At least 803 houses under ‘Cha Sundari’ given in Alipurduar

ALIPURDUAR: While 476 Cha Sundari houses were handed over to the workers of the Torsha Tea garden of Kalchini Block, 327 units were handed over in the Dhekla Para Tea Garden of the Madarihat Block on Thursday.

Cha Sundari is a dream project of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee where houses are built for landless tea garden workers who do not have their own homes.

The RCC column with GCI sheet houses, each built on a plinth area of 400 sq feet, costs Rs. 5.43 lakh. The land allotted for each house is approximately 1.25 katha. Each unit has 2 bedrooms, 1 living room, 1 kitchen, 1 toilet and 1 verandah.

On January 19, the Chief Minister inaugurated the project from Suhasini Tea Garden Maidan in Alipurduar with 1117 houses. She had then asked the Chief Secretary that if the law permits one of the Cha Sundari houses should be reserved for her.

“I will stay in the Cha Sundari house when I visit next time,” she had stated. She also stated that more than 3000 units will be built under this project. The remaining will be handed over within two months.

Jaigaon Development Authority Chairman Ganga Parasad, District Magistrate Surendra Kumar Meena along with other officials were present at the distribution ceremony.

“On Thursday, we handed over 803 Cha Sundori units amongst the tea workers in Madarihat and Kalchini Block. State government has committed to handing over 3000 units of Cha Sundari. The remaining will be distributed very soon. Work is in progress,” stated Surendra Kumar Meena.

Sima Topno, a worker of 3 Number Line of Torsha Tea Garden, a beneficiary, thanked Banerjee.

“We had never in our wildest dreams imagined that we would have our own house. Our lives have been spent in dilapidated labour quarters. Now we have our own houses,” stated Topno.