'Culture of violence deters reopening of teagardens in WB'

Kolkata, Jun 14 (UNI) With Singur in the backdrop, West Bengal's political environment though similar to Kerala, the culture of violence was detering the process of reopening the closed teagardens, Union Minister of State for Commerce and Industry Jairam Ramesh said here today.

Speaking to mediapersons here, Mr Ramesh said though Kerala is ruled by the same party and CITU dominated trade union culture prevails in that state, he has received unhindered support from the Labour Minister and the trade unions in terms of reopening the closed tea gardens.

Drawing the reference of Singur, where Tata Motors' much hyped small car project is coming up, violence has been a part of Bengal's politics, he said.

''Various trade unions in the tea gardens have been playing spoilsport to the negotiation process of reopening the tea gardens as they have vested interest. So are the garden owners who fail to come on the negotiation table,'' Mr Ramesh said out of the 33 closed tea gardens, 17 were in Kerala, 14 in West Bengal and two in Asom. ''In Kerala, out of the 17 gardens, five have already reopened. Another eight will be opened on July 15,'' he said.

''In Bengal, compared to Kerala, we could open only one garden-- Surendranagar. When both the states have same political climate, same trade union culture, the quality of owners are different in the two states. In Kerala, the owners are more serious,'' Mr Ramesh said.

UNI