Chief minister Mamata Banerjee will reach north Bengal next week for a three-day visit and attend a public service distribution programme in Jalpaiguri, senior administrative officials said on Wednesday.

During her visit, she is likely to meet senior Trinamool Congress leaders of the region to discuss the party’s activities, keeping in mind the upcoming Assembly polls.

“The chief minister is likely to reach Siliguri on September 9, and the following day, she will attend a public service distribution programme on the ABPC Ground in Jalpaiguri. On September 11, she is likely to return to Calcutta,” said a source in the administration.

Mamata Banerjee/ file

In Jalpaiguri, the chief minister will lay the foundation stone of a drinking water project of ₹150 crore. Under the project, water will be pumped from the Teesta to provide drinking water to households in Jalpaiguri town.

“In the first phase, there is a plan to provide drinking water to around 19,000 households in the town,” said a representative of the local civic body.

With less than a year left for the Assembly elections, Mamata’s visit to north Bengal is significant as Trinamool and the BJP are steadfastly focusing on the region that has 54 Assembly seats.

In 2021, the BJP had bagged 30 seats while Trinamool had won 23 seats. However, Trinamool won some byelections later.

“BJP is desperate to retain all these seats as was evident from the visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Alipurduar in May, his first tour of Bengal after last year’s Lok Sabha elections. Since then, the Prime Minister has been regularly visiting Bengal,” said a political observer.

Trinamool, on the other hand, has been consistently playing the development card and is now highlighting the harassment faced by migrant workers who hail from north Bengal in BJP-ruled states.

“We expect there will be some important announcements about development as well as the initiation of some infrastructural projects during the visit of the chief minister. Mamata Banerjee and her party want to drive home the point that the BJP, despite having legislators from the region, has not done much for north Bengal,” the observer said.

On Wednesday, administrative and police officials, along with representatives of the Jalpaiguri municipality, visited the ABPC Ground where the public service distribution will be held.

Engineers of the state public works department were present at the venue.

“The chief minister will attend the event on September 10. We visited the ground today and are drawing up plans for the government programme,” Jalpaiguri district magistrate Shama Parveen said.

Additional reporting by our Jalpaiguri correspondent