Tea union bhashan-ration barb at Mamata - Garden labour unions ask why CM said nothing at business meet on 9 shut estates in Dooars

Avijit Sinha, TT, Siliguri, Jan. 21: People don't need bhashan (lecture) or ration, but work and wages, a conglomeration of tea unions today said, tweaking Mamata Banerjee's words in Siliguri yesterday when she had demanded funds from Delhi.

Tea garden labour unions, barring Trinamul's outfit, were already miffed with the state over delay in fixing a minimum industrial wage. Members of the Co-ordination Committee of Tea Plantation Workers, which has 17 labour outfits under its umbrella, today said they were upset that chief minister Mamata Banerjee said nothing about opening closed gardens in the Dooars or their demand for a minimum wage.

The Joint Forum, which comprises 24 unions from the hills and the Dooars of which many are members of the Co-ordination Committee too, wants the state to fix a minimum wage first before deciding on the once-in-three-years hike in wages. The state government does not want the two issues to be clubbed.

Trinamul's tea labour union is not a part of the Joint Forum.

"Tea workers in this region don't need bhashan, or even ration. They don't want to thrive on doles and relief extended by the state government, but a permanent solution to their problems. Their simple demand is that the state should immediately reopen all the nine gardens which are closed in the Dooars and fix the minimum wage rate for the industry," said Chitta Dey, the convener of Coordination Committee of Tea Plantation Workers Union.

Yesterday, at the opening of the Uttarbanga Utsav, Mamata had said: " Bhashan chaina,ration chai (We don't want lectures, give food). Delhi, you can criticise us but why don't you feed people?"

Four estates - Sonali, Redbank, Surendranagar and Dharanipur - are closed in Jalpaiguri district, and five - Bandapani, Dheklapara, Madhu, Patkapara and Rahimabad - are shut in Alipurduar district. The number of workers in these gardens would total around 12,000.

Trade union leaders today said after the North Bengal Industry Meet on January 19, tea workers are upset. "It is disappointing that at the business meet, the industry, which employs the highest number of people in north Bengal and is a principal pillar of the region's economy, was hardly mentioned, except once when the finance minister announced that the Ambootia Group was taking over three state gardens in the hills," said Ziaur Alam, the Jalpaiguri district Citu secretary.

"The state seems to be preoccupied with festivals like Uttarbanga Utsav. Crores of public money is being spent while on the other hand, thousands of tea workers are jobless and do not have even the basic amenities such as drinking water and electricity in their gardens. Not a single announcement was made for them," he said.

Asked about the Coordination Committee's allegations, Alok Chakraborty, the working president of the Trinamul-backed Terai Dooars Plantation Workers' Union, today said: "Those raising questions today used to allow a wage hike of Rs 5-7 when they were in power. After our party came to power, the first hike was of Rs 28. They must understand the state is concerned for tea workers."

He said several ministers were monitoring the closed tea estates and they would be opened soon.

Administrative sources today said a tea group having estates in the Dooars is likely to take over Hilla and Mahua, the two state gardens in the Dooars.