The tea belt is set to witness the Cha Sundari project taking center stage in the upcoming Panchayat elections, as Trinamool aims to leverage its popularity to gain an edge. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s ambitious project is poised to make a significant impact in the tea belt region.
The Chief Minister personally had handed over the keys of Cha Sundari houses to tea workers during her visit to Alipurduar, earlier this year. According to the Plantation Labor Act, the responsibility of constructing housing for tea workers lies with the tea estate owners. However, over the past 70 years, a staggering 99 per cent of tea plantation owners in North Bengal failed to fulfill this obligation. Consequently, the government’s humanitarian effort to build Cha Sundari houses has been hailed by a section of the tea community.
Alipurduar district consists of 64 gram Panchayats, with a total of 1,252 panchayat members. Additionally, there are six Panchayat Samiti with 189 member seats and an 18-member Zilla Parishad. Tea plantation areas account for approximately 60 percent of these seats. It is widely believed that the influence of the Cha Sundari project will be evident in the elections.
In the first phase, approximately 3,000 houses have already been constructed across five tea gardens in Alipurduar district, with an estimated cost of Rs 182 crore. The closed Lankapara Tea Garden alone will have 1,223 Cha Sundari houses, while Torsa Tea Garden will have 476, Mujnai Tea Garden 792, and Dheklapara Tea Garden 478 houses. To date, a total of 1,127 houses have been handed over to the tea workers.
Prakash Barik, Trinamool’s Alipurduar District president, stated: “This project alone serves as a testament to the unique leadership of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, setting her apart from other leaders in the country. Assam, with its extensive tea plantations and the highest tea leaf production, lags behind in providing houses like Cha Sundari for its tea workers. Perhaps in the future, Assam may follow our example and replicate something similar to Cha Sundari. Nonetheless, our Chief Minister has paved the way for such initiatives.”
Gangaprasad Sharma, chairman of the Jaigaon Development Board and candidate for the Kalchini/ZP6 seat of Zilla Parishad, stated: “The Opposition has resorted to spreading baseless propaganda about Cha Sundari’s houses. However, their attempts have fallen flat. Each household of tea workers is now being provided with a new sense of belonging.”