The Centre has sanctioned ₹313.30 crore for the welfare of tea workers and their families in north Bengal, according to Suvendu Adhikari, who said the allocation would support work across tea estates in the Darjeeling hills, Terai and Dooars.
Speaking to the media in Calcutta on Thursday, Adhikari said the central government had acted on a proposal submitted for the region. “It is indeed good news for the residents of tea estates located in Darjeeling hills, Terai and the Dooars,” he said, adding that the amount would be spent entirely on the welfare of tea workers and their families.
The allocation has been made under the Pradhan Mantri Cha Shramik Protsahan Yojana. However, no detailed plan for distributing or spending the money was provided in the report. The specific projects, implementing agencies, timelines and beneficiary-selection process have not yet been announced.
Adhikari said a “slew of tasks” would be carried out in the tea belt, but did not identify the individual works to be funded. The absence of a publicly detailed spending plan leaves open questions about whether the allocation will be routed through state departments, estate-level institutions or other agencies working in the tea-growing areas.
The tea estates covered by the announcement extend across three distinct parts of north Bengal. The Darjeeling hills, the Terai and the Dooars contain tea-growing settlements where workers and their families depend on estate-linked services and employment. The reported allocation therefore concerns not only individual workers but also the delivery of welfare services across dispersed plantation communities.
Adhikari also referred to an earlier provision of ₹1,000 crore for the tea population of Bengal and Assam by Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman while presenting the 2020-21 budget in the Assembly. He said Assam had availed itself of the fund and used it, while the previous Bengal government had not sent a proposal to the Centre.
According to Adhikari, the proposal was prepared and submitted after his government came to power, leading to the reported sanction. The statement did not specify when the ₹313.30 crore would be released, how it would be divided between the tea-growing regions or when the first welfare works would begin. Further details are expected from the Centre and the state government on the allocation and its implementation.
