in Siliguri Municipal Corporation, was invited to the review meeting but did not attend it at Uttarkanya on Wednesday as a “silent protest.”

“It is a silent protest against the state government that has deprived residents of Siliguri from development and has also put a virtual financial embargo on the local civic body. Also, I came to know that a number of other MLAs have not been invited. This is yet another reason why I did not go,” the CPM veteran said.

Additional reporting by Bireswar Banerjee