The Railway Board has agreed to issue no-objection certificates to entrepreneurs so that they can borrow from banks and other financial institutions to develop their projects on their plots at the North Bengal Tea Park that exists on land leased out by the railways to the SJDA.

In 2008, the Siliguri-Jalpaiguri Development Authority (SJDA) had obtained land from the railways near New Jalpaiguri station — the largest railway station in north Bengal — on lease.

The SJDA had then divided it into two parts to use the bigger plot of 50 acres for a tea park for entrepreneurs and the smaller one of 24.5 acres for a dry port.

Expressing his relief at the Railway Board nod, Sanjit Saha, chairman of the NB zonal council of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), admitted that without it, getting funds was a major stumbling block in the development of the tea park.

“Many entrepreneurs could not open their units as they could not arrange the finances to do so. It is good that the railway board has finally said that no-objection certificates would be issued to entrepreneurs who have taken up plots at the tea park. This will go a long way in bringing in fresh industrial investments in the region,” said Saha.

So far, around 132 private investors have taken plots at the tea park.

The Tea Board has also taken a plot and established a quality control laboratory on the site.

“We expect an investment of around Rs 1,000 crore at the tea park in the coming days that will help in generating employment for over 5,000 people. It is a major development of the region,” added Saha.

At the park, tea packaging units, warehouses and some other ancillary units related to the tea sector are likely to come up, said sources.

CII representatives, who had been instrumental in getting this assent from the Railway Board, and have time and again raised the issue with governments and elected representatives, also feel that the dry port will get functional soon.

The dry port or the inland container depot (ICD), they said, would considerably reduce the expenses of logistics for importers and exporters of the region.

“The MSME (micro, small and medium enterprises) sector of north Bengal and northeast and those in horticulture and agriculture sectors, can package any kind of product, starting from fruits and vegetables to heavy machinery, in containers which would be transported to any destination by the railways from the ICD,” said a source.