Tea planter Ajit Kumar Agarwala has proposed to donate a CT-Scan machine that would cost Rs 1.1 crore to Darjeeling district hospital.

Agarwala, who owns eight tea gardens in the region, six in Darjeeling district and the rest in Jalpaiguri, stated in his proposal that a May 31 report in The Telegraph on the lack of CT scan and portable X-ray machine to treat Covid-19 patients in Darjeeling district hospital caught his eye.

Darjeeling has no CT scan facility in any hospital, which hampers Covid-19 treatment.

The report published in The Telegraph on May 31. The Telegraph

“…..upon reading the news article it is felt that an urgent installation of CT Scan machine is the need of the hour so we as a social organisation wish to extend our helping hand to the citizens of Darjeeling, through your good office, by donating a 16 Slice CT Scan machine to the Darjeeling Govt. hospital,” Agarwala has stated in his letter to the principal secretary of the health department, the administrator of the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA) and Darjeeling district magistrate.

Agarwala is the managing trustee of the Amit Agarwala Foundation, which is named after his only son. Amit Agarwala died in 2006.

“I don’t have any legal heir but I want to do social work in the region that has given me so much,” said Agarwala.

Agarwala said he also plans to come up with “hospitals and schools”.

He said that he was the first planter in the country to write to the government to distribute land to the tea garden workers.

“At Kanchan View (one of the tea gardens that he owns) I once had 200 workers but now we only have 99. I had proposed to the state government to take 50 per cent of the garden land and distribute it to the workers and other landless people,” said Agarwala stressing that lack of workforce is a major problem in smooth running of a tea garden.

Asked about the businessman’s proposed gift of the CT scan, S. Poonambalam, Darjeeling’s district magistrate, however, said the health department has already started the process to procure a CT scan machine for the Darjeeling district hospital.

“The process was to start before the election but was stalled because of the model code of conduct,” said Poonambalam.

To this, Agarwala said that if the government wished, he could buy and install the CT scan at another hill hospital like the Covid hospital at Triveni, Kalimpong district, which is run by the GTA.

The tea owner previously owned two gardens in the hills, Chungthung and Kanchan View. He, however, sold Chungthung in 2008.

At the Kanchan View tea garden, Agarwala is planning to come up with a 72-room resort, which will be a commercial venture.