Bonus row lock on tea garden....MANAGEMENT `ABANDONS' DOOARS ESTATE WITH 1,400 WORKERS

TT, Jalpaiguri: The management of a Dooars garden abandoned the estate on Friday following a disagreement with unions over bonus, leaving its 1,400-odd workers jobless ahead of Puja.

The shutdown of the Samsing Tea Estate in Matialli block of Jalpaiguri district came a day after Mamata emphasised in Siliguri the ease of doing business in Bengal.

Garden officials alleged that demonstrations by workers throughout Thursday forced them take the decision, union leaders have claimed there had been no such situation.

Earlier, at the bipartite talks held among tea planters' associations and the tea trade unions where it was decided Samsing Tea Estate in Matialli. Picture by Biplab Basak that bonus would be paid at the rate of 19.5 per cent in tea gardens of Dooars and Terai.

"However, Samsing was in the list of financially weak gardens. Every year, such a list is prepared and in all these gardens, the bonus is fixed at a lower rate that the generally agreed rate (19.5 per cent this year) through garden level talks," said the manager of a tea garden in the Dooars.

Accordingly, the management of Samsing and trade union leaders of the garden sat for talks to finalise the rates.

At the meeting that was convened on Thursday, the managerial staff representing the management proposed bonus at 17.5 per cent rate. However, the unions insisted on a bonus rate of 18 per cent.

"On Friday morning, they left the garden without serving a notice. They later intimated labour department officials," said a local source.

On Thursday, while speaking at a meet of Paschim Bangal Hindi Bhashi Parishad, the chief minister had said in the state, businessmen and industrialists can carry out commercial activities without any problems.

As the news spread, officials of the labour department were quick to act. A tripartite meeting was called at the office of the assistant labour commissioner in Malbazar in the afternoon. The meeting is still in progress, said sources.

"A section of the workers created such a situation that we were forced to leave the garden. We were concerned about our security as they had resorted to consistent demonstration," said Jayanta Biswas, the manager of Samsing tea estate.

Aniraj Sunuwar, a leader of the Trinamul-backed tea trade union at the garden, however, denied the allegations. "It is true that no decision was reached on the bonus issue. But no such situation had developed in the garden," he said.

Garden to reopen Grassmore Tea Estate, located in Nagrakata block of Jalpaiguri, will reopen on October 8. The garden, which employs to around 1,200 workers, has been closed since July 22 this year.