Tea garden locked out after attack

TT, Jalpaiguri: The management of the Huldibari tea estate in Banarhat announced a lockout in the garden from Thursday, a day after a section of workers had assaulted the manager and paraded him with a garland of shoes for around 5km.

The lockout has left around 1,150 permanent workers and 1,000-odd temporary labourers jobless.

In the notice that was put at the gate of the garden's factory on Friday morning by managerial staff - they later left the garden -- it was mentioned that a group of workers had launched a demonstration in the garden on Tuesday. They went to the manager's office and confined him for two hours.

On Wednesday, around 1,000 workers went to the office and forced the manager to move out. They assaulted him and some other managerial employees as they tried to dissuade the attackers. The manager was then made to walk out of the garden for around 5km after which he was rescued by the police, says the notice.

"..in a situation where the management is unable to carry out its administrative function in a normal and peaceful manner, and there being serious apprehension of threat to the life of the managerial personnel and damages to the company's property, the management is left with no other alternative but to declare lock out of Huldibari tea estate with immediate effect," reads the notice.

Jyoti Munda, a trade union leader of the garden, said the manager's alleged misbehaviour had led to the situation.

"He always insults the workers and misbehaves with them. That is why the workers got agitated. We don't want the garden to close down but want the management to bring in a new person to the manager's post," said Munda.

The manager, who is away from the garden after the attack, could not be contacted.

However, representatives of the Dooars Branch of Indian Tea Association (DBITA), of which the garden is a member, said workers were responsible for the consequences.

"Workers might have grievances but those can be redressed through talks. The manner in which they had taken law into their own hands is condemnable and hints at an ominous trend. Such practices should be stopped or else, it would be tough to run tea estates," said S. Guha Thakurta, the secretary of the DBITA.

Officials of the state labour department said they had learnt about the closure.

"But we are yet to receive any official communication from the management's side. Soon, a tripartite meeting would be convened to facilitate the reopening of the garden," said an official of the department in Jalpaiguri.