Tea wage hits blocks

TT, Nov. 30: The management of Majherdabri tea estate in Alipurduar today handed Rs 400 to each of its workers as due wages when the rate is Rs 1,300 a fortnight.

The reason: the manager of the garden could not withdraw adequate cash from the bank that is required to clear the total due wages.

As tea estates switch to a procedure laid down by RBI and approach banks to collect money for disbursement of wages, the representatives are facing several problems that are hindering withdrawal of cash.

The cash withdrawal by each tea estate will have to be done according to a formula set by the RBI.

"Following the new process mentioned by the RBI in lieu of which tea estates can withdraw wages as per a prescribed formula (Rs 3,500 per hectare of plantation area for payment of a fortnight's wage), we had hoped that the wage payment would be easier now. However, problems have come up," Sumit Ghosh, secretary of the Terai branch of Tea Association of India, said.

According to tea stakeholders, either the gardens are not getting adequate cash from banks (in case they have more workers per hectare), or some banks are not allowing them to withdraw cash beyond the stipulated weekly limit of Rs 24,000 for savings accounts and Rs 50,000 for current accounts, saying they do not have approval from superiors.

"In some cases, the bank branches do not have adequate cash to make the disbursal. Officials of these banks are asking representatives of tea gardens to wait for a couple of days. Altogether, there hasn't been any major change in the situation as many gardens are yet to make wage payments," Sandeep Mukherjee, the principal advisor of Darjeeling Tea Association, said.

In many gardens, wages are now due for two fortnights. "Discontentment is simmering in the workforce.... If there is any breach of peace in any garden, it could have a cascading effect across the industry," he said.

"Gardens which could not manage to get entire cash from bank have no option but to make partial payments to workers," Sanjoy Bagchi, secretary of the Terai branch of Indian Tea Association, said.

"On the one hand, workers are disgruntled for not getting their wages while on the other hand, we have to persuade them to open bank accounts," a Siliguri-based planter said.

In Darjeeling, a meeting of the district coordination committee of banks was held this afternoon. Where RBI officials were present. "RBI officials were apprised on issues, including the problem faced by the tea industry. They were told that tea estates have taken up the task of opening workers' bank accounts but it would be tough to finish the work by December first week," a source said.