TMC Alleges Tea Board Headquarters Being Shifted Out Of Kolkata

Kolkata: Alleged shifting of Tea Board headquarters from Kolkata to Guwahati and a demand for setting up a High Court in Andhra Pradesh were among the issues raised by members in the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday. Vivek Gupta (TMC) raised the issue of the alleged move to shift Tea Board headquarters to Guwahati after the BJP came to power in Assam, likening the move to “chopping off the hands” of Kolkata.

The Centre, he alleged, has not been consulting the state government on the appointment of chairman of Kolkata Port Trust and Damodar Valley Corporation and was now shifting the Tea Board headquarters.

Kolkata has not just a sea port for movement of tea but also a tea auction house, he said, adding that any move to shift the headquarters would result in job losses. Shadi Lal Batra (Congress) raised the issue of Rs 50,000 crore ponzy scheme fraud by PACL and demanded that the company’s directors and chairman be arrested and their  properties seized and sold to refund money to 6 crore poor farmers, shopkeepers, retired officials and widows who, he alleged, have been defrauded.

Ananda Bhaskar Rapolu (Congress) said with the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh, the High Court at Hyderabad has gone to Telengana state. Andhra Pradesh is now eagerly awaiting its own High Court, he said, adding that the court complex in Vijawada be allocated for setting up of the High Court.