Union Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee announced a host of new projects for North Bengal, including new trains, on Sunday.

With the Siliguri issue fresh in her mind, she spared no words to underline that North Bengal will be her priority in the coming days. Banerjee inaugurated a tri-weekly superfast train from New Jalpaiguri station to Sealdah and laid the foundation for a multi-functional complex at Siliguri junction.

By developing connectivity, industrialisation of North Bengal can be made possible, she said.

“There are major tourism opportunities here. We will make North Bengal our own Switzerland. Tomorrow, I will flag off another train, which will connect New Jalpaiguri station with Digha,” Banerjee said at a rally in Siliguri town.

Congress MLA Debaprasad Roy, who had resigned as vice-president of Pradesh Congress to protest against the party taking CPM’s support to form the Board, was present on the occasion.

Accusing the Left of ignoring the region, the Trinamool Congress chief said she will regularly visit North Bengal and see that development works are carried out and people get jobs. “I wanted to do this earlier and it was in my Budget speech. But since Siliguri municipal elections were on, I could not,” she said.

While flagging off the new superfast train, Banerjee said: “This train is now tri-weekly, but I will make it available after getting the requisite number of rakes.” The multi-functional complex is supposed to house shops and business establishment on railway land and will be set up on the private-public-partnership model.

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