Chief minister Mamata Banerjee inaugurated a slew of projects and laid foundation stones of new ones in North and South Dinajpur districts on Tuesday.
In North Dinajpur, she inaugurated 30 projects and laid foundation stones of 15 schemes, the estimated cost of which is around Rs 240 crore.
In the neighbouring district of South Dinajpur, foundation stones of 23 projects were laid and 42 were inaugurated for which a sum of Rs 250 crore has been allotted.
In recent years, this is the first time that such a huge sum — altogether a whooping Rs 490 crore — has been spent in the two districts at one go.
The move, observers feel, is a part of Mamata’s strategy to play the development card to cement the Trinamul Congress’s support base in the districts which have a minority vote bank and a considerable population of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.
In 2019, the BJP had won the Lok Sabha seats of Raiganj and Balurghat which comprise the Assembly seats of these districts.
Altogether, there are 15 Assembly constituencies in the two Dinajpurs and according to the Parliament election results, the BJP was ahead of Trinamul in most of these constituencies.
But in the Assembly elections this year, Trinamul managed to win 10 of 15 seats. Also, two BJP MLAs defected to Mamata Banerjee’s party, which has increased the party’s tally to 12.
It is because of the results of these two districts and Malda (where Trinamul could bag eight of 12 seats) that the party, despite BJP’s emergence (the saffron party had won seven of eight Lok Sabha seats of the region) in 2019, could secure 23 seats, which is equal to the number of seats which the party had won in 2016.
Trinamul insiders, when asked about the new projects and announcements, said they do not want to lose the vote bank, particularly because the civic and rural elections are ahead.
“Also, we are focusing on the 2024 Lok Sabha polls and need to wrest the Parliament seats of north Bengal from BJP,” said a Trinamul leader.
At the administrative meeting, Mamata reiterated that her focus is on employment generation and passed instructions to expedite the process of setting up a textile park on the land of a state-run spinning mill in North Dinajpur and an industrial park in another site of South Dinajpur.
“The local trade bodies should come forward and open textile and other units here. We will extend all possible assistance to them,” she said.
The chief minister also addressed a number of infrastructural issues, which include construction of a bridge that can connect Raiganj with Barsoi, a town in the neighbouring state of Bihar and its adjoining areas, but simultaneously underscored that the state government is facing crisis over funds.
“We are coming up with 46 new colleges and can consider new proposals only after these are established. The state is spending hundreds of crores for Laxmir Bhandar (the monthly assistance scheme for women) and for other social projects. We do not get funds from the Centre and the public representatives will have to understand it,” she said.
In course of the meeting, Abdul Karim Choudhury, a Trinamul veteran and the MLA of Islampur, came in her line of fire as he raised the demand for a separate Islampur district.
“We cannot do it now….. we do not have adequate officers. Also, a lot needs to be done if a new district is created,” Mamata rebutted as the MLA went on harping on the issue.
