Pay pangs at tea auction centre

TT, Jalpaiguri: Employees of the North Bengal Tea Auction Centre in Jalpaiguri are not getting salaries since September this year because of the absence of authorised signatories.

Also, the infrastructure of the centre, where tea auction has stopped two years back, are in a shambles because of the non-payment of money to different agencies and lack of maintenance.

"We have not received our salaries for the past two months. There is no idea we would receive it," said Pratap Rauth, in charge of the auction centre and one of the three staff who are employed there.

Earlier, there were seven employees but four have left their jobs.

The reason, sources at the centre said, is because N.K. Basu, the secretary of the centre, passed away in September this year.

There are three signatories at the centre. One of them was Basu. The other two are Purajit Bakshi Gupta, the vice-chairman and the district magistrate, who by the virtue of his post is also the chairman of the centre. Among the three, the signs of at least two persons are required.

"So far, Basu and Bakshi Gupta used to sign on the cheques. But after Basu's death, no money could be withdrawn. This is because at the bank, the signature of Pritha Sarkar, the former DM of Jalpaiguri, has been attached. The auction committee has not provided the signature of Rachna Bhagat, the present DM," said a source.

Bhagat, when told about the case, said she had no idea that she is one of the authorised signatories. "I will inquire into the issue," said the DM.

The infrastructure at the Centre is also in shambles. Because of the non-payment of bill, the telephone connection has been disconnected. Electric bill is also due and the generator is non-functional as fuel charges could not be paid, the furniture has got damaged and the computers are also in bad condition.#

Also, as the centre got water-logged during the monsoons this year, the online network required for tea auction has snapped.

With such being the situation, representatives said they would soon hold a meeting of the executive committee to resolve all the issues and would try to ensure that tea auction resumed at the centre.