Tea wage first sip in Dooars & hills

Workers receive wages at Patkapara Tea Estate
near Alipurduar on Sunday.
(Anirban Choudhury)

TT, Nov. 20: Distribution of wages among tea workers across north Bengal started today.

Representatives of different planters' associations said the fortnightly wages, which had stopped because of the ceiling imposed by the Centre on withdrawal of cash from November 9, were paid to workers in 38 gardens of the region that has over 300 tea estates.

In total, around Rs 4.05 crore were disbursed among workers while payments to the remaining gardens would be made next week, sources at the associations said.

"Today, wages were paid in 14 tea estates in the Darjeeling hills. A sum of Rs 1 crore was disbursed among the workers," Sandeep Mukherjee, the principal advisor of the Darjeeling Tea Association, said. "Wages in the remaining gardens would be paid from next Wednesday."

In the Terai, workers in 18 tea estates got their wages while in Alipurduar district, wages were distributed in six gardens.

"We thank the district administration and the concerned bank authorities for helping us in this hour of crisis. The planters were sitting with money but could not withdraw cash because of the withdrawal ceiling enforced by the Centre. Workers in other gardens of the Terai will get their wages in the next four-five days," Sanjoy Bagchi, the secretary of the Terai Branch of the Indian Tea Association, said.

In the Terai, a sum of Rs 1.75 crore was distributed among workers, Bagchi said.

Following the Centre's directive issued on November 8 as Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the demonetisation of Rs 1,000 and Rs 500 notes, the tea industry in north Bengal had to face the problem because of the cap on withdrawal.

Eventually, it was decided in consultation with the Reserve Bank of India that the managements of tea estates would deposit money in an account of the district administration.

The district magistrate, who has the authority to draw money in excess of the ceiling, will issue cheques to the planters who can then collect the cash from banks. However, some problems had cropped up in the arrangement.

First of all, representatives of banks said they could not provide the entire cash - the total requisition of the industry for wage payment is around Rs 50 crore - at one go.

Second, representatives of some planters' associations, particularly in Jalpaiguri district, said the government's bank accounts where they are supposed to deposit their money should be opened also in the Dooars, and not only in Jalpaiguri town.

As The Telegraph visited Patkapara Tea Estate, 14km from Alipurduar town this afternoon, workers were seen in a queue at the garden office to collect their wages.

"We were worried as we did not get the wages on time. We bought essentials from local shops on credit," Babulal Oraon, a worker of the garden, said.

Sanjoy Pramanik, the garden's manager, said they had paid all the 950 permanent workers and 400-odd temporary workers today. "The wages had fallen due on November 10. We were clueless about what we should do," Pramanik said.

The cash, he said, had reached the garden from the bank under police escort. "We thank the administration for making this interim arrangement and helping us with cash," he said.

The manager, however, is still concerned as the next due date of wages is on November 25. "If the cap on withdrawal is not revoked by then, we will have to seek help from the administration again," he said.