As Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee claims of unprecedented development in the north Bengal region that includes the Terai, the Dooars and the Hills, during her tenure, Darjeeling’s BJP MP Raju Bista has laid bare the lack of such development in rural areas.

Claiming such development, Miss Banerjee even expressed her unhappiness over the people’s verdict in the last Lok Sabha elections, which went against her party, despite the so-called development. A case in point is such under-development in a few villages located at Putinbari tea plantation, which is barely 10 km away from Siliguri, a fast growing second biggest city in West Bengal. As Mr Bista visited the villages today, he said he was appalled by the state of affairs in the area that still does not have road connectivity.

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Observers were quick to take note of Mr Bista’s visit to the tea gardens and claimed that the MP has now laid bare the exact reasons behind the “people’s sentiment against the Trinamul Congressled state government and the chief minister, who always claims that her main mantra is development.”

“Today, I visited Putinbari tea garden which is just around 10-12 km from Siliguri. It was shocking to see that despite being located in such close proximity of the second largest city of West Bengal, the people here do not have any road connectivity,” Mr Bista said. “When the water level is low during the autumn season, people here use tractors to cross the river locally known as Raktikhola, a tributary of the Balasan river, and go out for their daily work,” Mr Bista said, adding, “To reach out to those villagers, I also crossed the river on a tractor today. However, during the rainy season, as the level of water rises, more than 5000 people living in the surrounding villages remain completely cut-off from Siliguri.” According to villagers in the garden area, the bridge over Raktikhola, which once connected Putinbari with the outside world, collapsed several years ago, but that the state government made no efforts to reconstruct the bridge. “Because of lack of proper road connectivity, I was informed that many medical patients died because they could not be transported to the hospital on time. Students, youths, and senior citizens have to face great difficulties every day,” the Darjeeling MP said.

He also visited the remaining part of Raktikhola bridge, connecting Khaprail and Fulbari Busty. The bridge was washed away during the recent rains, hitting over 25,000 people for whom the bridge was a lifeline, the villagers informed the MP.

“I had previously received a representation regarding the need for reconstructing the bridge and forwarded the same to the district magistrate’s office. However, as the people informed me, no efforts have been made towards the reconstruction of the bridge,” Mr Bista said.

The MP further said he assured the people that he would do everything in his capacity to restore connectivity to these villages.

“As elected representatives of the government, it must be our collective responsibility to ensure that people have access to basic infrastructure. I strongly believe that our politics should not be just about garnering votes, but about ensuring that people are not denied of their basic rights, facilities, and services that are meant for the public,” Mr Bista told the villagers. “I also request the local administration and the state government to ensure that people are not deprived of basic amenities like roads and water, even after 73 years of our country’s independence,” he added.