ALC calls meeting on Aug 12 over Jungpana reopening issue

EOI, Darjeeling, 6 August 2014: The Assistant Labour Commissioner has decided to convene a tripartite meeting on August 12 to resolve the ongoing impasse over the re-opening of Jungpana Tea Estate in Kurseong sub-division that has remained closed since July 31 due to worker-management related issues.

The tea garden management had cited growing indiscipline among the workers and frequent intimidation by trade union leaders as the chief reasons for suspending work. The management had also demanded the removal of “netas” who were taking undue liberties such as seeking personal favours and inciting the workers.

The August 12 tripartite meeting will be held at the joint labour commissioner’s office in Siliguri. The Darjeeling Terai Dooars Plantation Labour Union (DTDPLU), which rules the roost at Jungpana, and the Darjeeling Tea Association (DTA), the umbrella organisation of the 87 tea gardens in the hills including Jungpana tea estate, have given their consent to attend the meet.

Kurseong ALC S Simick today confirmed of his office calling a meeting to resolve the ongoing imbroglio.

“We will hold a meeting on August 12 in Siliguri to find a way out to resolve the ongoing crises at Jungpana tea garden. We have not despatched the intimation letters yet, though,” he said.

After the garden’s closure, the district administration had taken an initiative and called a meeting on August 3, but it failed to yield any positive result. Another meeting was called by the ALC the following day, but the DTA refused to attend it maintaining its demands were yet to be fulfilled.

DTA principal advisor Sandeep Mukherjee said he has not received any communication from the ALC office, but replied in the affirmative when asked whether he would attend the tripartite meeting.

“We will definitely attend the meeting slated in Siliguri; however our demands will not change,” he said.

The DTDPLU, on the other hand, blamed the DTA for prolonging the stalemate by refusing to attend meetings.

“We have always attended the meetings called by the administration and the ALC. It is the DTA that always makes one excuse or another for being unable to attend the meetings,” said DTDPLU president PT Sherpa.

When asked for his comments on the management’s demands, Sherpa said, “Any issue can be solved by engaging in fruitful talks. Having said so, we too have demands that must be considered and accepted.”

The DTDPLU has an eight-point demand charter that includes filling up 10 posts lying vacant after an equal number of workers quit on VRS basis, recruitment of workers from among the garden’s resident families and annulment of casual appointments.

Jungpana Tea Estate was opened by the legendary British planter, Henry Montgomery Lennox, in 1889, and it was acquired by the Kejriwals in 1956 from the Ranas of Nepal who had purchased the garden following the departure of the British. At present, cultivation at Jungpana is spread over 77 hectares of land that is manned by a workforce of 260, including 41 administrative staffers.