TMC Govt neglecting tea workers, aims to end industry: Suvendu

BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari on Tuesday attacked the Trinamool Congress Government of West Bengal, accusing Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee of neglecting the interests of indigenous communities and tea garden labourers, while protecting illegal immigrants.

Alleging that workers of a few tea gardens did not get salaries for the past few months, he claimed that several tribal communities, such as Rajbanshis, were consistently ignored by the TMC Government, as they did not form the ruling party’s political support base.

Painting a grim picture of the tea industry in north Bengal, which is a stronghold of the BJP, Adhikari alleged that it had been “completely destroyed” during the TMC regime.

“In several gardens, workers had not received salaries for the past four to five months. Gardens like Bhatkhawa and Madhu are closed, while many others are in a critical condition,” the leader of the Opposition in the state assembly claimed.

Adhikari said that the Union labour minister had recently visited Siliguri to assess the situation, but asserted that the primary responsibility lay with the state Government. “Management and labour issues of tea gardens fall under the West Bengal Labour Department, but it is not doing anything,” he alleged.

He said that the BJP wants the state Government to release the pending salaries.

The BJP leader also charged the state Government with facilitating the diversion of tea garden land for commercial use.

The chief minister wrote letters three times to keep Bangladeshi Muslim infiltrators and Rohingyas on the voter list, but she did not raise this demand even once for the tea garden workers