Agartala, Dec 20 (TIWN): To excel the tea cultivation in West Bengal by following Tripura as ‘model’, recently a 5-member delegation of tea planters from West Bengal visited Durgabari tea estate and interacted with the tea workers. The delegation also conducted a vital meeting with the officials of Durgabari Samabay Samity and labour leaders. In the meeting they exchanged their views.

The tea planters from West Bengal were assisted by the secretary of Durgabari Samabay Samity- Nibaran Debnath, labour leader- Shyamal Karmakar, Joint General Secretary of CITU- Panu Majumder and secretary of Tripura Tea Workers’ Union- Kanu Ghosh.

During the visit, representatives from West Bengal tea estates informed that Darjeeling and Jalpuiguri are famous for tea cultivation in West Bengal. But many of the tea gardens at Jalpuiguri are lying in miserable condition due to lack of infrastructure from past few years. The tea garden owners and managers have been shutting down one after other tea estates showing different excuses for last few years, said an official of Durgabari tea estate.

As a result, thousands of tea workers died out of starvation in last ten years while many of the tea labourers became jobless and allegedly committed suicide, they said.

While visiting Durgabari tea-estate, the delegates- Dharambir Tanti, Dhuma Nayek, Bablu Miah, Sakhi Kharia and Bishnu Ghatani of West Bengal expressed satisfaction over the efforts of workers in tea cultivation in Tripura.