Gautam Deb lays the foundation stone for the vegetable processing centre near Jalpaiguri on Thursday. (Biplab Basak)

March 7: North Bengal development minister Gautam Deb today said the state government would slice Haldibari block off Cooch Behar district and bring it under Jalpaiguri district.

He said the move would address a long-pending grouse of people about the long distance they had to travel for administrative purposes.

The Haldibari block with a population of 1.5 lakh people is 150km away from the current district headquarters in Cooch Behar town by road, while Jalpaiguri town is just 26km away.

Deb said the reorganisation would take place along with the bifurcation of Jalpaiguri district to form the new Alipurduar district.

“The state government has launched the task of forming the separate Alipurduar district. We have also noticed the problems faced by the residents of Haldibari, who have to travel 150km to reach Cooch Behar for administrative tasks. So, we will include the Haldibari block in Jalpaiguri district,” he said.

Haldibari is under Mekhliganj subdivision and both the towns are about 85km apart. While Haldibari is on the right bank of the Teesta, Mekhliganj is on the other side of the river. The people of Haldibari have to first reach Jalpaiguri and then cross the Teesta to travel to Mekhliganj town.

Had there been a bridge over the river to connect Haldibari with Mekhliganj, the distance between the two towns would have come down by around 50km. On the way to Cooch Behar from Haldibari, one has to cross Mekhliganj.

“The state government will bring Haldibari under the Jalpaiguri Sadar subdivision. The process will be kicked off after the panchayat polls are over,” said the minister.

Deb made the announcement after laying the foundation for the Universal Vegetable Processing Centre on Haldibari Road near Jalpaiguri town.

Once Alipurduar district is formed, Jalpaiguri would lose 13 blocks. Haldibari municipality has a population of around 20,000.

A Jalpaiguri resident said Haldibari’s addition would be a boost for the district in terms of agriculture. “Haldibari is the producer of many agricultural products such as tomato and chilli in north Bengal. If the block is added to Jalpaiguri, it would help improve the farming scene of our district,” said Madhab Das, a Jalpaiguri resident.

The Universal Vegetable Processing Centre will be set up by the Siliguri Jalpaiguri Development Authority. The centre will produce tomato powder and store and merchandise other vegetables. “The tomato processing centre would be an integrated facility for farmers. It will have research centres, cold storage facilities, processing unit, showroom, ATM counter and offices,” said an SJDA official.

The minister said the government would build two roads, connecting Jaigaon on the Bhutan border with Changrabandha along the Bangladesh boundary and Panitanki along the Nepal border with Fulbari along the Bangladesh boundary.

“The roads will be constructed with an assistance of Rs 264 crore received from the Asian Development Bank. Necessary infrastructure like parking, land customs stations, immigration facilities and refreshment areas will be set up at the four locations,” he said.