The Bengal government has allotted land for the development of the infrastructure at the Changrabandha land port on the India-Bangladesh border in Cooch Behar district.

Chief secretary H.K. Dwivedi who held a meeting with senior officials of the government and the district administration here on Sunday, said the project would be executed in collaboration with the Land Ports Authority of India (LPAI).

“The export and import through Changrabandha is on the rise. To boost the bilateral trade with Bangladesh, the state cabinet approved a proposal to set up necessary infrastructure at the land port. A plot of 30 acres has been identified and the project will be implemented in association with the LPAI. Next to the land port, we will also build a truck terminus,” Dwivedi said after the meeting.

He also said for the improvement of air connectivity in Cooch Behar, the government, in association with the Airports Authority of India, carried out a joint survey to expand the runway. As of now, a nine-seat flight operates from here but we want 26 or 40-seat aircraft to run from here. For that, we need the expansion,” the senior official said.

Dwivedi also referred to the business summit that was held in north Bengal a few days back. “Many entrepreneurs from Cooch Behar, who want to invest in the MSME sector, had attended the meet. In Mekhliganj, we have identified around 400 acres of land where an industrial complex will be developed,” said the chief secretary.

Road repair

The civic body in Alipurduar took the task to repair a 120-metre-long road adjacent to Alipurduar University on Saturday night, within a few hours after Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee expressed displeasure over the dilapidated condition of the road.

Yesterday afternoon, Mamata, while strolling in the town, had moved into the area. The road’s condition prompted her to instruct the district magistrate and the local councilor to repair the road immediately.

At around 10pm, residents were surprised to see that workers, along with materials and equipment, had moved into their area. The road has been in bad condition for the past couple of years, they had told the chief minister.

Prasenjit Kar, the chairman of Alipurduar municipality said they had already issued a work order for the road and work was supposed to commence next week.

“But as the chief minister instructed, we asked the concerned contractor to start the work immediately. Accordingly, repair works started at night and will finish soon,” he said.

Additional reporting by our Alipurduar correspondent