Trinamul leaders in Alipurduar have taken up the onus to reopen closed tea gardens of the district ahead of the Lok Sabha polls in a bid to prove that their party fulfils promises made to jobless workers of these estates unlike the BJP.

The initiative gained promptness after chief minister Mamata Banerjee instructed the district administration on December 10 to take steps to reopen the gardens. Six gardens are closed in the district which has 64 tea estates. Around 10,000 workers are jobless.

Sourav Chakraborty, the former MLA of Alipurduar, said among the six closed gardens — Kalchini, Raimatang, Dalsingpara, Dalmore, Ramjhora and Lankapara — a private company is ready to take over two.

“Representatives of a tea company have written to me, saying they intend to take over Kalchini and Raimatang gardens. On December 11 (a day after the Alipurduar meeting), I handed over the letter to the chief minister at Banarhat (in Jalpaiguri) and also to the district magistrate and the state labour department. Along with the administration, we are exploring all options to reopen these six gardens,” Chakraborty, who chairs the Siliguri-Jalpaiguri Development Authority, said.

Leaders of Trinamul Cha Sramik Union, the party’s tea trade union, said they asked state labour minister Moloy Ghatak to cancel land leases of closed gardens if existing owners didn't want to reopen them.

“It will help us find investors who can take over,” said Rabin Rai, a prominent union leader.