Ashish Pradhan

Siliguri, 7 February

Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s decision to now allow 30 percent of tea garden land for commercial purposes, up from the earlier 15 percent, has stirred a hornet’s nest, with major political parties and individuals alike putting up stiff resistance to the same.

Addressing entrepreneurs at the Eighth Bengal Global Business Summit in Kolkata on Tuesday, Bannerjee said that the state government had now doubled the threshold for such land use and made it 30 percent of garden land, where entrepreneurs could set up hotels, resorts and other commercial projects.

“From now on, wherever in tea gardens the land is available and tea plantations are not there, we will allow 30 percent of such land for hotel business, commercial utilisation and eco-tourism purposes,” the chief minister said.

Opposition party leaders back in the Hills were quick to react, with Darjeeling’s BJP MP Raju Bista terming the decision as a “dangerous proposition.”

“This is an extremely dangerous proposition, and I fear if this policy is allowed to be implemented without the protection of traditional land rights of the Gorkhas, Adivasis, Rajbangshis, Rabha, Koche, Meche, Toto, Bengali and other communities who are the indigenous people of our Darjeeling hills, Terai and Dooars, we will be rendered homeless,” Bista said in a release.

“If this 30% land diversion is permitted, it will mean the end of the tea industry, as real-estates will take over, and tea garden workers and later the cinchona garden workers - who have been kept deprived of rights to their ancestral lands, may be similarly displaced,” he added.

According to him, while tea workers are deprived of land to even bury their dead, the West Bengal government was planning to hand over tea garden land to their “donor friends.” Bista urged the Chief Minister to refrain from going ahead with the “hare-brained policy,” and said that if not taken back, the people would have no choice but to protest the “dictatorial announcement.”

The state government had in 2019 allowed tea garden owners to use 15 percent of “unused” land to build commercial infrastructure and promote tea tourism. The government had then said that the idea was to generate employment, but without affecting the tea bushes and without hampering tea production.

There are around 377 tea estates in North Bengal with 26.4 million workers. Of them, 87 tea estates are in the hills of Darjeeling and Kalimpong, 188 in Jalpaiguri and 102 in the Terai.

Saman Pathak, a senior CPIM leader and the President of the Darjeeling District Chyaa Kaman Mazadoor Union, said he strongly opposed the 30 percent land-use decision and called upon all trade unions to unite and protest against it.

“In the recent BGBS session, the Chief Minister announced the decision to give 30% of the tea garden land to traders for various businesses, which is extremely dangerous. Not only Darjeeling but the entire tea industry of North Bengal is the largest source of employment and the backbone of the economy. Due to the policies of both the state and central governments, there is a conspiracy to slowly destroy this industry. If 15% means one and a half acres, then 30% is double that,” Pathak, a former MP, said.

“The workers here (who have been residing for over a century) have not been granted ownership rights to the land till date. The real secret of the five-decimal survey has been revealed by the Chief Minister today. There are attempts to evict the permanent residents of the tea gardens and give this land to large capitalists or traders to exploit,” he added.

Leader if the Indian Gorkha Janshakti Front Ajoy Edwards, on the other hand, shot a letter to Chief Minister Banerjee, and expressed strong objection to the decision.

“While the state government is facilitating land ownership for businesses and industries, the indigenous Gorkha and Adivasi communities of Darjeeling, Kaimpong, Dooars and Terai, who have lived and worked in these tea gardens for generations, are merely being offered up to 5 decimals of land with homestead patta,” Edwards said in the letter.

According to him, the decision was “deeply unjust” and that it fails to recognise the historical, cultural and rightful claims of the indigenous residents of the region.

On the other hand, leader of the Bharatiya Gorkha Prajatantrik Morcha (BGPM) and Chief Executive of the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA) Anit Thapa said that he would also oppose any state government move that would spoil the beauty of the Hills.

“I oppose any plans and projects that would spoil the beauty, greenery and landscape of the Hills. I have to save the Hills,” Thapa told a programme in Kurseong on Wednesday, however, without mentioning the 30 percent land cap decision.

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