Chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday spoke on the slew of initiatives taken by her government for the tea population of north Bengal while being critical of the BJP-ruled government at the Centre.

Mamata, while attending a public service distribution programme at the Subhasini tea estate ground in Alipurduar’s Hasimara, said: “Our government has facilitated the reopening of 59 closed tea estates in this region. The central government, however, could not reopen even a single tea estate. Some tea estates, which are still closed, will reopen shortly.”

Mamata’s assertion underscores her focus on the Assembly seats of the tea belt. In this region, the votes of the tea population decide the results in around 11 seats.

The next Assembly polls are scheduled for 2026.

However, since the historic Bengal polls of 2011, when the TMC toppled the Left government, her party has not managed to secure most of these tea-belt seats, despite sweeping other parts of Bengal. In the 2021 state polls, it could not win a single seat in Alipurduar. The BJP bagged all five seats.

“However, the TMC’s win in the by-elections of Madarihat and Dhupguri (in the neighbouring Jalpaiguri district) has come as a fresh boost for the party. As the Assembly elections will be held next year, she wants to drive home the point that it is the state, and not the Centre, that has worked for the tea population,” said a political veteran in Alipurduar.

The chief minister also outlined the “Cha Sundari” scheme, a major project taken by the state to address the longstanding demand of tea workers and their families — land rights and houses.

“So far, we have built 738 houses in the Dheklapara, Mujnai and Lankapara tea estates by spending ₹30.80 crore. Now, we are also providing land rights to tea workers. In due course, they will receive ₹1.20 lakh each to build their houses on that land,” she said.

Mamata also paid homage to Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose on his birth anniversary on Thursday. The state has built a museum at the central correctional home in Alipore of Calcutta and has declassified some of the files on Netaji, she said.

Barla joins meeting

John Barla, the former BJP MP of Alipurduar, joined the public service distribution programme of chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday.

His presence added to the speculation that he would defect to Trinamool soon.

A couple of days back, Barla, who was in Delhi then, had said he received an invitation from the Alipurduar district administration to the event.

Along with some elected representatives of TMC, Barla was seen on the dais. As Mamata started distributing assistance to people, she also called Barla to hand over assistance to a beneficiary.

At the event, Mamata also walked up to the TMC leaders and Barla and spoke to them.

Barla has had differences with the BJP ever since the party decided to drop him and fielded Manoj Tigga, who was the MLA of Madarihat then, from the Alipurduar Lok Sabha seat in the 2024 general elections.

An angry Barla didn’t even campaign for Tigga, who, however, managed to win the seat.

“I took initiatives for certain projects in Alipurduar but a section of BJP leaders thwarted the plans. The chief minister has executed several projects in north Bengal and Alipurduar. She invited me to discuss issues related to tea estates and the tribal population. Hence, I attended the event,” said Barla.

On when he would join the Trinamul, the former BJP MP replied briefly: “The media will get appropriate information in due time.”

MP Tigga, also the district BJP president in Alipurduar, remarked that Barla should stop his theatrics and simply walk into the Trinamool camp.

“He should stop bothering about the BJP and its activities. Our party is doing well in Alipurduar. It is surprising that earlier the TMC had questioned the legality of his (Barla’s) properties and how he has bonhomie with the same party,” Tigga said.

In Mainaguri of the neighbouring Jalpaiguri district, a group of local BJP leaders and workers joined the Trinamool on Thursday. Samirul Islam, Trinamool’s Rajya Sabha member, was present at the event.