Calcutta, Aug. 13: The Bengal government today decided to invite industrialists to utilise and develop a 64-acre plot of medicinal plantation at Alipurduar.

The decision was taken at a meeting of the North Bengal Development Council (NBDC), chaired by its chairman, chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, at Writers’ Buildings.

“The plantation which was envisaged and grown by the former health and irrigation minister, the late Nani Bhattacharya, will now be used for industry and research. We will invite companies to develop the plantation and put it to good use. The chief minister himself brought up the matter. We will provide the infrastructure to facilitate the industrialisation process,” Srikumar Mukherjee, the state civil defence minister, told newspersons after the meeting.

The NBDC was given an additional Rs 45 crore to expedite existing schemes and to implement new projects.

“A bridge built over the Mahananda to connect Malda and North Dinajpur was completed three years ago at Chanchol, but could not be used because there were no approach-roads. Building the approach-road has been taken up on a priority basis,” Mukherjee said.

“The responsibility of constructing a new road connecting North and South Dinajpurs at Harirampur has been given to the public works department.”

The government has also decided to construct sluice gates at both ends of a 29-km natural canal in north Bengal.

“The sluice gates will enable the water body to be used effectively for fishery and irrigation, which will benefit at least one lakh people,” added Mukherjee.

The NBDC has asked district magistrates of north Bengal to conduct a fact-finding mission on the current status of the members of the Kamtapur Liberation Organisation and the Kamtapur People’s Party and file a report so that the government can work on their rehabilitation.

The government has also decided to finance a new college being constructed at Naxalbari.