Silchar, April 10: Following the Supreme Court’s direction to the State Government to maintain the status quo at the Doloo Tea Estate in Cachar district, reactions on the issue have been pouring in from political parties and associations in Barak Valley.
Rajya Sabha MP and All India Trinamool Congress (AITC) leader Sushmita Dev has termed the unplanned steps taken by the BJP-led government in uprooting the tea shrubs at the tea garden and engaging around 200 JCBs as a conspiracy.
“The Honourable Supreme Court has ordered a status quo at the Doloo Tea Garden regarding the land acquisition. We all want that Silchar must have a new airport. But the project for Greenfield airport pushed by the BJP, overlooking the legal aspects, has been unfairly executed, uprooting tea bushes, striking fear among the tea garden labourers, and ignoring the Environment Impact Assessment (EIA), Social Impact Assessment, etc. I feel this is nothing short of a conspiracy and another example of betrayal to the people of Barak Valley. Now this project will be pending for another 10 years,” Sushmita said.
On the other hand, members of Forum for Social Harmony have also reacted and reiterated their stance on the issue of safeguarding the interests and rights of tea garden labourers.
Addressing the media, Arindam Deb and Shishir Dey said that they are still rooted in the demand that the proposed new airport should be constructed at any other suitable location instead of a profitable tea garden like the Doloo Tea Estate. The land grabbed by uprooting the tea shrubs must be re-allotted to the labourers, and the same amount of tea shrubs must be replanted in the tea garden.