Post CM’s directive, tea gardens in Alipurduar to get new ambulances

MP  |  25 Jun 2023 |  Alipurduar: After receiving a commitment from Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, four additional tea gardens in Alipurduar district are set to receive new ambulances. Several tea gardens in the district have already been provided with ambulances by the state government.

These include Hantapara, Bandapani, and Ramjhora tea gardens.

The list also includes remote tea gardens such as Tulsipara, Gergenda and Dhumchipara in the Madarihat Birpara block, as well as Kohinoor tea garden in the Kumargram block. Now, these four tea gardens are also going to be get new ambulances.

According to the district administration, the cost of a modern ambulance in tea gardens like Tulsipara, Gergenda, Dhumchipara, and Kohinoor is approximately 10 lakh rupees each.

The average distance between each tea garden in the Madarihat Birpara block and the Alipurduar District Hospital is over 65 km.

These four tea gardens have their own hospitals but they don’t have most of the medical facilities. By providing more ambulances to tea gardens in these remote areas, patients can be transported more quickly from these remote locations to the district hospital.

Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee announced the construction of hospitals and crèches along with providing ambulances in tea gardens of North Bengal from a government program at Subhashini Tea Garden earlier this year.

Alipurduar district is home to 64 tea gardens and currently, several new hospitals and crèches are being built in some of these tea gardens.

It is known that state-of-the-art ambulances will also be provided to several tea gardens, including Dimdima and Birpara, in near future. Birendra Bara Oraon, President of the Tea Garden Workers’ Union of Trinamool Congress (T.C.B.S.U), expressed gratitude to Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, stating, “We thank Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee for the new ambulances that will greatly benefit the people of the four tea gardens. The tea garden owners have seemingly forgotten their responsibility to provide healthcare services, even though it is mandated under the Plantation Labor Act. It is understood that the ambulances will be handed over to the tea plantation authorities shortly.