By IANS
Kolkata : Union Minister of State for Commerce and Industry Jairam Ramesh Friday announced a package of Rs.11.9 billion to enhance tea productivity and the rejuvenation of tea gardens in the hilly region of north Bengal.
He said the package would be given over a period of 15 years.
Ramesh, on a three-day visit to the shut down tea gardens of Dooars in the foothills of the Himalayas, said the package would help to revive the 14 closed tea gardens in north Bengal.
He said the government was also considering the option of taking over the shut tea gardens and handing them over to new owners, using a provision in the Tea Act which has never been used till now.
At least 17,000 tea garden workers are jobless and the West Bengal government has admitted to 571 deaths of workers so far in the past 15 months in the tea gardens of Dooars.