GORKHALAND_____! ________________ Touzi Department _________________ The Touzi Section deals with the control & supervision of all Tea Gardens in the district of Darjeeling as per the provisions of West Bengal Estates Acquisition Act, 1953. This Section also realizes revenues in the form of land rent, penalty, fines payable by a tea garden to the Collector. The other miscellaneous functions of the Section are to grant permission for bringing virgin land under tea plantation, uprooting tea bushes, felling shade trees for the fuel wood, repair and construction of labour quarters and various other uses. Such permissions are bases as the field enquiry reports submitted by respective Block Land & Land Reforms Officers. All the tea gardens are leased out for a term of thirty years as per Form I, Schedule F of the WBEA Act, 1953. Since the penal provisions for illegal felling and illegal extension of retained leasehold land were not stringent enough, a large no. of gardens used to resort to such unlawful activities and get away scot-free. However, with the introduction and addition of several clauses in the lease Format, effort to curb such activities was made by the Government. For instance, the new clause 14(c) has imposed Rs. 5000.00 as fine for every tree felled illegally plus such a tree can be forfeited by the Collector. It also empowers the Collector to impose a fine of Rs. 20000.00 (maximum) for breach of provisions like use of land for tea & other purposes without prior approval, of the Collector. The Darjeeling Collectorate has brought all the penal sections into immediate effect in right earnest, thus fulfilling the purposes with which these clauses have been introduced by the Government. Information on Land of Tea Gardens(in acrs) Total no of Tea Gardens 144 Retained Area 141056.02 Area Under Tea 74843.82 Area Under Housing, etc. 12499.98 Unuse Area 16308.93 Area under Forest 17217.27 Doubtful Area 20186.02
Posted on: Mon, 27 Oct 2014 07:50:37 +0000