Administrative work still left for implementation of Land Boundary Agreement : Mamata Banerjee

Siliguri: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday said a lot of administrative work was still left for implementation of the Land Boundary Agreement with Bangladesh and both governments were working on it to complete the process soon.

"A lot of administrative work is still left for the implementation of LBA. It is being done by governments of both India and Bangladesh. It will be completed soon.

"I will myself go to Cooch Benhar when the work is over," Banerjee, who is on a four-day tour of north Bengal, told newsmen here in reply to queries.

Enclaves to be exchanged with Bangladesh are in West Bengal's Cooch Behar district and both Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Bangladesh counter Sheikh Hasina had given directives to concerned officials on both sides for expeditious implementation of the 1974 Land Boundary Agreement and its 2011 Protocol on the ground. The instruments for ratification of LBA was signed on June 6 during Modi's visit to Bangladesh when Banerjee was also present.

The chief minister said there was a lot of work left for the development of north Bengal. "Today's meeting with the officers of north Bengal districts was my 97th one," she said adding a meeting of the North Bengal Development Authority will be held in Darjeeling tomorrow.

Asked about the closed tea gardens in north Bengal, the chief minister said a Rs 100-crore fund has been created by the state government for reviving them. To questions on the three-day old fast by Bharati Tamang, the widow of slain ABGL leader Madan Tamang demanding arrest of GJM leaders allegedly involved in it, Banerjee said she was not aware of the whole situation.

"I only want peace in the Hills and in the plains in the state," she added.