Kolkata: A day after the central government announced Rs 1,000 crore investment for the upliftment of the tea estates and its workers in West Bengal and Assam, Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday announced allotting concrete houses to the tea estate workers and had also handed over the certificates to the beneficiaries.
Taking part in a mass-wedding program at Alipurduar, the TMC supremo and West Bengal Chief Minister claimed that under the state government scheme ‘Chai Sundari’, the rest of the workers will get houses in the next three years.
“The BJP-led central government announces doles just ahead of the polls but never implements anything. The TMC works for the development of the people. We have increased wages for tea garden workers from Rs 67 to Rs 202. We have done this. [The] BJP is only spreading canards. They have MPs in North Bengal but didn’t do anything for the poor tea estate workers,” said Mamata while taking part in the mass-wedding program at the Falakata district in the state.
The TMC supremo was also seen taking part in tribal dance with the local people.
Incidentally, the tea gardens form a part of an important electoral constituency in the state, especially in North Bengal.
Meanwhile, recently-defected BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari showed the bank statement of the alleged coal scam in West Bengal at a public rally in Baruipur and hinted towards the Chief Minister's nephew, Abhishek Banerjee, as being an ‘extortionist’.
Incidentally, Suvendu and another turncoat BJP leader Rajib Banerjee were both shown black flags near the Padmapukur area of Baruipur.
Calling the ruling Trinamool Congress ‘politically bankrupt’, the former West Bengal forest minister said that the TMC has been losing ground every day.
“Union Home Minister Amit Shah had promised me a host of developmental works in West Bengal, if voted to power. The TMC, in the last 10 years, had done nothing and now they are showing their frustration by flying black flags,” mentioned Rajib.
