Jalpaiguri: Workers at the Hope Tea Garden in Nagrakata protested on Tuesday morning, demanding immediate supply of clean drinking water at their residential quarters.
The protest lasted for two hours from 8 a.m. to 10 a.m.
The tea garden employs about 1,100 workers, of whom nearly 850 living in eight labour lines, including Bande Line, Dokan Line, Office Line and Jhadi Line, are left without a purified drinking water supply for an extended period.
Meanwhile, purified water continues to be supplied to the garden management’s bungalows and quarters. Union leader Kishore Gowala also raised concerns that retired workers are not being replaced, forcing existing staff and sardars to take on additional duties without extra pay. He warned that if the management fails to address the drinking water crisis immediately, an intense agitation would follow.
Attempts to get comments from the Hope Tea Garden management were unsuccessful. In another protest on Tuesday afternoon, workers from four Andrew Yule group tea gardens—New Dooars, Chunabhati, Banarhat, and Karbala—in the Dooars region blocked National Highway 17.
The workers demanded pending wages for over five weeks and complained that Provident Fund deductions made over the past two years have not been credited to their accounts.
The blockade caused a complete traffic halt, prompting police from Banarhat to intervene. After a 30-minute discussion with police, the protesting workers lifted the blockade. The workers warned they would resume protests if their issues remained unresolved.