West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday said that the state Cabinet gave its approval to fix Rs 900 per quintal as the minimum support price for potatoes.“We have decided to fix the new minimum support price (MSP) for potatoes at Rs 900 per quintal to help the farmers. This will also ensure that they do not have to resort to distress sale of their produce,” Banerjee said at a press conference at the state secretariat.She also criticised the Damodar Valley Corporation (DVC) for releasing water without informing her government and thus damaging the crops (potatoes) in the fields.Also Read | West Bengal: BJP to name its new district chiefs ‘as early this weekend’“The state government has created a corpus of Rs 321 crore for providing crop insurance to the farmers,” she said, adding that her government would purchase somewhat damaged potatoes from the farmers to ensure that they do not face any loss.The Cabinet also cleared a proposal to give land on lease lying with six tea gardens for development of tourism centres and homestays in North Bengal. However, she made clear that no disruption to tea cultivation would be tolerated and that alternative tourism opportunities would be limited to non-tea-growing areas.“Those who are campaigning that we will give tea gardens for commercial use are trying to mislead people. That’s not true. Six tea gardens were shut because of technical problems. Some were not closed but they could not pay the wages to the workers. For three years we have decided to allow them to give their land on lease,” the CM said.At the Bengal Global Business Summit, Mamata Banerjee had announced, “Wherever land is available in tea gardens, where tea plantations are not there, we will allow 30 per cent for hotel business, commercial utilisation, and eco-tourism purposes.”Story continues below this adShe also assured that land will be given for commercial reasons to those companies which will be ready to hire 80 per cent of the local people as their employees. “We will only allow those business houses, which are ready to hire 80 per cent of the local people. They will commercially use those lands that have not been used for tea cultivation for years.”The Cabinet also decided that the inauguration of the Jagannath Temple at the popular coastal town of Digha in Purba Medinipur district will be held on ‘Akshaya Tritiya’, which falls on April 30. She had earlier reviewed the construction of the temple. “Besides state government representatives, we have also decided to include representatives from different religious and charitable trusts in the board of trustees of the temple,” she added.© The Indian Express Pvt Ltd