Buddha wants Darjeeling bill to be put on hold

NEW DELHI: Even as CPM’s central committee sought a serious review of West Bengal’s industrialisation policy, chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharya met home minister Shivraj Patil on Friday and demanded that the proposed legislation to grant Sixth Schedule status to the Darjeeling Hill Council should be put on hold for some time.

Less than six months back, Bhattacharya had demanded early passage of the Bill and even knocked on the doors of BJP leader L K Advani seeking his cooperation in its passage. Though the CM said the decision to put the legislation on hold has been made due to the demand of many organisations like the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM), insiders view it in the light of the party’s fast depleting base in the hills.

Earlier, the CM met PM Manmohan Singh and sought early clearance of the Kolkata airport modernisation project and the proposal of a deep sea port. Within hours, the government cleared the airport modernisation project. Unlike Mumbai and Delhi, modernisation worth Rs 2,000 crore would be carried out by the Airports Authority of India.

As for the panchayat poll results, public posturing apart, the West Bengal government would definitely slow down the relentless industrialisation drive after the drubbing. The message from CPM’s central committee is that people need to be won over before the state government gets down to land acquisition. [Times of India]

[Thanks to Jyotidi for sharing this news report | Barun ]