With unemployment, starvation and deaths still stalking the closed tea gardens of North Bengal, the State Government is planning to auction some gardens so as to bring the sagging tea industry to life.
The Chief Minister, who was touring Jalpaiguri and neighbouring Alipurduar districts of the region said her Government, was willing to “take over and auction the tea gardens wherever possible.”
With such steps in mind the Chief Minister also announced formation of a Tea Directorate with local MlA Saurav Chakrabarty as its chairman.
Circuitously blaming the Centre for “not fulfilling its commitment”, the Chief Minister said while her Government was doing everything to mitigate the problems of the poor tea workers, the Centre was not taking enough interest in the rebuilding the tea industry.
“The Centre should act immediately so that the workers get their wages and other benefits” she said, adding her Government was “already giving food, electricity and medical assistance to them.” She said the garden workers were benefitting from the State Government’s scheme to provide Rs2-a-kg rice.
Giving his reactions Ziaur Alam a local labour leader however wondered how the State Government would sell the lands as the “State only held the land lease of the tea gardens. If a tea estate has to be, auctioned then the Central Government has to invoke the Tea Act and acquire a garden. The Centre can then hand it over to the State Government.”
The Chief Minister in November 2015 announced taking over of tea gardens of a famous group. However the Centre finally acquired it. Siliguri MlA and former Minister Asok Bhattcharya said the Chief Minister was again trying to befool the people by peddling lies. “The State has five tea gardens of its own. It could have sold them. But have they done it till nowIJ” another local labour leader asked.
Though the State Government has remained in denial mode, the tea gardens of North Bengal have witnessed more than one hundred starvation deaths in the past more than a year or so.
With about three dozen gardens out of 277 lying closed, the several thousand tea workers have been rendered jobless and have no access to basic amenities.