Siliguri: Union home minister Amit Shah will begin a three-day visit to Siliguri on Thursday, focusing on the strategic Siliguri Corridor — the narrow land link to Northeast popularly called “Chicken’s Neck” — alongside border-security reviews and Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) projects.The visit comes against the backdrop of Siliguri’s location near international borders with Nepal and Bhutan. SSB guards both frontiers, making the region vital to border-security operations.Shah will arrive at Bagdogra airport from Chennai on Thursday evening and stay overnight at New Chumta near Sukna. On Aug 21, he will visit SSB frontier headquarters in Siliguri between 11.45am and 1pm to attend foundation-laying ceremonies for various projects, followed by a “bara khana“ with jawans.He will then attend a public meeting on Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita at Kawakhali ground between 3pm and 4.30pm before returning to Sukna for two review meetings. On Aug 22, the final day of his tour, Shah will hold two meetings and depart for New Delhi from Bagdogra airport at 2pm by an IAF aircraft.The tour comes barely a month after Shah’s July visit, when he inspected surveillance technologies at Jhumagachh outpost, laid the foundation for BSF projects worth about Rs 77 crore, and said Centre’s “smart borders” security grid would first be rolled out in Bengal.The visit also carries political significance for Darjeeling hills. Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) general secretary Roshan Giri said the outfit would seek an appointment with the home minister to raise regional issues and press for a permanent political solution (PPS). “We will seek to meet the minister, push for PPS and demand that GTA be scrapped,” Giri said.GJM has recently pushed for a solution through dialogue involving Centre and the state govt, while seeking an alternative to GTA during discussions with state functionaries.
