EPF of Rs 2.25 crore recovered out of total dues of Rs 8.64 crore, says minister

Kolkata: State Labour minister Becharam Manna said that the tea garden workers in Bengal have received a lot of benefits since the Trinamool Congress (TMC) government led by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee assumed power in the state in 2011.

However, the minister blamed the state government for not releasing adequate money under the Employees Provident Fund (EPF) scheme for the workers.

In response to a query at the state Assembly regarding non-payment of EPF to retired workers of Kohinoor tea garden at Kumargram in Jalpaiguri, the minister said that EPF is entirely an issue of the central government.

EPF amounting to Rs 2.25 crore has been recovered out of total dues of Rs 8.64 crore. "The EPF office has informed us that they are calculating the total due amount of EPF from July 2020 and accordingly steps will be taken for recovering the same," he said.

The minister informed that EPF of retired workers of a number of tea gardens in the state is due.

Manna added that the daily wages of the tea garden workers have gone up Rs 232. "In 2011, the daily wages was Rs 67 that went up to Rs 176 in the year 2020 and further went upto Rs 202 in December 2021," he added.

Among the 285 tea gardens in the state that has 3,78,283 workers associated with it, in 2011, about 53 tea gardens were closed.

In 2016 this figure came down to 31. It further decreased to 23 in 2021 and presently only 9 tea gardens are closed.

"We are providing benefits under FAWLOI (Financial Assistance to the Workers of Locked Out Industries) scheme to 5423 workers of tea gardens who are getting assistance of Rs 1500 per month. The assistance starts six months after closure of tea gardens and is awarded three months post opening of the same," Manna said.

Among other benefits, the state government has started the Cha Sundari scheme to provide houses to tea garden workers in sick and closed gardens of North Bengal.

"We have identified 17 sites for the scheme and among them work at six sites have already started," the minister said.

"At least 1171 people will get houses after completion of work. The other 11 sites will have dwellings for 4200 workers," Manna added.