Tea tourism proposal gets green signal

EOI, Siliguri, 29 Aug 2014: Visitors to north Bengal will soon get to enjoy the beautiful landscape of the hills and live amid nature by putting up camp amid green tea bushes of the numerous tea gardens of the region.

The state government has finally consented to the proposal of tea tourism that was being demanded since long by industry stakeholders. Under the project, non-cultivable land in tea gardens is to be converted into tourism hotspots with a view of keeping the visitors actively ‘engaged’ in the production of the world renowned beverage.

North Bengal Development Department minster Gautam Deb on Friday said the conversion of tea garden land that is not arable into tourist centres has been finally approved by the government and the private entrepreneurs can invest on such land to further their plans.

He also said although the government has intervened in making available such unused land, it is the responsibility of private players to develop the required infrastructure development.

Further, the minister said a Tea Park in the Dooars region of Birpara has been sanctioned for such an endeavour while talks with the railway department have been recently held in Malegaon, Assam on the matter. He urged entrepreneurs to start investing on the proposed Tea Park while assuring the government would provide all necessary support to help promote both tea and tourism in North Bengal.