Tea estate workers fear losing livelihood to Hasimara airport

But representatives of local trade bodies believe that it will boost the economy in and around the district

IAF station at Hasimara in Alipurduar, where the airport is set to come up.: File picture

TT Correspondent   |   Alipurduar   |    07.07.22 : Workers of a tea estate near the Indian Air Force (IAF) station at Hasimara in Alipurduar have refused to allow the transfer of the garden’s land for infrastructure set to come up for a proposed civil airport at the IAF station.

Workers of Madhu tea garden fear that if the owner hands over the lease of the land to the state government, and the latter in turn hands it to the ministry of civil aviation for the airport, they will eventually lose their jobs and be displaced.

Recently, the Centre’s decision to build a second civil airport in north Bengal at Hasimara was known through a letter sent by Union civil aviation minister Jyotiraditya Scindia to Alipurduar MP and Union minister of state for minority affairs John Barla.

Barla said the Centre also sought a parcel of 37.72 acres from the state for creating related infrastructure such as a terminal, an administrative block, parking bays and a car park.

Sources in the district administration said that they received requisition for land and forwarded it to the state government. Madhu tea garden area seems to be most compatible with the airport project owing to its location, sources said.

Workers of Madhu tea estate who formed a committee on this matter held a meeting at the garden on Tuesday.

“A few days back, teams from the block administration came to our garden and measured land. We came to know that the land required for the proposed airport project would be taken from this garden. We fear that if land is provided, the garden will shut down and eventually whatever land remains will be put to other use. This will leave workers unemployed and displaced,” said Amal Munda, the secretary of the newly formed Madhu Bagan Bachao Committee.

Madhu tea estate reopened this April after seven years.

“We will write to the chief minister, seeking her intervention, and if Droupadi Murmu (NDA candidate) wins the presidential polls, we will approach her too,” Munda added.

Some members of the committee cited the instance of Chandmoni, a tea estate that used to exist on the northwest of Siliguri.

“The estate has been obliterated from the tea map of Terai and has been replaced by a township, a shopping mall, an IT park and some other infrastructure. Workers of that garden lost their jobs and were displaced. We do not want something like this here in Madhu,” Prakash Lohar, a leader of Akhil Bharatiya Adivasi Vikas Parishad and an adviser to the committee.

However, representatives of local trade bodies said that an airport would boost the economy in and around the district. Unlike many other infrastructure projects, land requirement is less in this case, they said.

“We hope necessary steps are taken to ensure that the airport comes up in Alipurduar. It would boost the economic growth of our district and nearby areas,” said Prasenjit Dey, the secretary of the Alipurduar Chamber of Commerce.