Darjeeling MP Raju Bista’s file image | Image source: PTI
Dajir MP Raju Bista and MLA Neeraj Zimba met with Governor CV Ananda Bose on Wednesday (26 February 2025) and raised concerns about the West Bengal government’s decision to allocate 30% of tea gardens for tourism and related purposes.
“I want to complain to him about Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. The West Bengal government has never heard of Darjeeling. MamataJIThe decision to give 30% or more tea garden land to the gardener, and investors are illegal. The governor assured me that he would investigate this. ” MP Daguiyer told reporters after meeting with the governor.
At the Bangladesh Global Business Summit earlier this month, Ms. Banerjee announced that 30% of tea plantation land would be allocated for non-TEA purposes. On Tuesday (25 February 2025), the Chief Minister assured that the state government will not disrupt tea ceremony while approving tourism-related activities.
Mr. Bista, a member of the BJP MP, threatened to threaten the incitement of North Bangladesh in the case of the state government implementing its plans.
“During his tenure at Mamata Banerjee, North Bangladesh is facing a serious problem. More than one acre of tea garden land has been given to industrialists. The land has more quantum than Singh and Nandigram. Unused land in the tea garden area has not been recovered from 1955 until today,” said the MP.
Meanwhile, Paschim Banga Khet Major Samity introduced the issue of transferring land from tea gardens in a press statement and said it would replace workers from home.
“The policy allows existing Labor Day transfers and reconstructions for tourism or any other commercial projects. This means that workers who have lived on these lands for more than 150 years can be forcibly evicted in the name of “development”. These lands are not only houses, but communities, culture and history,” Samity’s statement said.
The tea industry is already struggling due to the decline in production, the Tea Garden Alliance said.
“The government is not supporting the revitalization of plantations and increasing employment, but is promoting permanent land transfers in plantations,” the statement added.
According to the union, no tourism project or business can produce a level of work in tea gardens.
publishing – February 27, 2025 at 01:30 am IST
