: In an effort to develop north Bengal into an ‘industrial belt’, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee announced plans on Monday at a public meeting in Siliguri in Darjeeling district to run air services between Cooch Behar district and Kolkata, via Durgapur in Burdwan district. The service is likely to begin by November.
She started her three-day tour of north Bengal on Monday.
Ms. Banerjee, who recently visited Singapore to invite investments in her State, said the non-functional airport at Cooch Behar was being revamped with the help of the Singapore Changi Airport and an agreement had been signed in Singapore.
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“The four-day-a-week service will be given nearly 50 per cent subsidy initially in order to make it viable,” Ms. Banerjee said and added that Rs. 602 crore had been sanctioned for the project in Bengal, which is part of the ambitious Asian Highway project connecting different countries in this region.
She issued 1000 permits for no-refusal taxis in Siliguri and the launch of a new pension office there. The branch pension directorate will start functioning at Uttar Kanya, the north Bengal branch of the State secretariat, from Tuesday and will clear pension papers for retired primary and secondary teachers in north Bengal.
“Earlier, people of north Bengal had to go to Kolkata to collect pension. Now, a pension directorate has been set up here,” she said.
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