Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Wednesday said the Mamata Banerjee government had never backed the Centre’s efforts for the betterment of the tea industry, while the tourism sector couldn’t flourish in north Bengal because of alleged non-transparent practices by the state administration.

Sitharaman sought to put the Trinamul Congress government in the dock over the tea and tourism sectors, which are the backbone of the economy of north Bengal. She flagged the issues concerning the tea and tourism sectors on a day campaigning for 17 Assembly seats in Darjeeling and Jalpaiguri districts ended.

The two districts will go to the polls on Saturday.

Sitharaman first held a meeting with leaders of BJP-backed tea garden trade unions and representatives of plantation workers at Nagrakata (in Jalpaiguri district) in the western Dooars. She then attended a “retailers & traders meet” organised by the BJP in Siliguri.

Speaking to newspersons, Sitharaman trained guns at the Mamata Banerjee government for not cooperating with the Centre for the development of the tea industry.

“Since 2014, when I was in the commerce ministry, we have time and again tried to take initiatives for the benefit of the tea industry but the state government never supported us. On one hand, they didn’t do anything on their own. On the other hand, they stopped us. Till now, the minimum wage (of tea workers) has not yet been fixed. We have, however, made it clear in our manifesto that we will fix Rs 350 as the daily wage,” said the Union finance minister.

She added that the Centre had allocated a sum of Rs 1,000 crore for the welfare of the tea population in Bengal and Assam, particularly women and children.

The announcement had been made earlier this year as Sitharaman had tabled the budget.

On the tourism industry, Sitharaman said: “Syndicates are even prevalent in the tourism sector of the region. There are certain non-transparent practices, because of which the industry has not flourished in the region.”.

She went on: “A number of welfare schemes could not be implemented in Bengal because of the Trinamul government. For example, the Centre had set aside Rs 4,000 crore under the housing-for-all scheme but the state government has never contributed its matching grant. As a result, prospective beneficiaries were deprived of pucca houses.”

Mannalal Jain, a leader of the Trinamul-backed tea trade union in the Dooars, rejected Sitharaman’s accusations.

“The finance minister’s visit will not do any wonders for the BJP. She came here ahead of the elections and iterated some promises which were never met. On the other hand, Mamata Banerjee has lived up to her commitments made to the tea population, which include introduction of free housing scheme and facilitating revision of tea wages,” said Jain.

Altogether, votes of the tea population decide the results of over 12 seats in north

Bengal. On April 17, elections would be held in around seven such Assembly seats in the districts of Darjeeling and Jalpaiguri.