Tea labourers seek hope in co-operative model - NGO takes Bundapani workers to Tripura for training to run tea garden on their own

The Bundapani factory in Alipurduar district. Pic: Anirban Choudhury

AVIJIT SINHA, TT, Bundapani (Alipurduar), Dec. 9: A ray of hope has shown on workers of Bundapani Tea Estate that has been closed since July 2013 - that of running a garden as a labourers' co-operative.

The plan has been mooted by a Cooch Behar-based NGO, called the Godhulibazar North East Society for Empowerment of the People (G-NESEP), which works in closed and ailing tea estates.

"We have been visiting Bundapani for the last three-four years. In the course of our visits, we mooted a workers' cooperative so that the garden can resume functioning and it was appreciated by the workers," Partha Pratim Sarkar, the secretary of G-NESEP, said.

"We took a team of workers to Tripura where the Durgabari Tea Estate runs in such a manner. Later, we made the proposal to the Alipurduar district administration and have spoken with senior officials. They have assured us the proposal would be looked into and we are pursuing it," Sarkar said.

In such a set-up, a labourers' co-operative body is elected from among the workers and they look into the running of the affairs of the garden, right from the distribution of wages to the selling of tea leaves. Even if the state cannot find an owner, the garden can run through the co-operative.

The Bundapani garden was closed by the management in 2013 after its owner Rakesh Srivastava got embroiled in a fund-mobilising case in Jharkhand and was arrested in that state.

In October 2014, the state cancelled the land lease to the garden. But after that nothing happened. "The management did not pay our wages or give rations for over a year and suddenly closed down the garden in 2013. In 2014, we saw government officials coming here and putting up a notice in front of the factory. We learnt that the state had cancelled the land lease," Joseph Minz, one of the garden security guards, said.

According to the data provided in the tea garden survey report compiled by the state labour department in 2014, there are 712 permanent workers' families in Bundapani and 1,041 casual workers. The garden population is around 7,800. The report mentions that the management has not paid wages since September 1, 2012, and not given rations since October 2011.

The workers were initially hopeful when the state cancelled the lease. "We thought that the state will soon scout for a new owner and hand over the garden to him. But we were disillusioned when the state did not make any move. In January this year, the government announced it has found investors for five West Bengal Tea Development Corporation gardens," said Budhua Oraon, a local youth and social worker whose father is a permanent worker of Bundapani.

Later, Budhua and some others also learnt a bitter reality. "We spoke to some managerial staff in nearby gardens and also with trade union leaders. They told us that the state can only cancel the land lease but cannot take over the company. It is only the central government that can do so. This shattered us. We now feel that if the state would have instead asked the owner to sell the garden, rather than cancel the lease, we would have got a new owner," he said.

"Workers here receive Rs 1,500 per month under a central scheme for closed industry units, which means, the ownership is still with the private company," Budhua added.

Chief minister Mamata Banerjee recently said at two public meetings last month that the state would take over gardens that were not being run properly. "There is no point in making such elaborate announcements when people can see that we... are living on relief," he said.

Deaths have been reported at the garden and there had been migration too. Most of the youths, particularly women, have left the garden in search of jobs. The factory is in a shambles and a number of vehicles, used in the garden, lie with punctured tyres and rusty chassis.

But security guards like Joseph still come to work in the hope that " sarkar paisa dega(government will pay us)".

A giant trough in the factory that was used to store tea leaves now serves as the sleeping bunk for the guards now. They have their beds rolled out on the trough.

"The state government has taken possession of the entire land and we believe that we are guarding the factory on behalf of the government. We hope that the state will pay us for keeping the factory machinery, vehicles and other items secure," Joseph said. "In total, we are eight security guards here who guard the factory round the clock. We have recently drafted a letter, mentioning that the state should pay us for our service and will submit it to the BDO of the Birpara-Madarihat block."

Officials of the block administration said they have no new information. "We are providing financial assistance and all other relief including food grains and healthcare facilities to the residents of Bundapani Tea Estate," Rajib Dasgupta, the BDO, said. "There is no new information with us regarding its reopening or on any other proposal."

ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY ANIRBAN CHOUDHURY