Chaa Sundari scheme: Over 3K houses being made in 5 tea gardens

MP | 4 March 2022 | Kolkata: The Alipurduar district administration has initially selected five tea gardens for Chaa Sundari scheme under which more than 3000 houses are being constructed by the state government. 

The tea gardens include Lankapara, Dekhalapara, Torsha, Mujnai & Rahimpur. 

"All other basic facilities that includes, drinking water, electricity, road connectivity, play grounds, social infrastructure will be done by different departments of the state government. These tea garden workers will get free houses along with land rights," Surendra Kumar Meena, District Magistrate Alipurduar said. 

The Chaa Sundari project to provide houses to tea garden workers in sick & closed gardens of North Bengal was announced by then Finance minister Amit Mitra in 2020 while tabling the budget in the Assembly. A sum of Rs 500 crore was allocated. Under the scheme, a brainchild of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee each dwelling unit has two rooms, one kitchen, one toilet & verandah. This is single storied units, each having covered area of 394 sq feet and the unit cost is Rs. 5.43 lakhs. Many such dwelling units have already come up in a number of estates in Alipurduar.Houses are being built in Lankapara, Dekhalapara, Torsha, Mujnai & Rahimpur. Among these four, other than Torsha, the rest are located under Birpara-Madarihat assembly constituency. Home and land rights have been a longstanding demand of workers and their families. Big tea majors as well as small private players are all engaged in the tea industry here. However, as tea industry is witnessing a slump, many of these estates have suffered great loses rendering them sick. These sick estates will be the main focus of the Chaa Sundari scheme, and permanent workers here, who do not have their own houses to live in, will be provided with their own brick dwelling unit along with the land rights. According to sources, besides getting a free house and land rights, the tea garden workers will also get subsidised food rations. The scheme will also extend maximum benefits to women and the scheduled tribe communities of these areas. http://www.millenniumpost.in/kolkata/chaa-sundari-scheme-over-3k-houses-being-made-in-5-tea-gardens-470096