Siliguri, Aug. 10: The Trinamul Congress today formally announced the launching of its tea garden wing, the Terai Dooars Plantation Workers’ Union, here.

The launch follows close on the heels of party chief Mamata Banerjee’s visit to the closed gardens in June. The new organisation will be affiliated to the Indian National Trinamul Trade Union Congress (INTTUC).

“We are now ready to concentrate on the tea gardens of north Bengal. We will have the charisma of our party leader Mamata Banerjee to help us,” said Vedabrata Datta, the vice-president of the new union.

Trinamul leaders are happy that they have a organisation in the gardens finally.

“We had been harping on the need to form a trade union in the tea sector, where we hardly had any presence,” said Datta. The party has chalked out a two-fold strategy. While the union will spread its network in the region, Mamata will work on political lines to garner more support from the tea gardens.

The 25-member central committee of the trade union comprises Sovon Deb Chattopadhyay as president and Mamata as the chief patron.

Gautam Deb, the chairman of Trinamul’s north Bengal core committee, said the party had been feeling the need to form the union for quite sometime.

“However, we are yet to decide whether or not we will join the defence committee or the co-ordination committee of plantation workers (both considered umbrella organisations of tea trade unions).”

Chitta Dey, the convener of the Co-ordination Committee of Tea Plantation Workers, said the new organisation was just another trade union.

“If they want to join us — we already have 17 trade unions as members — they must assure us that they will obey our norms,” he said.