Bista wants Tea Board to handle closed gardens :MP says workers facing starvation, wants such gardens handed over to Board

MP says workers facing starvation, wants such gardens handed over to Board

SNS, SILIGURI, 23 AUGUST 2022: Darjeeling's BJP MP Raju Bista has demanded that tea gardens in the Hills, Terai and the Dooars that are now shut be handed over to the Tea Board of India.

Claiming that tea workers in such gardens had been staring at starvation, Mr Bista said that the move to hand over the gardens to the Tea Board will ensure financial safety and security for the workers, and help shore up the tea industry.

In a letter, Mr Bista has urged Chief Minister of West Bengal Mamata Banerjee and Union Minister for Commerce Piyush Goyal to take note of the "sorry state" of the tea industry in Darjeeling Hills, Terai and Dooars. and take urgent remedial steps to address the situation.

The MP highlighted that since 2015, four tea gardens in Darjeeling Hills -Peshok, Dhootrey, Kallej Valley, and Panighatta—have remained shut, and currently, 10 tea gardens run by the Darjeeling Organic Tea Estates Pvt Ltd (DOTEPL), which runs premium tea gardens such as the Happy Valley, Ambootia, Aloobari, Monteviot, Nagari, Rungmook, Mundakothee, Chungthung, Rangeyroong, and Pandam, has not paid workers their wages or other dues for over three months.

He further claimed that because of similar practices, between 2002-2014 nearly 3000 tea garden workers have "starved to death in our region."

"I am fearful that we could seethe starting of another similar catastrophic situation," he said, adding, "I have therefore asked for the tea gardens that are shut down or unable to be run by the respective companies to be handed over to the Tea Board of India at the earliest as per the provisions of Chapter III-A of the Tea Act, 1953 (29 of 1953), so that the Govt of India can ensure financial safety and security for the workers, and help shore up the tea industry"

According to Mr Bista, the situation is not tenable, and if left unaddressed will lead to severe socio-economic problems for the tea garden workers and the tea industry.

"I have highlighted how due to the lack of Parja Patta rights and the non-implementation of the Minimum Wages Act, and the Code on Wages (2019) passed by the Central Government, tea workers have faced massive economic hardships, and are deprived of their basic rights, including their right to various government welfare schemes," Mr Bista said, adding, "Lack of basic facilities such as medical, proper housing, drinking water, and even school for child roll of tea garden workers, has become commonplace, and the workers are being deprived of their statutory benefits such as ration quotas, timely deposition of Provident Funds, timely payment of gratuity and bonus, and other such facilities."