Jairam, Nirupam rue tea plantation lock outs

SILIGURI, Jan. 15: The Union minister of state for commerce and industry, Mr Jairam Ramesh, today expressed anguish over the repeated legal tangles coming in the way of the Centre's efforts to reopen the locked-out tea plantations in north Bengal. “My failure to reopen all the 14 locked out tea plantations in the region haunts me as I have developed a warm association with the north Bengal-based tea industry over the years. Yet, I cannot be wholly blamed for the failure. The hurdles of litigation has been coming in the way persistently,” he said.

“We have been able to reopen only two of the 14 closed plantations in the state whereas our success rate is much higher in states like Kerala and Assam. In Kerala, 12 out of the 17 closed tea plantations have been re-opened. Yet, in West Bengal all our sincerest endeavour is coming a cropper,” he said.

The Union minister said that whenever the Centre planned actions like nullifying lease in accordance with the tea plantation-related Act against the delinquent owners, they took recourse of litigation and everything got stuck subsequently.
The state industry minister, Mr Nirupam Sen, also expressed concern over the litigation hurdles in the matter of reopening the locked-out plantations. “The state government showcaused two of the locked out plantation owners recently asking them to show why the plantations should not be taken possession of. Yet the next day they approached the court and all our efforts went down the drain. We respect the judiciary, but such things are happening time and again. We feel helpless,” Mr Sen said.