New firm reopens Duncans tea garden

TT, Alipurduar: Gates of the Tulsipara tea estate in Madarihat-Birpara block reopened on Wednesday.

Owned by the Duncns Goenka Group, the garden had been close since July 2015. There are 1,147 permanent workers in the garden.

Mohan Sharma, the sabhadhipati of Alipurduar zilla parishad who was present at a programme in the garden, said the state government was trying to reopen all closed gardens of the district.

"Tulsipara reopened on Wednesday and we believe the workers would cooperate with the management to revive the estate. We are trying to reopen two other closed gardens, Madhu and Bundapani, and also Demdima, which has closed down recently."

As of now, there are five closed gardens in the district.

On Wednesday, Sharma, along with Nikhil Nirmal, the district magistrate of Alipurduar, and Surajit Bakshi, director of Merico Industries , signed an agreement with the company to run the garden.

Each worker was paid Rs 460 as cash relief by the administration, along with rations for two fortnights.

"Within seven days, we will pay 40 per cent of the due bonus and will also clear 60 per cent of the wage arrears. We need cooperation from the workers and want to assure them that they will receive wages and rations on time," said Bakshi.

His company has also been running two other tea estates of the Duncans Goenka Group - Huntapara and Garganda - since February this year.

"We are running four tea gardens in Alipurduar district. Everything is normal in all these gardens," he added.

A section of workers is, however, keeping fingers crossed. This is because Duncans had reopened its Demdima garden in March but abandoned it again within three months. "We hope it would not be repeated in Tulsipara. The only relief is that Duncans has given the garden to another company," said Pashchim Munda a worker. (Source & Courtesy: The Telegraph)