About 16 tea gardens closed in North Bengal: TCBSU to meet Labour Min
Alipurduar: About 16 tea gardens in the Alipurduar, Jalpaiguri and Darjeeling districts are closed and not functioning. A representative of the Trinamool Cha Bagan Sramik Union (TCBSU) will go to Kolkata to meet the Labour Minister regarding this issue on Monday. Among these are four plantations acquired by the Central government in the Jalpaiguri district.
TCBSU announced that the whole situation would be reported to the state Labour Minister, Malay Ghatak. A delegation, including Central Committee president of TCBSU Birendra Bara Oraon and General Secretary Robin Rai, will meet the Minister in Kolkata. Additionally, a letter may be written to the Union Commerce Minister regarding the four tea gardens — Banarhat, Karbala, New Duars and Chunabhatti — that have been taken over by the Central government. Birendra Bara Oraon said: “We will provide a detailed report to the Labour minister about the problems of each garden. Despite the state government’s efforts, the owners are still misbehaving. As many as 6,000 workers in four gardens acquired by the Central government have not received any salary for six weeks. In the last two years, PF and gratuity payments amounting to about Rs 11 crore are pending.”
Trinamool Cha Bagan Sramik Union General Secretary Robin Rai had already written to Union Minister H D Kumaraswamy about the situation of the four gardens, but it was of no use. Additionally, the Torsa tea plantation in the Alipurduar district has become inactive again. The fear among the tea community is that almost every tea garden’s production has been reduced by 15-20 per cent this year. Naturally, the situation is expected to worsen before Durga Puja.
Robin Rai said: “The tea industry has been in trouble for the last six months due to extreme weather conditions, resulting in significant losses in tea production. However, the Central government has not allocated any subsidy package for the tea industry in the last eight years. This time, the Central government is failing to manage its own tea plantations. We are hopeful that after the meeting with the LabourmMinister, there will be some way forward.”
