Fear grips tea garden management - Police remand for workers held for planter’s murder

The house on Sonali Tea Estate where owner Rajesh Jhunjhunwala used to stay whenever he
visited the garden. Telegraph picture

TT, Nov. 23: An undercurrent of tension because of a pending hike in wages in all tea gardens of north Bengal has made managerial staff in various estates nervous following yesterday’s lynching of the owner of Sonali Tea Estate.

A garden manager, who spoke on condition of anonymity as he did not want to be singled out, said the managerial staff “face the initial wrath of the local people in tea estates in the case there is any dispute” as most of them live either on the estate or in nearby areas.

Garden workers are awaiting an upward revision of wages since April — at Sonali estate the workers had not been paid for two months — but talks between the tea unions and the estate owners are deadlocked over the quantum of hike. Of late, the tea unions have said the state government must announce a minimum wage for garden workers, in the absence of which they would not sit for talks on wage revision. Seven rounds of talks on the wage revision have not yielded any result.

The lynching of Calcutta-based Rajesh Jhunjhunwala was the second case of garden lynching this year. On March 27, a worker had hacked an assistant manager of Dalmore Tea Estate, also in the Dooars, after the latter had misbehaved with his wife.

There have also been cases of managers being confined and being assaulted and ransacking of their offices by garden workers.

“We find it difficult to work in the tea estates now, particularly after the recent incidents. When the life of a tea estate owner is not secure and he can be brutally killed by his workers, there is no guarantee we would not face similar circumstances in future, even over trivial issues,” a senior manager in a tea estate in Nagrakata block of Jalpaiguri said today.

One of his colleagues, working in a garden in Naxalbari, said: “In tea estates, even a minor issue can snowball into a major one and lead to a law-and-order problem. After yesterday's incident, we are nervous because the workers have a reason to be discontented. None of the workers in the Terai, Dooars and Darjeeling hills has received wages at a revised rate, which despite being due since April 1, could not be paid,” he said.

“On the other hand, trade unions are organising movements, demonstrations and protests in tea estates on a regular basis on the wage demand. Such demonstrations may trigger violence. This would make the employees working in managerial positions like us vulnerable. We want the trade unions to play a responsible role so that the workers maintain restraint.”

Two workers, Katru Oraon and Sunil Oraon, who had been arrested in connection with the garden owner’s murder, were produced in the chief judicial magistrate’s court in Jalpaiguri today. They have been sent to police custody for seven days.

Trade unions have said they never support violence and all those who were responsible for Jhunjhunwala’s murder must be punished.

“We believe in democratic movements. We never encourage violence. All those responsible (for Jhunjhunwala’s murder) should be severely punished. The owner might have left dues for months but that in no way justifies his gruesome murder. We, on behalf of Joint Forum, ask workers to refrain from violence and hold protest programmes in a peaceful manner,” said Ziaur Alam, the Jalpaiguri district secretary of the Citu.

The Joint Forum is a conglomeration of 23 tea unions, except that of the Trinamul Congress, to fight for the minimum wage and pay revision.

The Sonali plantation which has 375 permanent workers and about 150 temporary workers wore a deserted look today with men fleeing the garden. Even some women have let the garden, fearing arrest, and children are alone in huts.

“Police are conducting regular raids in our garden and picking up innocent people. We condemn it and want proper investigation and arrest of the accused. Such police harassment should stop,” said Babulal Oraon, a Sonali resident and a Trinamul Congress member of Bagrakote panchayat.

Today, C.S. Lepcha, the deputy inspector general of Jalpaiguri range, visited the tea estate with a huge police force to take stock of the situation.

None of the managerial staff members, including manager A.K. Medhi, were present in the garden as they all had fled.

Kunal Agarwal, the superintendent of police, Jalpaiguri, has denied that the law enforcers were picking up innocent people from Sonali estate.

We have arrested two persons who were produced in the court in Jalpaiguri today. Six others, including five women, have been detained in connection with the case. Our officers are patrolling the garden to keep the situation normal and investigations are in progress,” he said.

The post-mortem on Jhunjhunwala’s body was conducted at the Jalpaiguri district hospital today. Kamal, his brother, who had come to take away the body for last rites, said the family would approach the state home department, seeking proper investigation and the arrest of all accused workers.