Unions question Goenka's plans - No tea talks by Duncans chief

G.P. Goenka 

TT, Jan. 6: A proposed meeting between workers in tea gardens of the Duncans Goenka Group and its chairman G.P. Goenka to discuss the non-payment of wages and rations didn't take place today, prompting trade unions to wonder if the management was trying to avert hard steps by the Centre by mooting the talks.

Union minister of state for commerce and industry Nirmala Sitharaman had said in Siliguri on Monday that Goenka would meet the workers today, although there was no confirmation on the talks from the industrialist's side.

Trade unions said they doubted the management's move and alleged that the company was delaying the revival of its 14 gardens.

"We suspect it is yet another ploy by the management to buy some more time from the government. Earlier, we had seen that G.P. Goenka had met the chief minister as the state took a strict stand against his company. He had said he would sell Demdima, one of the tea estates owned by him, and clear the dues of workers in the company-owned gardens. There is no information that a buyer has been found for Demdima," said Mani Kumar Darnal, the general secretary of the Intuc-backed National Union of Plantation Workers.

On Monday, after a meeting with Goenka, Sitharaman had said in Siliguri: "He (Goenka) will meet workers and trade union leaders of his gardens on January 6. We have asked him to send us a report on the talks. On the basis of the report, we will make further moves."

"It seems he met the Union minister and told her about a meeting with the workers to prevent any harsh steps on the part of the Centre. On the other hand, none of the workers in the gardens owned by the Duncans was told about any such meeting so far by the company's representatives. We are not convinced that the company is making proactive moves to run the gardens in a proper manner," Darnal said.

Ziaur Alam, the Citu district secretary of Jalpaiguri, said the company seemed to have no plan to set things right in the gardens.

"We had attended the meeting convened by the Union minister of state and categorically told her that the state and Centre needed to sit together with other stakeholders to solve the crisis in the closed and ailing tea gardens. Considering the present state of affairs, we doubt whether the company has any intention to reopen the gardens during the ongoing lean season as production of tea will resume only in March."

He said the state and, the Centre in particular, should see that the company came up with proper plans for the revival of all its 14 gardens.

Workers denied that they had information of any meeting with Goenka today.

"We have no information about any such meeting with the management. Yesterday, we had learnt from media reports that the Union minister of state had mentioned such a meeting between Goenka and the labourers today. However, no invitation or intimation reached us till this evening about the meeting," Jayaram Paik, a worker of Dhumchipara Tea Estate, owned by Duncans, said

Sirian Bilung, a resident of Garganda, another estate of the group, and a social worker, said: "We had learnt that the chairman of Duncans had met the Union minister of state in Siliguri on January 4 after which she had said the management would meet the workers today. But nobody in our garden is aware of any such meeting."

"We doubt the management's intentions. Even if the management could not organise the meeting today due to any reason, they should have at least informed workers that a new date had been fixed."

A senior official of the Duncans said in Calcutta: "None from the company had a meeting with any government official today."