Tea garden shuts shop, workers protest

Work in the Kalchini Tea Garden in the Alipurduar district was suspended on Wednesday after the management abandoned the garden without any formal lockout notice. Agitated workers gheraoed the Kalchini police station and blocked the State Highway in protest.

Bikash Mahali, a worker stated: "This is a regular affair. The management abandons the garden in lean periods. We demand that the government cancel the lease rights of the present owner and hand over the garden to a new owner. We will be submitting a memorandum to this effect to the District Magistrate, Alipurduar on Thursday."

The garden with a worker strength of 1,272 is owned by Buxa Tea Ltd. Incidentally, on December 14, 2016, the management, declaring the garden sick, had closed shut operations. However, with assurances from the District Administration that MNREGA schemes would be implemented in the garden, the estate reopened on December 23.

Raju Dutta, Assistant Labour Commissioner stated that tripartite talks to resolve the issue has been called in his office at Birpara on February 10.

Agitated workers put up roadblocks on the Kalchini-Hashimara State Highway in the morning. With the intervention of the district administration and the police, the blockade was lifted during the later part of the day. However, the management could not be contacted for comments.