Chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday afternoon left for a three-day visit to Jangalmahal. It is her first visit to the Maoist-hit West Midnapore and Bankura after becoming the chief minister. Elaborate security measures have been made to ensure her safety. Establishing peace in Jangalmahal and resolving the contentious dispute in the
Hills were two of the Trinamul Congress’ major poll planks. Ms Banerjee had promised to achieve the two goals within 200 days after coming to power. She earnestly embarked on both missions from the day (May 20) she took office.
Last Thursday, she launched a Jangalmahal peace initiative. The chief minister initiated talks with the Maoists, formed a team of members of civil society to initiate peace process, agreed to withdraw forces if all arms were surrendered and worked out a comprehensive development package. To demonstrate her sincerity and to win the confidence of the people in Jangalmahal, she agreed to release 46 political prisoners.
Ms Banerjee will also hold talks with the authorities of three Maoist-hit districts — West Midnapore, Bankura and Purulia — at the circuit house in Midnapore Town on Monday evening. She will spend the night there and leave for Nayagram at 10 am on Tuesday. At 12 pm, she will reach Kharikarathani in Nayagram. This is the largest market place for local tribals and she is likely to announce important development and welfare packages.
She will then proceed to Jhargram where at the local stadium, she would attend a government programme after which she will leave for Bankura by train. On Wednesday, the chief minister will attend a programme at Sarenga in Bankura. Sources in the CMO said that in both West Midnapore and Bankura, the chief minister is likely to distribute pattas of land, agriculture pension, scholarships to students, ST certificates and bicycles among girls.
The chief minister is accompanied by state PWD minister Subrata Bakshi, housing minister Shyamapada Mukherjee, western region development affairs minister Sukumar Hansda, backward classes welfare minister Upen Biswas, chief secretary Samar Ghosh, home secretary G.D. Gautama and agriculture secretary Anil Kumar Agarwal. Minister of state for railways Mukul Roy is also accompanying the chief minister.