Siliguri: Bengal govt has set a seven-day deadline for closed tea gardens to reopen and will take over those that fail to comply, state labour minister Arjun Singh said Friday after a meeting at the Dagapur labour department office.A multidepartmental task force comprising officials from the tea board, land, industry, and labour departments will oversee the reopening and look into outstanding worker dues, including provident fund payments.“Rs 100 crore of PF money has been recovered. There is still a lot pending. Task force officials will look into it,” Singh said.Of the closed gardens, 21 are permanently shut and 11 partially. Promoters taking over closed tea gardens must clear outstanding dues before taking charge.Singh announced tea garden workers will receive a 20% bonus before Durga Puja. Nineteen gardens have already paid and the rest have assured the govt they will comply.Darjeeling MP Raju Bista, who attended the meeting, said the previous govt had brought in middlemen who controlled the tea gardens. “Tea garden owners should know they won’t be able to run the gardens the way they did when Trinamool was in govt,” he said.Singh said the govt has received complaints about illegal sale of tea leaves and has asked the administration to apprehend those involved.
