In the last administrative meeting before the upcoming three-tier gram panchayat polls of Birbhum district in Bolpur, chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday hinted that the polls will be held in August.

In 2013, the gram panchayat polls were held in April -May but it seems that the election will be delayed by around three months this time.

The state election commission is, however, yet to announce the dates of the three-tier gram panchayat polls. Though she did not explain the reason for the delay but sources said that Miss Banerjee is always against holding election in extreme summer conditions.

The climate in August will be rather pleasant, they said. Speaking at the administrative meeting at Bolpur, Miss Mamata Banerjee said that the panchayat polls is likely to be held in August and prior to that, focus should be laid on developmental activities.

“All ongoing projects should be completed before the polls,”she told the BDO, SDO, ADM and other top officials of the district.

Eyeing the upcoming panchayat polls and in a bid to woo the voters, she announced that the loan amount of the Kisan Credit Cards and the self- help groups will be increased.

She has instructed the state cooperative banks to provide and increase the loan amount to every farmer. She also said that the development work should not be disrupted due to the voting process.

“We are topper in the 100 days MGNREGA work and very soon people will get employment under the 100 -day job scheme for cleaning activities, even in the urban municipal areas,” she added.

Shealso directed all the municipality heads to undertake cleanliness drives and asked them to compete with themselves to bring out the best amongst themselves in the state.

She has said that in Rajarhat, on 300 acres of land, an IT Hub will be set up which will be modelled on the Silicon Valley.

Speaking to the industrialists here on Wednesday she informed them that the Centre has been increasing the price of coal twice or thrice a year, but still the state power utilities have not increased the power tariff much to the relief of the consumers.