New road to connect Jangalmahal with North Bengal, to cost Rs 3,200 cr: CM
Kolkata: Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Friday announced a new road project connecting Jangalmahal with North Bengal at an approximate cost of Rs 3,200 crore.
“A project has been taken up where a road will be built to connect South Bengal to North Bengal. This road will approach from Daspur in West Midnapore and will go straight to Natungram and More Gram in Burdwan via Jairambati in Bankura. From there, the road will go to North Bengal,” Banerjee said. She was addressing a public distribution programme in Bankura.
During the event, Banerjee laid the foundation stones of eight projects for supplying piped drinking water in various areas covering over 60,000 people. The total cost of the projects would be around Rs 69 crore. Around 7.33 lakh houses will benefit from the piped-water connection under the Jal Swapna Prakalpa project by 2024.
“In Barjora Industrial Park, around 10,000 small-scale industries have come up, and many other small private projects have also started. Earlier, when we came to Jangalmahal areas, namely Purulia, Medinipur and Jhargram, people remained indoors due to Maoist problems. However, in the last 11 years, not a single incident of Maoist attack has taken place in the region,” Banerjee said.
She also mentioned that Duare Sarkar camps will be held regularly over a gap of three months. “Those who have not applied for our social welfare schemes yet, visit these camps. Almost 7.44 crore people had applied for the state government’s welfare schemes, of which, 6.82 crore have availed of our services.”
The Chief Minister inaugurated a host of projects worth around Rs 400 crore which include developmental projects for the SC/ST, OBC and the tribals. Through the public distribution programme of Friday, around 1.65 lakh people will be availing of various government services. Over 37,000 students were given cycles under the Sabooj Sathi scheme while another 27,000 beneficiaries have been added to the Lakshmir Bhandar scheme. Around 15,000 beneficiaries also got their caste certificates, with 41,000 people getting their Swasthya Sathi cards.
“We will also be giving Kanyashree benefits to 4,500 girl children, while 13,000 and 9,000 beneficiaries will avail of Krishak Bandhu and Khadya Sathi schemes respectively,” CM added. She also said 10 lakh youths will set up their business over the next five years. The state will help them to get bank loans up to Rs 5 lakh so that they can further generate employment for others.
“Bankura has even got the GI Tag for its Baluchari sarees. Your music is appreciated worldwide, but we want more. We want your Dhokra Art to gain popularity too. There are plenty of beautiful places in Bankura, right from Joychandi Pahad to Mukutmanipur. Plenty of tourists visit these areas each year and we are helping locals to come up with homestays,” Banerjee further stated.
