At least 4K houses built under Chaa Sundari project: Min

Kolkata: State Labour minister Moloy Ghatak on Monday hit out at the Central government for not clearing provident funds (PF) of a good number of tea garden workers and said that the state will soon hold a tripartite meeting to examine the extension of more facilities for the workers.

He further said that the State government is constantly holding talks with the concerned authorities of the five tea gardens that are presently closed and expressed his hope of opening them within a month.

The five tea gardens that are presently closed are Dheklapara in Alipurduar, Panighata in Naxalbari, Raipur in Jalpaiguri, Lankapara in Alipurduar and Kohinoor in Samuktala, Alipurduar.

“A number of tea garden workers do not possess Aadhaar cards and hence Aadhaar linkage with their back accounts has not happened. So they are not getting their provident fund post-retirement. The Employees Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) has not given us information about FIRs against tea garden owners who have allegedly not deposited PF share of the workers,” Ghatak said in response to a query from BJP legislator Manoj Kumar Oraon in the State Assembly regarding how many tea garden owners have not deposited PF share of the workers and whether any steps have been taken against them by the state government.

Ghatak said that if the EPFO gives a list of owners against whom FIRs have been lodged, the matter will be pursued by the State.

In the last few days, the Indian National Trinamool Trade Union Congress (INTTUC) had staged protests in various places in Bengal protesting over issues like irregularities in Provident Funds and Gratuity along with no development for tea garden workers by the Union government despite having announced a Rs 1000 crore fund for tea workers development in the Union Budget of 2022.

Talking about the benefits that the Mamata Banerjee government has been providing to the tea garden workers, Ghatak said that the daily wages of the workers have been enhanced from Rs 67 per day in 2011 (during Left Front Rule) to Rs 232 per day.

“More than 4000 houses have already been constructed under the Chaa Sundari project, the Public Health Engineering department has been providing potable drinking water to all tea gardens. The majority of the tea garden workers are women and they are getting benefits under the Lakshmir Bhandar scheme. Moreover, a 35 kg ration is being given to the workers completely free of cost,” he added.

The minister pointed out that in the neighbouring State Assam, only 20 kg ration is provided but the workers have to pay Rs 9 per kg.