Tea worker dies in Duncans garden

TT, Jalpaiguri, Oct. 26: A tea worker died today in the Dooars from suspected lack of treatment and food in a Duncans Goenka estate where pay has been irregular for at least six months and medical facilities almost negligible, according to a report submitted to the state government.

The 14 Duncans Goenka gardens in the Dooars and in Darjeeling "are in a state of limbo. They are neither closed nor open in the usual sense of the terms, with frightening consequences for the workers on the estates. This situation has added one more chapter to the shameful history of hunger in the tea industry," said a report submitted to the state government by Harsh Mandar, the Supreme Court's special commissioner on right to food.

The latest death reported, of 44-year-old Mukti Santhal, was in Bagrakote estate in Jalpaiguri district.

John Barla, a prominent trade union leader and president of the Progressive Tea Workers' Union, today said that in the past seven to eight months 42 residents had died in Duncans tea gardens from malnutrition and lack of treatment. The figure could not be confirmed from officials as deaths in gardens are not categorised as those from malnutrition or lack of treatment.

Managers of various Duncans tea gardens, some of whom occasionally visit the estates, refused to speak to this paper on the deaths despite repeated attempts.

Part of the problem in the Duncans estates stems from a grey area - the owner has not declared the gardens closed.

If the gardens had been declared shut for paucity of funds, then the workers could have got Rs 1,500 from the state government every month as well as medical attention. The state government could have started work under the rural job scheme in the garden areas.

Right now, garden workers get only rice and pulses at a subsidised rate under a government scheme.

Mandar's team's report on the Duncans gardens in September 2015 mentioned: "As far as medical facilities go, none of the estates had a functioning hospital."

The report said there "are no medicines and or other facilities in the hospital. There is one pharmacist who is surviving without any salary. The ambulance is in a miserable condition and is mostly unusable. Minimum first aid is also not available."

Barla today said: "The female worker who died in Bagrakote today died because of malnourishment. We are apprehensive that there would be more such deaths in the coming days as the lean season (November-March when there is no production of tea) is ahead."

Many tea garden workers have left the estates in search of work in Siliguri and other places in the country. But a section of workers, particularly those who are old, is forced to stay back in the tea estates.

"Since April this year, the situation has become miserable in all these gardens. Wage payment and disbursement of bonus became irregular and yet, the state did not take any step. We have heard about some bipartite meetings between officials of the state labour department with representatives of the tea company but nothing positive has come out of it," said Ziaur Alam, the Jalpaiguri district Citu secretary. "We are sceptical whether the company will at all regularise the payments ahead of the lean season. Under such circumstances, the state must act. On one side, it should pressurise the tea company to meet its obligations and on the other hand, all needs of the workers and their families should be taken care of."

Lorentus Kerketta, one of the neighbours of Mukti, who died today, said: "Her husband is mentally challenged and could not work. Mukti was a permanent worker and the sole bread earner for her family. As the wages and ration payments became irregular, she was finding it tough to manage a square meal. For the past six-seven days, she had become thin and was lying in her quarters. Today, she died. She did not have proper food or medical treatment."

Officials of Malbazar sub-divisional administration said they were yet to get a report from the block on the garden death while district Trinamul leaders of Jalpaiguri elaborated on the relief measures taken up by the state.

"Food grains have been distributed in all the tea estates of the Duncans Group spread across the Dooars according to instructions of the state food minister. We do not have a report of death from malnutrition. Even then, we will seek a report from the block level to know what had happened to the deceased worker," J. Tanti, the SDO of Malbazar, said.

Sourav Chakraborty, the Jalpaiguri district Trinamul president, said the state was providing relief to workers of Duncans' Goenka Group. "Rice, wheat and lentils were provided to the workers."