Bannockburn Tea Estate to reopen on October 24

Amitava Banerjee, MP, 24 Oct 2024, Darjeeling: While the closed Bannockburn Tea Garden in Darjeeling is all set to reopen on October 24, impasse revolving around the closed Longview Tea Garden continues. 

Two back-to-back meetings were convened by the state Labour department at the Shramik Bhawan in Dagapur, Siliguri on Wednesday with the management and the operating tea unions. 

In the first meeting, the operating unions and management agreed to open the Bannockburn Tea Estate from Thursday. “It was agreed that the due wages and salary for the month of September 2024 will be paid before October 30. All other issues will be discussed at bipartite level meetings after the payment of due wages and salaries,” stated JB Tamang, president, Hill Terai Dooars Plantation Workers Union. 

Incidentally, the management of the Bannockburn Tea Estate had declared suspension of work from October 9 “as the workers did not report for work and there was some disturbance in the garden.” 

The second meeting between the operating tea gardens and the management of Longview Tea Garden ended in an impasse with the management urging that the ongoing agitation, including the relay hunger strike by workers under the aegis of Hill Plantation Employees Union (HPEU), be lifted for the talks to proceed. 

“We demand that 16 per cent bonus be deposited in the bank accounts of the workers and we will lift the relay hunger strike immediately, They have to also adhere to the agreement signed on September 6 and pay the pending Rs 60 lakh which includes arrears of 2022-23, gratuity of 2022-23 and a part of the pending wages and salary,” stated Sumendra Tamang of Hill Plantation Employees Union (HPEU). 

A source from the management claimed that despite having cleared a large part of the dues as per the previous agreement, the union was constantly exerting pressure which is not conducive for talks to proceed, hence the management was reluctant to continue talks. 

The management is, however, willing to attend the next round of talks convened by the Labour department. 

The tea garden located around 25 km from Siliguri has been facing unrest for a prolonged period with workers’ dues being unpaid. 

The bonus issue further aggravated the matter with workers sitting on a relay hunger strike. The garden has 1,240 workers and an area of 500 hectares. 

Amid this, a work suspension was declared by the management on October 15 citing a ‘series of incidents and gross indiscipline on a regular basis having direct impact on the finances and running of the tea garden.’ 

https://www.millenniumpost.in/bengal/bannockburn-tea-estate-to-reopen-on-october-24-584289