AGARTALA: Tripura Pradesh Congress Committee President Birajit Sinha on Friday raised serious allegations against labour and SC welfare minister Bhagaban Das and claimed before he was inducted to the state cabinet, Das siphoned off a sum of Rs 58 lakh that was supposed to be spent for the welfare tea garden workers.
Addressing a press conference at Congress Bhavan in Agartala, Sinha said, “Tea is the only industry in Tripura that has endured for hundred years.”
“The Left Front government did not pay any attention to the industry which is the main reason behind the downfall of the sector statewide. During the Left regime tea gardens like Heeracherra, Sunamukhi, Natingcherra, Laxmicherra were made government property and subsequently the ownership was handed over to the Industries department. Had the government wanted, it could have protected the tea gardens, ” he said.
On Bhagaban Das, Sinha said, a big portion of Natingcherra tea garden land was acquired by the government for expansion of roads between Kailashahar to Kumarghat.
The estimated cost of the losses to be borne by the tea garden for the destruction of mature trees was Rs 58 lakh.
Local MLA Bhagaban Das, who is now a minister, wrote a letter to the authorities and requested the authorities to compensate the money in an account opened afresh, said Sinha.
Later, he said, following the recommendations of the MLA an account was opened and the compensation was paid in due course of time. But, the whole money vanished overnight and the account became untraceable in the aftermath.
“The money belongs to the workers of the garden but the local MLA embezzled the whole amount”, alleged Sinha.
“When the misappropriation of funds came to light, the ADM of the district was suspended but no legal proceedings were initiated against the graft accused MLA. He was later elevated and inducted into the state cabinet. We shall file public interest litigation with the High Court of Tripura seeking an in-depth inquiry on the matter,” Sinha added.
Sinha was addressing the press conference hours after chairing a meeting of Tripura Tea Garden Workers Union, one of the frontal organizations of the Tripura Pradesh Congress.
Sinha also demanded a special package of Rs 500 crore to restore the past glory of Tripura tea gardens, an increase in daily wages up to Rs 212 and better facilities for the tea garden workers.