Sitharaman to visit closed tea gardens of north Bengal

Union Commerce and Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will visit closed tea gardens in north Bengal early February, a Tea Board source said.
There are five tea gardens in north Bengal hundreds of workers are suffering from malnutrition and living in abject destitution.
"Sitharaman will visit closed tea gardens of north Bengal in the first week of February," the source told PTI.
He said the Tea Board would be coordinating the visit of the minister.
The source said the Tea Board had held a meeting with the chief secretary of the West Bengal government in October 2014 since the state was a major stakeholder.

He said the matter relating to the minister's visit had been already taken up with the state government, adding that the intention was to have a concerted effort for re-opening of the gardens.

The West Bengal government is a major stakeholder since the land was provided on lease to the gardens and it is also responsible for the implementation of the Plantation Labour Act.
The issue of closed tea gardens has given rise to a political debate between the ruling Trinamool Congress in West Bengal and various opposition parties including the BJP.
Meanwhile, the West Bengal government has put the four sick tea estates owned by West Bengal Tea Development Corporation on the block.