A fresh wave of political expectation has swept through the Darjeeling Hills after the Centre appointed former deputy National Security Adviser and retired IPS officer Pankaj Kumar Singh as the interlocutor for the Darjeeling Hills, Terai, and Dooars region.
The recent spell of incessant rainfall has wreaked havoc across North Bengal, causing severe floods and landslides that have left a trail of destruction in the Hills, Terai, and Dooars regions.
The situation in the flood and landslide-affected hills, Terai, and Dooars regions in North Bengal stabilised further in the last 24 hours with no fresh casualties reported during the period.
A high-level meeting was held in Siliguri on Sunday with leaders and representatives of various tea trade unions from the Darjeeling Hills, Terai, Dooars, and across North Bengal to deliberate on the worsening condition of tea and cinchona plantation workers.
A high-level meeting was held in Siliguri on Sunday with leaders and representatives of various tea trade unions from the Darjeeling Hills, Terai, Dooars, and across North Bengal to deliberate on the worsening condition of tea and cinchona plantation workers.
In response to widespread protests from opposition parties and trade unions across the tea belt of Terai, Dooars, and Hill regions, the West Bengal government has amended certain provisions of the Tea Tourism and Allied Business Policy, 2019.
Darjeeling MP Raju Bista underscored the critical role of the Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) in safeguarding the Darjeeling Hills, Terai, and Dooars, which include the strategically significant “Chicken Neck” region of India.
In a significant development, people’s representatives from both Sikkim and northern West Bengal have come together to demand tribal status for at least 12 left-out communities in the region.
Significantly, the SSSJC is now demanding that the pay scale for monthly rated staffs and sub-staff through bipartite agreement.
Significantly, the TIPA president Mahendra Bansal, at an interaction with the press in Siliguri today, appreciated the state government’s role on three points and blamed the TBI for the present crisis in the tea industry as he explained how the industry has been reeling under 'severe crisis'.
