Work suspended in Terai tea garden

TT, 12 Nov 2019, Siliguri: The management of a tea estate near here suspended work in the garden from Monday, citing lawlessness and the confinement of an official by labourers.

The Bhojnarayan tea estate, located 25km from here, has around 1,1,00 workers.

When the labourers reached the garden's office to join the work on Monday, they could not find any management official. They found a notice announcing the closure plastered at the office.

The estate spread over 600 hectares is in Phansidewa block.

In the notice, the manage- ment said a section of workers had confined the manager for over eight hours on November 9, demanding immediate payment of their wages.

"The management had issued notices in June, August, September and October, and even on November 8, mentioning that the garden was reeling from a financial crisis. The notices also said workers should serve for eight hours, instead of five hours, to help the management surmount the crisis," said a source.

However, the agitators who had confined the manager on Saturday, issued an ultimatum, saying the entire wage dues should be cleared by 12 noon on Sunday.

The protest by the workers of the Bhojnarayan tea estate on Monday. Picture by Passang Yolmo "The agitators had said if the management failed to clear the payment, trade unions would not take the re- sponsibility of safety and security of the managerial staff. This forced the management to suspend the work," the source said. In the notice issued on Mo- nday, the management said there was lawlessness in the garden and was not in a position to run the estate.

"The management was irregular in payments. Even then, the workers continued to join their duties. When they asked the managerial staff to pay their fortnight's wages last week, they were denied payment. The workers then demonstrated in the garden but did not resort to violence. Surprisingly, the management declared suspension of work. We condemn it," said Gautam Ghosh, the general secretary of the Citu-backed Darjeeling Zila Chia Kaman Mazdoor Union. "In recent weeks, we have seen that the management of a number of tea gardens in north Bengal closed down gardens on flimsy grounds. This is a bad trend and it seems a section of tea companies is trying to avoid wage payment to the workers during the lean season by announcing suspension of work or by abandoning the tea estates," added Ghosh.

As of now, 17 tea gardens are closed in north Bengal.

Chandan Dasgupta, the additional labour commissioner in Siliguri, said: "A tripartite meeting will be held in my office on Friday (November 15) to discuss the reopening of the Bhojnarayan tea garden.".