Siliguri: West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari on Tuesday announced a development package of Rs 313 crore for North Bengal, covering tea workers and infrastructure in the tea belt, during a series of administrative meetings at Uttarkanya, the state government's administrative headquarters in Siliguri.

Source: Urban Acres

Adhikari said Rs 5,000 had been paid to 19,524 workers from 21 closed tea estates ahead of the upcoming festivities, and that each worker will also receive 50 kilograms of rice. The total assistance for the workers was earlier reported at Rs 9.76 crore, to be credited directly to beneficiaries' bank accounts.

Source: Angel One / The Economic Times

The Chief Minister said the government plans to increase the monthly foodgrain quota for tea workers' families in North Bengal from 35 kilograms to 50 kilograms from January. The North Bengal Development Department will act as the nodal department for implementing the package.

The announcements build on the state cabinet's October 14 decision approving the one-time package of Rs 5,000 and an additional 50 kg of rice for eligible families of workers rendered jobless by the garden closures. The government is also working to reopen the 21 tea gardens that shut down during the previous government, and plans to bring tea garden workers under the Pradhan Mantri Chaa Shramik Yojana, according to the reports.

At Uttarkanya, Adhikari also met 355 representatives from 85 organisations of the Rajbanshi community during the day's meetings. What happens next rests on the package's implementation by the development department and on whether the closed estates reopen, which would decide whether the relief becomes a return to regular wages for the affected families.