After lying low for more than four years, the chairpersons of 16 development boards in the Darjeeling hills are again becoming active after chief minister Mamata Banerjee announced her plans to revive the boards soon.

On Tuesday, the chairperson of those boards attended a meeting called by Darjeeling police in the presence of Anit Thapa, the chief executive of the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA), to discuss the Darjeeling MELOtea FEST, which is scheduled to be held from December 19 to 22.

“We will extend full support to the MELOtea FEST. Many people have started enquiring about the festival with some tourists wanting to visit Darjeeling then,” said Nima Wangdi Sherpa, the chairman of the West Bengal Sherpa Development Board.

The fest will be followed by the Darjeeling marathon which attracts international runners.

The sudden increase in activities by members of the development boards comes following Mamata Banerjee’s announcement on November 12 that the boards would be revamped and a new monitoring mechanism under Thapa would be put in place.

Funds to the boards had completely dried after 2022 but the boards had slowed down on their activities before Covid-19 hit the region.

The development boards have taken up projects like building houses, homestays, community centres and pony roads. However, the major project of the boards has been to construct homes at ₹2 lakh for the needy.

There were, however, allegations of widespread corruption by some boards.

“Since 2022, the government has not released major funds to the boards,” said a source. “Once the revamp is completed as promised by the chief minister, an audit will also be conducted,” the source added.

The Mamata Banerjee government had formed the boards for the socio-economic development of different communities.

The board chairpersons said members of their communities would put up stalls to showcase the tradition, culture and food of their respective communities at the MELOtea FEST.

The festival has lined up musical performances by international stars like Kee Marcello, a former member of the Swedish band Europe, whose anthemic song, The Final Countdown, took the world by storm in the late 80s.

Along with Marcello, the Darjeeling-based Mantra band, Kathmandu’s Kutumba, Nagaland-based About Us and Sikkim’s Girish and The Chronicles are slated to perform.

Apart from headline performances, the MELOtea will also have an English and Nepali band competition with a whopping prize pool of ₹24.5 lakh. Participants are expected not just from across India but also from Nepal and Bhutan.

MELOtea which is inspired by the words “melody” and “tea” is projected as a community development and outreach program of the Darjeeling police aimed to promote tourism along with the region’s rich and famous culture and tradition.

The tagline of the fest is: “Tea, tunes and strings”.

The GTA is also planning to introduce day hiking in 13 places across the hills and adopt villagers to provide an authentic experience of the culture and tradition of the place during the festival. Art and movie festivals have also been lined up.

The marathon also has a total prize money of ₹10.3 lakh up for grabs for runners.