West
Bengal government announced the Chaa Sundari Scheme in 2020. Under the project,
every tea estate labourer will get a house. The Bengal government’s idea is to
give free houses along with long rights to tea workers of northern Bengal. The
project has become effective in several estates in Alipurduar and keys have
also been handed over to the beneficiaries in 2022. The project would cost the
government Rs 500 crore.

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In
the next three years, more tea estate workers will get house and land rights.
On 17 September 2020, West Bengal labour minister Moloy Ghatak announced the
Chaa Sundari Housing Scheme project.

The
project is the brainchild of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. Each residential
unit has two rooms, a kitchen, a toilet and a veranda. These one-storey units
cover an area of ​​394 sq ft and cost about Rs 5.43 lakh.

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A
total of 792 families will get a house under the Chaa Sundari Housing Scheme.
The West Bengal government has taken a number of other initiatives for the tea
population. It included the distribution of rations to workers at subsidized
rates.

The
government has undertaken five tea gardens to implement the project. The tea
gardens are Lankapara, Dheklapara, Torsa, Mujnai and Rahimpur.

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In
three years, starting from 2021, the state government will allocate the funds
for the construction of houses for all permanent workers of tea estates without
a house of their own.

Alipurduar
district magistrate Surendra Meena said all the basic facilities including
drinking water, electricity, road connectivity, playgrounds and social
infrastructure would be provided by various departments of the state
government.

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The
project will also extend its benefits to women in the tea garden area and the
Scheduled Tribes. The aim of the ‘Chaa Sundari’ project is also to provide
shelter to the sick and closed tea garden workers in northern Bengal.