July 25, 2016
Saugata Roy questions the Centre on its stand on small tea gardens during Question Hour in LS – Full Transcript
West Bengal is the biggest tea producing state after Assam and we have large number of gardens in the district of Darjeeling and Jalpaiguri. We are facing a peculiar phenomenon that gardens belonging to a large business group are closing down. But new small tea gardens are coming up in Islampur, North Dinajpur district.
Now I want to ask the minister specifically what the is their policy regarding small tea gardens and big gardens. Just before Assembly elections in West Bengal, the Commerce Minister visited the State and said that the Centre would take over seven sick gardens of the Duncan group which are lying closed and that the Tea Board will look after them.
May I inform the Hon’ble Minister that four months after your announcement not one garden has opened, not one garden has been taken over. So what is your policy with regard to opening of the close tea gardens of the Duncan group which you had announced in west Bengal just before the Assembly elections?
