POVERTY KILLS MAN IN RED BANK TEA ESTATE

STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE Siliguri , 12 February A 55- year- old tea worker associated with the closed Red Bank Tea Estate in Jalpaguri died last night, as grinding poverty prevented him from accessing proper medical care . With the death of Asino Sabar, a resident of Salboni division of the tea plantation, 50 persons have died of various causes, including malnutrition, after the closure of the tea estate due to litigation. 

The state government took possession of the land of the Red Bank TE last year, but no change has been seen in the workers’ fate because no one has taken up the garden due to legal and technical problems. 

Sabar was suffering from various problems over the past five months . He was admitted to the Birpara state general hospital earlier, and lastly at Banarhat hospital. His health condition deteriorated in the past five days, but his poor family members were not able to arrange for an ambulance to take him to any health centre for admission . 

“ The state government has taken possession of Red Bank, but the fate of the jobless workers has not yet changed . Though the state has been supplying rations, it has failed to hand the plantation over to a new planter to make it operational again, ” Amit Sabar, a resident of Salboni division, said . 

Minu Sabar, Asino Sabar’ s daughter, said they borrowed money for her father’s treatment . “ But we failed to manage more money recently while his health condition deteriorated, ” she said . “ There is no scope for alternative livelihood here after the closure of the tea plantation . My brother earns money by lifting boulders from the river bed . But his income was not enough for the treatment of my ailing father, ” she said .