Tea Board to set up R&D centre in Siliguri


Beleaguered by the virtual non-functioning of its tea research centre in Kurseong on the Darjeeling Hills, a sequel to the Gorkhaland agitation, the Tea Board has decided to set up a similar one at the foothills in Siliguri. The Board has acquired two acres of lane in the area where the proposed facility is to come up.

The proposed centre will be known as the Tea Research and Development Centre, as the Board’s present development centre at Siliguri too will be shifted to the new location and clubbed with the proposed research centre. There is a further proposal to set up an information centre in the same location on organic tea cultivation. However, the Kurseong research centre will continue to operate, as the proposed centre in Siliguri will be an additional facility.

Although West Bengal’s model farm for producing organic tea is located in Darjeeling, the proposed information centre is being established in Siliguri so that those interested can access it without difficulty. The Gorkhaland agitation often paralyses life on the Darjeeling Hills.