Ex-gratia for workers in closed tea gardens

TT, Jalpaiguri, Aug. 18: The labour department today said more than 4,000 workers in seven closed and abandoned tea gardens in Jalpaiguri and Alipurduar districts would receive an ex-gratia of Rs 1,500 each before the Pujas.

The workers, numbering 4,396, in three tea gardens in Jalpaiguri and four in Alipurduar district will get the one-time payment, along with the Rs 1,500 they receive under the Financial Assistance for Workers of Locked-out Industries (FAWLOI).

In Jalpaiguri, the workers of Red Bank, Surendranagar and Kumlai will get the dole. In Alipurduar, labourers of Dheklapara, Bandapani, Madhu and Jaybirpara will be provided with the ex-gratia.

Deputy labour commissioner, Shyamal Dutta, said the payment would be made to those workers who were aged below 58 years and were getting FAWLOI. "We will pay the ex-gratia of Rs 1,500 to those workers who receive FAWLOI in September. We are also in the process of extending FAWLOI to the workers of Jaybirpara that was abandoned in June," Dutta said.

According to labour department sources, FAWLOI was started in 1998 with an amount of Rs 500 per worker.

According to the chairman of the state's Tea Directorate, Saurav Chakrabarty, the ex-gratia was being matched with the FAWLOI. "In open gardens, workers get the Puja bonus based on their basic pay scales. Our government started giving the ex-gratia matching the FAWLOI amount to encourage the workers of the closed gardens," Chakrabarty said.

Additional labour commissioner, Hiralal Pan, said Kumlai and Jaybirpara gardens would be brought under FAWLOI from September. "There are around 900 workers in Kumlai and about 400 in Joybirpara and they will be brought under FAWLOI next month. We have already drawn up a list of ex-gratia beneficiaries. We will not be paying the ex-gratia to those permanent workers who have not been enlisted under FAWLOI before August 14."

In the closed Dharanipur garden, 308 workers who had been left out of FAWLOI as they had not filled up renewal forms for the current financial year will not get the ex-gratia.