Mamata allows partial operations in tea gardens

Darjeeling/Kolkata,10 April(HS): In order to bring down the mounting losses of the Rs 1200 crores tea industry in West Bengal because of the present closure,the state government has decided to resume the partial work in over 100 tea gardens in Darjeeling and Doors areas of the state.

As the tea industry in Bengal, the producer of world famous Darjeeling leaf tea has been facing a huge problem because of the complete locked down situation and could not even pluck the first flush leafs, having huge demand in export market,the state government has decided to allow the resumption of only about 15 per cent of work in each garden, Chief minister Mamata Banerjee said after holding a meeting with representatives of all major tea and other industries besides various Chambers of Commerce here.

But under this provision not all tea gardens in the state would start simultaneously, as only 15 per cent of them at a time would be allowed to operate for a specific period at a time.

In this manner, all tea gardens would be allowed to operate in a phased manner to help restrict their mounting losses, the Chief minister said and made it clear that every owner must ensure that all workers would be protected with all medical equipment from the danger of COVID-19 during their working hours.

Agreeing that all the industries had to face a very tough time because of the total shut down of their production and other activities since the breakout of Corona virus about two months ago,the Chief minister also made it clear that there was no alternative other than of continuing a total locked down for a few more weeks after 14 April, as indicated by the union government.

Though some states like Punjab, Telengana and Odisha had already announced their decision to further extend their lockeddown at least till 30 April, ‘we should take a call in this regard after the proposed second meeting between the Prime minister and all Chief ministers tomorrow’, she said.

However, considering the increasing difficulties of the common people including small traders,the West Bengal government Task Force headed by State Chief Secretary Rajiva Sinha had been exploring all options to see whether a limited taxi service could be resumed in the city and in some other parts of the state to help timely home delivery of essential goods to the customers by the on line service providers.

The same services could also be used to ferry emergency workers and sick patients to different hospitals also,she said.