Tea plea for waiver

TT, Nov 10 : Tea planters in north Bengal have written to the Reserve Bank of India and several administrative authorities, requesting for a waiver on the ceiling of withdrawal as paying the wages to lakhs of garden labourers has become a headache.

Adarsh Kanoria, the president of Tea Association of India (TAI), has written to RBI governor Urjit Patel, mentioning that managements of the 1,000-odd tea estates in Bengal and Assam were worried as wage payments would get delayed.

Tea and tourism are the biggest industries in north Bengal. In most gardens, wages are paid in cash fortnightly.

“Wages are paid in cash and a large number of gardens were scheduled to make payments today (Thursday) and tomorrow (Friday). But because of this ceiling, the managements could not withdraw the cash from the banks. That is why our president has written to the RBI and the state government, requesting that banks be allowed to let tea companies make cash withdrawals above the ceiling,” Prabir Bhattacharjee, the secretary general of TAI, told The Telegraph over the phone from Calcutta on Thursday.

According to the central rules in force now, a maximum daily withdrawal of Rs 10,000 is allowed and it cannot cross Rs 20,000 a week till November 24. 

In his letter, the tea association has mentioned that in case there is delay in wage payments, there is a chance of labour protests and a law-and-order breach. 

According to the officials of TAI, in these 1,000-odd tea estates in Bengal and Assam, 400 to 1,000 workers are employed in each. There are also several thousand casual workers also. 

“The average labour payment per tea garden per fortnight ranges between Rs 6 lakh and Rs 16 lakh and even more. Also, in the past few years, it has been found that because of untimely payment of wages, there have been cases where executives have been manhandled,” a tea association official said. 

The association has also written to state labour minister Malay Ghatak and administrative officials working in tea-producing districts. 

Sandeep Mukherjee, the principal advisor to the Darjeeling Tea Association, said: “We have written to the district magistrate of Darjeeling, articulating our apprehension that there might be labour unrest in estates if the wages are not paid on time. The district magistrate has assured us that he will take up the matter with the state.”

Mukta Arya, the district magistrate of Jalpaiguri, said this evening: 

“People from the tea industry met with me today (Thursday) and mentioned the problem about payments. I have called a meeting tomorrow when they would be present, along with representatives of banks.”

Senior bank officials said they couldn’t release more money to tea companies till the RBI gives such an instruction.