Leaders of several regional political parties and organisations of the Darjeeling hills met at an all-party meeting in Darjeeling on Saturday and renewed their demand for a permanent political solution to the long-pending Gorkhaland issue.
In the meeting, a detailed assessment of ongoing projects was carried out with particular focus on the reconstruction of the Dudhey Bridge, which was destroyed in the devastating landslide in October 2025.
The announcements span almost every district, from Darjeeling, Kalimpong, Jalpaiguri and Alipurduar to Cooch Behar, Uttar Dinajpur, Dakshin Dinajpur and Malda, reflecting a strategy aimed at balanced regional development.
A comprehensive review meeting involving the district administrations of Darjeeling and Kalimpong and the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA) was held at the GTA headquarters in Darjeeling on Wednesday to assess key developmental issues and chart out priorities for the hill region.
Speaking in Parliament on The Industrial Relations Code (Amendment) Bill, 2026 on Thursday, Darjeeling MP Raju Bista said that decades after Independence, several labour laws drafted during the British era continued to govern the country, describing them as outdated and in need of reform.
"The list of issues that will be discussed in the monsoon session of Parliament has come out, and it is unfortunate that no issue of the Gorkhas has been mentioned there. Recently, tribal status to different communities was granted in Arunachal Pradesh, but the MP has not done anything regarding the demand for tribal status for 11 different communities here," AIGL general secretary SP Sharma said.
Mr Bista has also extended his gratitude to Mr Gadkari for taking due cognizance of the issues concerning the highway that he had raised and for taking necessary steps to address them.
The DI has already been working with the Edward Foundation through their Project CARE (Critical Aid Response), through which they are providing medical equipment and other things related to Covid patients with stress laid on oxygen concentrators.
The first red pandas for this programme had been brought in from various European zoos during the late 80s and early 90s.
According to him, he was closely monitoring the situation.
