Adivasi leader from tea belt joins TMC, hails Mamata

Rajesh Lakra, an adivasi leader from the Dooars-Terai belt of north Bengal, joined the Trinamool Congress on Monday, insisting that Chief Minister Mamata Banerjees initiatives for tea workers of the region inspired his move.

Rajesh Lakra, an adivasi leader from the Dooars-Terai belt of north Bengal, joined the Trinamool Congress on Monday, insisting that Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's initiatives for tea workers of the region inspired his move. TMC leader and the state's Minister for Labour and Law Moloy Ghatak said Lakra, popularly known as 'Tiger', has been the main leader of the tea belt.

''I have joined the TMC and we are happy with the govrnment's programmes for the welfare of the tea workers. The chief minister has developed Terai and Dooars like no other previous government,'' Lakra said. Ghatak said the state government has increased cash component of the tea garden workers' wages from Rs 67 to Rs 176 and this will be revised upwards again, for which negotiations are underway.

The minister also said work on the scheme - 'Cha Sundari' - to build houses for tea workers has already started. ''Banerjee has a special affection for the adivasis...

the tea workers will get their own houses,'' Lakra added.