Hingalganj: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee announced Sundarbans as a new district in the state at a meeting in North 24 Pargana's Samsernagar on Tuesday. "We are making a master plan for the Sundarbans. It will be sent to the Central government," the Chief Minister said. She put the message out from the administrative meeting held in Hingalganj's Samsernagar in North 24 Parganas on Tuesday. Urging the Centre to come up and aid the process, Banerjee noted that "If there is a separate district, the people of Sundarbans will not have to go far for the government services. They will get various government facilities close at hand".
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"The Sundarbans region is repeatedly affected by river erosion. Therefore, the State government has taken initiative on how to prevent erosion. It has been decided that a master plan will be submitted to the Central government in this regard," she said. Nine new jetties would be opened and existing ones would be developed further to help frequent docking of vessels, she also said. The Chief Minister further said that the mangrove cover in the forests would be increased. "Already about 15 crore mangrove saplings have been planted in the Sundarbans. The administration has been asked to look into planting more trees in the coming days," she said.
