She said that the Centre had taken over seven closed tea gardens. But since then it had not communicated anything to the state government in the matter. “If it fails to do anything it should tell us and we will try to do whatever we can,” she said. She urged the Centre to pay the wages of workers in these tea gardens.
In January, the Centre took over seven tea gardens in the district. They are Birpara, Garganda, Lankapur, Tulsipara, Huntapara, Dhunchipara and Dimdima. She said the workers who were not getting wages were in a pitiable state. “It is the responsibility of the Centre to clear their wages as the gardens have been taken over by them.” Banerjee said the state government had taken measures to support these tea garden workers. They were being given rice at Rs 2 per kg. The electricity to their homes has not been disconnected and mobile medical vans are sent regularly to conduct medical check ups. Non formal schools have been opened for their children. Banerjee later said that the state government was in the process of formulating a policy on the six closed tea gardens. The state government will take them over and later auction them.”
Meanwhile, in the Assembly state labour minister Malay Ghatak said the state government had taken up a scheme to help workers in the six closed tea gardens. The Centre had floated a tender to auction one of them, but failed to get a player. He said the state government was paying wages to the workers of Jessop and Dunlop. Reacting sharply Congress MLA Dr Manas Bhuniya said the Centre’s indifference was unfortunate and urged the state government to take it up with the Centre at the earliest.
The Chief Minister said there would not be a separate municipality for Jaigaon and the Jaigaon Development Authority would carry out its development. A second Indo Bhutan gate is being constructed at Jaigaon which is likely to emerge as a major hub for economic activities. Mackintosh Burn will construct the gate.
A Rabindra Bhavan is coming up at Alipurduar at an estimated cost of Rs 12 crore. Another Rs 3 crore will be spent on beautification. Banerjee said that the Alipurduar model would be replicated in five new districts that were coming up in the state. She also opened two super specialty hospitals at Jalpaiguri and Mal. While the former was inaugurated with eye and skin outpatient department with other facilities expected to be rolled out later, Mal super specialty hospital will have all the facilities.
Both hospitals will meet a long standing demand of people and will improve the health care facilities in north Bengal. It will reduce the pressure on North Bengal medical college and hospital.