Sitharaman on Bengal trip, to visit two closed gardens

Kolkata, May 16: Union Minister of State for Commerce and Industry Nirmala Sitharaman will visit two closed tea gardens in North Bengal during the day, accompanied by officials of Tea Board.

Tea Board sources told PTI that the minister will reach Siliguri this afternoon after which she will be heading to closed Red Bank Tea Estate and Surendranagar Tea Estate in Jalpaiguri district.

Tomorrow, she will convene a meeting of stakeholders, which will be attended by Tea Board chairman Siddharth, North Bengal minister Gautam Deb and MPs namely S S Ahluwalia and Dasrath Tirkey and representatives of Indian Tea Association (ITA).

There are 2-3 closed tea gardens in the state. ITA secretary general M Dasgupta said West Bengal is the only state now where tea gardens had closed.

PTI