Protests erupt at Alipurduar tea gardens over wages, bonus & unpaid allowances

Alipurduar: Workers from three tea gardens in Alipurduar district, two operational and one closed, staged separate protests on Thursday, raising demands ranging from unpaid wages and Puja bonus to pending government allowances.

At Tasati Tea Garden in Falakata block, the Trinamool Cha Bagan Shramik Union held a two-day gate meeting starting Thursday morning to demand payment of pending wages. According to workers, around 1,100 employees have not received their salaries for the past three months, despite repeated appeals to management. The protest disrupted operations at the factory for about two hours.

Joining the demonstrators, INTTUC Falakata Rural Block president Anand Kharia said: “The state government has taken significant steps to support tea garden workers—setting up health centres and crèches. Yet, owners are neglecting their basic responsibility of paying wages. This is unacceptable. If dues are not cleared immediately, we will escalate the agitation.”

In a separate protest at Turturi Tea Garden, workers submitted a memorandum demanding the highest Puja bonus this year. Turturi Tea Garden under Kumargram block, 501 workers rallied under the banner of the Alipurduar-Cooch Behar Tea Garden Mazdoor Union to demand a 20% Puja bonus. They, too, submitted a formal letter to management.

“Last year, no Puja bonus was paid, and workers’ voices were ignored,” said Bidyut Gun, general secretary of the Alipurduar-Cooch Behar Tea Garden Mazdoor Union. “This year, we are united in our demand for a 20 per cent bonus. Over the next two days, similar memorandums will be submitted across all gardens in the district,” he said.

In the Kalchini block, grievances mounted in the closed Dalsingpara Tea Garden, where workers claim they haven’t received the Financial Assistance to the Workers of Locked Out Industries (FAWLOI) for seven months. The garden shut down during the 2023 Puja season, leaving over a hundred workers jobless.