Ruckus in Bengal assembly as BJP stages walkout over closed tea gardens

Kolkata: West Bengal assembly on Wednesday witnessed moments of ruckus, as the BJP legislators staged a walkout over the plight of the workers in the closed tea gardens in the northern sector of the state.

The protest was staged on a day when Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had left for North Bengal on a six-day tour. On Wednesday, the BJP legislators placed an adjournment motion on the floor of the House seeking discussions on the closed tea garden in north Bengal.

Although the Speaker of the House Biman Bandopadhyay allowed reading out of the adjournment motion, he refused discussion on the matter. The BJP legislators started protesting immediately and started shouting slogans within the House.

They demanded that it is the responsibility of the state government to answer the queries on the plight of the workers of the closed tea gardens. Later the BJP legislators staged a walkout from the house in protest.

The chief whip of BJP’s legislative team in West Bengal Manoj Tigga told newsmen that the state government had totally neglected the tea sector in north Bengal which is a major industry and source of employment there.

“A number of tea gardens have closed down there at places in north Bengal like Nagrakata, Kalchini and Madarihat areas. The state government is taking no initiative to reopen them. The erstwhile tea garden workers are moving to other states as migrant workers. So we wanted to discuss the matter on the floor of the House by moving the adjournment motion. But it is unfortunate that we were not allowed to initiate the discussion,” Tigga said.