Mamata Banerjee formally declares Alipurduar as 20th district of West Bengal

ALIPURDUAR: The Jalpaiguri district in North Bengal's Dooars region was bifurcated today to create Alipurduar district - the 20th in West Bengal.

Turning the Alipurduar sub-division into a district was a long standing demand of the people and they would immensely benefit from the move, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said at a function here.

She said since the district headquarters of Jalpaiguri was far away, the people of Alipurduar sub-division faced hardships in availing government services and had to spend long hours travelling to and from the district headquarters which was over a 100 km away.

Alipurduar has a large concentration of Adivasi people and has around 70 tea gardens, the Chief Minister said adding the state government would lay emphasis on tea tourism, besides improving small scale industries there.

Banerjee warned against any divisive politics which might threaten the peace in the Hills and plains and reiterated her stand against any division of Bengal.

Without naming the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha, which wanted a separate Gorkhaland, she said "Let the people living in the plains and the Hills remain happy. Darjeeling Hills are smiling and Tarai and Dooars are also smiling."

The Mamata Banerjee-government had decided to create a number of new districts and Alipurduar was one of them.