By IANS
Kolkata : The Tea Board of India and the West Bengal government will set up a tea park in north Bengal to facilitate direct export of tea from the region.
“The initial cost of the project will be about Rs.200 million. The project would be developed over 50 acres in Siliguri in north Bengal. The Tea Board will submit a draft about the project to the West Bengal government,” minister of state for commerce and industry Jairam Ramesh told reporters here Saturday.
He said the Tea Board wants to set up another special tea zone in West Bengal to promote export of value-added Darjeeling tea. Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority would implement both these projects in West Bengal, the minister said.
About reopening of closed tea gardens in north Bengal, Ramesh said the Tea Board is hopeful of reopening five more tea gardens, of 13, by the end of 2007.
“Out of these five, we are expecting to reopen three tea gardens in Oct and the rest in Nov this year,” he said, adding the Centre would soon implement Section 16E of the Tea Act, which will empower the Tea Board to take over any tea garden closed for over three months.
He said in Kerala, nine of the 17 closed tea gardens have been reopened and three more tea gardens are also on the verge of reopening.
“The situation in West Bengal is really pathetic. The owners of these tea gardens don’t want to reopen these gardens. They are solely responsible for the closures,” Ramesh said.
The West Bengal government will soon announce a special package for the tea gardens in Bengal by making provisions in the law for use of certain portions of tea gardens for alternative or non-tea purposes.
“I propose the state government allow five percent of the total garden area to be used for agriculture, horticulture, cultivation of medicinal plants or tea tourism. But I have told them that no real estate could be developed at any tea garden,” he said.
The minister said both West Bengal and Kerala have evinced interest in introducing such facilities.