Anit Thapa, whose Bharatiya Gorkha Prajatantrik Morcha (BGPM) is an ally of Mamata Banerjee in the Darjeeling hills, on Friday came out against the Bengal government’s decision to raise the cap on the area of tea estates which could be used for non-tea purposes from 15 per cent to 30 per cent.

Thapa said he had spoken to chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Friday and apprised her of the growing protest in the hills against the increase in the cap on the area of tea garden land for commercial purposes.

“Even the chief minister loves the greenery and the open spaces of the hills. Bringing in huge investors might alter our landscape. Moreover, tea gardens are also our heritage, which is linked to our culture,” he told this newspaper.

Thapa is also the chief executive of the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA).

Until now, the Tea Tourism and Allied Business Policy, 2019, allowed tea estate managements to use “unutilised and fallow land” up to 15 per cent of the grant area not exceeding 150 acres for commercial purposes.

Sources had told this newspaper in 2023 that the tea industry had submitted investment proposals of ₹1,400 crore to the Bengal government under the policy. With the majority of proposals dealing with tea tourism, many industry stakeholders feared
an overkill.

Sources had said of the 19 investment proposals worth ₹1,410 crore, 15 were related
to tourism.

In the past two years, there has been widespread anger in the hills against the state government’s earlier announcement to provide five decimals of land to tea garden workers.

The garden workers want documents for the entire land in their procession and not just five decimals.

Against this background, the chief minister’s announcement to provide “freehold” land to investors so that “they need not repeatedly come to the government” for clearance is acting as a catalyst for a renewed protest in the hills.

At the moment, tea gardens are leased out for 30 years.

Later on Friday, Thapa issued a video message and said he was also against the “freehold” policy.

“I feel the chief minister and the chief secretary have understood our concerns regarding freehold,” said Thapa. “I have been assured that the freehold policy will not
be enforced.”

Senior land officials, however, said there was no clarity on the “freehold” issue. “Technically, there is nothing called freehold land. The term would be used during the British Raj and implied those plots which did not have to pay tax,” said a source.

Many in the hills felt that the chief minister probably meant that the land documents would be transferred directly to the investors.

Land officials, however, said only a notification would clear the “freehold” land issue.

The protesters in the hills, both political and apolitical organisations, maintain that the new policy of allowing 30 per cent of the land for non-tea uses would push the hill people to the margins.