Responding to a proposal sent by Darjeeling MP Raju Bista, the Tea Board of India has said it will “examine” the possibility of taking over closed tea gardens “very carefully.”

In a letter he wrote to the Tea Board Chairman, Prabhat K Bezbaruah, Mr Bista had said that people have been facing problems after the closure of the Dhotrey, Kallej Valley and Peshok tea plantations in the Hills, which have remained shut since 2015, and the Panighatta Tea Estate in the plains that is shut since 2015.

Mr Bista has also pointed out that several more tea gardens in the Dooars region have been abandoned by owners, but yet no action have been taken to hand over those gardens to new owners. “I request you to examine the possibility of taking over those tea gardens by invoking Section 16D, under Chapter IIIA of the Tea Act 1953, which gives power to the Central Government to assume management or control tea undertaking or tea unit in certain cases,” Mr Bista has said in his letter.

Asked to comment on the letter, Tea Board Chiarman Mr Bezbaruah, today told The Statesman over the phone from Guwahati that they have to examine the issue very carefully. “If the Centre wants to take over, that must be a fool proof way, so that the present owners cannot easily manage a stay from the courts,” he said. He also recalled his experiences on a decision to take over tea gardens in this region four years ago.

“The Tea Board had taken over gardens owned by the Duncans group, but Dancuns got a stay order from the Calcutta High Court. Duncans group is also running those gardens and not paying its contribution to the workers’ Provident Fund and even other legitimate claims of the workers. So we have to examine the issue carefully so that the owners cannot manage stay orders from the courts easily,”

Mr Bezbaruah said. It may recalled that Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had criticised the role of the central government on the issue of taking over those gardens belonging to the Duncans group. She had said publicly that the BJP had bagged the Madarihat Assembly Constituency by showcasing the Tea Board’s initiative to take over those gardens, but did nothing for the workers of those gardens.

On the other hand, local BJP leaders, including the MLA from Madarihat, Manoj Tigga, blamed the state for is alleged support to Duncans, and said that the state did not want the Centre to do good for tea gardens and the workers associated with closed and loss-making tea plantations in the region. It may be noted that tea workers went on an agitation in the tea belt on 3 July, renewing their demand for implementation of the Minimum Wages Act, and raising legitimate issues and claims.

One such issue was the problem of time-bound correction of mismatches in the Aadhar link with PF and bank accounts. On this, Mr Bista said he has drawn the attention of the Chairman of the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), J Satyanarayan, on 14 January this year, and requested him to set up the Aadhar Registration and Correction Centre for the Darjeeling parliamentary area.

“I am happy to share the news that the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology is opening up a CSC ASK (Common Service Centre/Aadhar Seva Kendra) in this region, comprising the Hills and the plains,” Mr Bista said, adding, “The proposal for Chopra, an Assembly segment of my Lok Sabha Constituency, under the Islampur sub-division in North Dinajpur district, is under progress.”