A day after West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee announced that deployment of 100 per cent workforce at tea gardens would be allowed from June 1, the tea industry of Siliguri welcomed the state government's decision, citing reasons of more production and employment.
"This decision taken by the West Bengal Government is one that has been taken in the right direction. The tea industry at this present moment is going through some troublesome times. We resumed work with 25 per cent workforce which was later increased to 50 per cent," Kamal Tiwari, Chairman, Siliguri Tea Auction Committee said.
Tiwari added that with allowing 100 per cent workforce to function, the tea production would recover.
"By allowing 100 per cent workforce to function in tea gardens, we would be able to recover from the fall of production that we witnessed in May and more people would be employable," he added.
Sandip Ghosh, Manager, Dagapur tea estate, was also upbeat about the state government's decision to allow a full-strength workforce to function.
"We are thankful to our Chief Minister for taking the decision. We were unable to make up for the losses we incurred during the previous days," Ghosh said.
With regard to the decision taken by the state government to help in increasing employment, he said that it would help in doing so."It would help in increasing employment as now we can deploy a 100 per cent workforce. The production too will also increase," he added.
The coronavirus induced lockdown is set to conclude on May 31. The Union Home Ministry on Saturday issued new guidelines for the phased reopening of all activities outside containment zones till June 30.
( With inputs from ANI )