Nirmala to visit north tea estates next week - Trade unions hope the minister will solve problems in closed and ailing gardens

Nirmala Sitharaman

TT, Siliguri, Dec. 31: Union minister of state for commerce and industry Nirmala Sitharaman has said she will visit tea gardens in north Bengal next week and she is expected to tour the closed and ailing estates and discuss the plight of workers with the stakeholders of the industry.

The minister announced her visit through a tweet yesterday in response to another one by Bijoygopal Chakraborty, the president of the Confederation of Indian Small Tea Growers (Cista).

Chakraborty, who represents the apex body of small tea growers, tweeted that "Small tea growers eagerly waiting to meet with you during your visit to North Bengal. Pl provide some time for us.."

In reply, Sitharaman said: "Sure. Likely to visit N Bengal tea gardens 3-5 Jan 2016."

Today, Chakraborty said: "We appreciate the response made by the Union minister. She has confirmed that she will give some time to us and made it clear that she will visit tea gardens in north Bengal."

Sources in the Tea Board of India, which is busy making arrangements for the minister's visit, said Sitharaman was likely to go to a closed tea estate and an ailing plantation of the Duncans Goenka Group.

"The itinerary is not final yet but it has been proposed that after her arrival on January 3, she will visit the closed Bundapani Tea Estate and Birpara Tea Estate (owned by the Duncans' Goenka Group). She is also likely to visit a well-run tea estate in the Dooars so that she can draw comparisons," said a Tea Board official

The Bundapani plantation has been closed since 2013 and the state government cancelled its land lease in November last year). Both the Bundapani and Birpara plantations are near Birpara in Alipurduar district.

On January 4, Sitharaman is expected to hold talks with tea planters, trade unions, state government officials and owners of the closed tea gardens.

"On January 5, the minister will inaugurate the Quality Control Laboratory which we have built at the Tea Park near New Jalpaiguri station, before heading for Delhi," said the Tea Board official.

The lab has been set up to carry out several tests on tea samples to confirm the brew's quality and check out whether the produce meant for exports meet the Maximum Residue Limit (MRL) of fertilisers and pesticides.

Sitharaman is visiting north Bengal for the second time in eight months to look into the affairs of the tea industry.

In May, she had visited the closed Redbank and Dharanipur tea estates, near Banarhat in the Dooars, and held a meeting with stakeholders of the industry and state government officials.

During her visit, she had raised questions over alleged curtailment of fringe benefits accrued to workers by tea planters, an issue which has been pointed out by trade union leaders time and again. The minister also said the state labour department should see whether workers were getting fringe benefits.

The Union minister's decision to visit the region again has kindled hope among jobless workers and trade union leaders.

"We can hardly bank on the state as the chief minister had put the ball in the Centre's court yesterday. She also mentioned that the central policy and rules need to be changed to tide over the current situation in tea gardens. It is evident that the Centre will have to intervene now and find a solution," Mani Kumar Darnal, the general secretary of the Intuc-backed National Union of Plantation Workers, said.

"Under such circumstances, the visit of the Union minister is significant and we hope she will make some positive announcements so that things can improve in the gardens of the Duncans Goenka Group."

The Joint Forum said the Centre should see that state also played its role in a proper manner.

"We are aware that the Centre has the power to take over tea estates but the state, too, has an important role to play. If the state government, for some reason or other, does not cooperate with the Centre in resolving this impasse, nothing can be done. We hope the Union minister will tell the state representatives that the matter would be dealt with jointly as per law and without any differences. Only then can the Union minister's visit prove to be effective," said Ziaur Alam, the convener of Joint Forum, the apex body of 24 tea trade unions.