Goenka to sell garden for arrears

TT, Calcutta, Dec. 4: G.P. Goenka, in whose tea gardens workers have died recently amid complaints of lack of pay and shortage of rations, met the chief minister today and said he was looking to sell a garden so that he could clear labourers' dues.

"I'm already on the job (to sell off the garden). J Thomas has been mandated to look for a buyer," Goenka said this evening shortly after meeting chief minister Mamata Banerjee at Nabanna.

J Thomas is a tea auctioning and broking company.

Goenka's company, Duncans Industries Ltd (DIL), owns 14 gardens in the Dooars, Terai and Darjeeling.

The garden that Goenka mentioned is in Demdima, Alipurduar, which is privately owned by him under the name Shantipara Tea Co Ltd, which was the previous owner of the garden. Goenka took over the garden in the 1990s.

Cash-strapped DIL cannot sell its other gardens immediately as the company is under the supervision of the Board for Industrial and Financial Reconstruction since 2007 as it had declared itself sick.

After his meeting with Mamata Banerjee in Nabanna, Goenka suggested he was satisfied with the talks. "We had a very good discussion with the CM. I think things will see better days ahead," he said.

The comment on selling the privately-owned garden Goenka made later.

In several of the Duncans group gardens, such as Bagracote, Nagaisuree and Birpara, several tea workers - both working and retired - died after April, when the wage problem were reported. While workers and garden unions attributed the deaths to lack of nutritious food, state officials cited immediate causes of deaths, such as heart attack and TB, as the reasons.

Tea unions have said that Duncans owes them wages for nearly eight months, but garden officials who spoke last month said only a month's arrears were pending.

In the quarter ended June 2015, DIL had a turnover of Rs 8.41 crore and suffered a loss of Rs 20.57 crore.

This was the septuagenarian businessman's first meeting with the chief minister after the CID questioned Goenka on a case over non-payment of salaries and other dues last month.

A Duncans garden worker had lodged the complaint and the CID was activated to probe the case following an instruction from Nabanna, sources in the department had said.

The CID's move was widely seen as a pressure tactic by the government to ensure the company assuages the concerns of its workers by clearing their wage dues ahead of the Assembly polls next year.

During her visit to north Bengal last month, chief minister Mamata Banerjee had said the government would take over tea gardens if owners were unable to run them well.

Under the Tea Act, however, the state government cannot take over a garden, it can only cancel the land lease to the owner.

After today's meeting, home secretary Basudeb Banerjee, who was present there, said: "He (Goenka) had a fruitful meeting with the CM and the finance minister and has promised to clear all dues to the workers in a few months. He would require Rs 70 crore to pay off the wages and ration dues to the labourers of the tea gardens."

Banerjee added that "the CM has promised all help from the government to the company in disposing of some of the assets of the company that would help them gather the needed Rs 70 crore."

The home secretary said Goenka had assured the state government to continue to pay wages "even during the winter months when the gardens remain closed".

"Duncans group will also open a free canteen for the old, the infirm and the destitute," said Banerjee.

Sources in Duncans Industries said the immediate requirement for cash would not be staggering as much it would be paid over the years.

The company is keen on setting up an irrigation system in the garden during the winter months when there will be no plucking of leaves.