Dheklapara Tea Garden is a village in the Madarihat Birpara CD block in the Alipurduar subdivision of the Alipurduar district in the state of West Bengal, India.

Dheklapara Tea Garden
Village
Dheklapara Tea Garden is located in West Bengal
Dheklapara Tea Garden
Dheklapara Tea Garden
Location in West Bengal, India
Dheklapara Tea Garden is located in India
Dheklapara Tea Garden
Dheklapara Tea Garden
Dheklapara Tea Garden (India)
Coordinates: 26°46′05″N 89°06′17″E / 26.7681°N 89.1048°E / 26.7681; 89.1048
Country India
StateWest Bengal
DistrictAlipurduar
Population
 (2011)
 • Total
2,641
Time zoneUTC+5:30 (IST)
PIN
735204
Telephone/STD code03561
Vehicle registrationWB
Lok Sabha constituencyAlipurduars
Vidhan Sabha constituencyMadarihat
Websitealipurduar.gov.in

Geography

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8km
5miles
B
H
U
T
A
N
Dheklapara TG
R
Bandapani TG
R
Jaldhaka River
Torsha River
Titi
Reserved
Forest
Khairbari
Reserved
Forest
Jaldapara
National
Park
NP
Aryaman TE
TE
Sonapur
R
Totopara
R
Pachkalguri
R
Birpara TG
R
Alipurduar
M
Birpara
CT
Sisha Jumrha
CT
Paschim Jitpur
CT
Parangarpar
CT
Madarihat
CT
Jateswar
CT
Jagijhora Barabak
CT
Falakata
CT
Chechakhata
CT
Bholar Dabri
CT
Alipurduar Railway Junction
CT
Places and tea estates in the western portion of Alipurdar subdivision (including Madarihat-Birpara, Falakata and Alipuduar I CD blocks) in Alipurduar district
CT: census town, R: rural/ urban centre, N: neighbourhood, NP: national park/ wildlife sanctuary, TE: tea estate
Abbreviations used in names – TG for Tea Garden (town/village), TE for Tea Estate
Owing to space constraints in the small map, the actual locations in a larger map may vary slightly

Location

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Dheklapara Tea Garden is located at 26°46′05″N 89°06′17″E / 26.7681°N 89.1048°E / 26.7681; 89.1048.

Area overview

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Alipurduar district is covered by two maps. It is an extensive area in the eastern end of the Dooars in West Bengal. It is undulating country, largely forested, with numerous rivers flowing down from the outer ranges of the Himalayas in Bhutan. It is a predominantly rural area with 79.38% of the population living in the rural areas. The district has 1 municipal town and 20 census towns and that means that 20.62% of the population lives in urban areas. The scheduled castes and scheduled tribes, taken together, form more than half the population in all the six community development blocks in the district. There is a high concentration of tribal people (scheduled tribes) in the three northern blocks of the district.[1][2][3]

Demographics

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As per the 2011 Census of India, Dheklapara Tea Garden had a total population of 2,641. There were 1,321 (50%) males and 1,322 (50%) females. There were 366 persons in the age range of 0 to 6 years. The total number of literate people in Dheklapara Tea Garden was 1,349 (59.24% of the population over 6 years).[4]

Economy

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Dheklapara Tea Estate, with 656 workers, was shut down in 2002.[5] One report puts it succinctly, "The tea estate closed down in 2002 after the owner quit the business. But the workers, some 600 men and women, almost all of them Adivasis, did not leave. They clung on in the hope of a revival. Organising themselves into committees, they started plucking leaves to sell to outside buyers. But the economics of tea do not support direct sales. At best, what the workers sell is good enough to fetch them Rs 35 a day, a third of the regular wage."[6]

Subsequently, the state government has been providing a monthly assistance of Rs.1,500 to each permanent worker of the locked out gardens. There are about 10,000 jobless workers and their families in nine closed tea gardens in the dooars. Everybody is assured of two plain meals in a day.[7][8]

References

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  1. ^ "District Statistical Handbook 2014 Jalpaiguri". Tables 2.2, 2.4b. Department of Planning and Statistics, Government of West Bengal. Retrieved 29 June 2020.
  2. ^ "CD block Wise Primary Census Abstract Data(PCA)". 2011 census: West Bengal – District-wise CD blocks. Registrar General and Census Commissioner, India. Retrieved 29 June 2020.
  3. ^ "District Census Handbook, Jalpaiguri, Series 20, Part XIIA" (PDF). Census of India 2011, page 13 Physiography. Directorate of Census Operations, West Bengal. Retrieved 18 June 2020.
  4. ^ "C.D. Block Wise Primary Census Abstract Data(PCA)". West Bengal – District-wise CD Blocks. Registrar General and Census Commissioner, India. Retrieved 16 July 2020.
  5. ^ "Garden workers quiz ministers, Suspected starvation death in Dheklapara, Mullick and Deb face ire of workers". The Telegraph, 17 October 2012. Retrieved 16 July 2020.
  6. ^ "In dying tea gardens of North Bengal, Adivasis struggle to make a living wage". Supriya Sharma. Scroll.in., 1 April 2014. Retrieved 16 July 2020.
  7. ^ "Dole eludes workers in shut tea gardens". The Telegraph, 5 June 2020. Retrieved 16 July 2020.
  8. ^ "দু'বেলা সাদা ভাত মিলছে, ঘর হয়েছে, নিশ্চিন্ত ঢেকলাপাড়া (A house and two meals assured in Dheklapara)". in Bengali. Ei Samay, 19 March 2014. Retrieved 16 July 2020.