Tea Board to work with Bengal govt on reopening closed gardens

The Tea Board will approach the West Bengal government to seek help on reopening closed tea gardens in Dooars region, its chairman Siddharth has said.
"We will soon approach the state government to see how both parties can collaborate for reopening of the five closed gardens in north Bengal," Siddharth told reporters here today.
The move came after reports of alleged starvation deaths in Raipur tea estate in Jalpaiguri which was closed, leaving workers jobless.
Siddharth said the Tea Board is governed by two legislations, the Plantation Labour Act and the Tea Act.
While the first legislation pertained to the responsibility of the state government, the second was a central act under which the Tea Board could explore the possibility of handing over the management of the closed gardens to an entrepreneur.

He said the legislation, however, was silent on the details on how management transfer could be effected thus opening the doors for litigation.

In this regard, the Tea Board was also contemplating in bringing amendments to the Tea Act after which such transfers would give legal protection to new owners.
Chairman of Indian Tea Association (ITA) and MD of Goodricke A N Singh said that he was hearing that the state government was willing to talk to large producers for taking over the closed gardens.
There were eight tea gardens closed in the country.