Bipartite meet on puja bonus for tea workers

SNS, Darjeeling, 15 September 2013: Come Friday, the Darjeeling Tea Association has scheduled a bipartite meeting with the plantation labour unions regarding the puja bonus for the tea plantation workers. 

The Gorkha Jan Mukti Morcha (GJMM) affiliated plantation labour union is of the view that they will not allow the bonus rates to be reduced to less than 20 per cent as even the Gorkhaland movement exempted the tea plantations during the agitation, they maintain. 

According to the Plantation Labour Act 1951, 20 per cent is the highest rate allowable but the officials of the DTA maintain that the rate should go down due to less production. 

“The industry is not going through a good phase as far as the production and quality is concerned. The bonus rate should come down. However, the bipartite meeting has been scheduled on 20 September to resolve the matter,” said the chairman of the DTA, Mr SS Bagaria. 

It can be mentioned here that the DTA gardens is classified to Grades A, B, C and D, depending on the production and other qualities related with approximately 55,000 workers. 

The Indian Tea Association as well follows the same bonus rate fixed by the DTA. “We have demanded that the tea industry has to agree to ante up 20 per cent puja bonus to all the tea garden workers irrespective of the garden’s grade,” said Mr Milan Pradhan, the Press and Publicity secretary of GJMM affiliated Darjeeling Terai Dooars Tea Plantation Labour Union.

It can be added here that the statehood movement had shuttered Darjeeling and its sub-divisions for 35 days. 

However, in view of the monsoon flush, the agitation had exempted the 87 tea plantations from the purview of the strike.