Darjeeling tea gardens to face turmoil over workers’ pay

Many estates, including a Trinamool MP’s, have not paid workers for the last two months

The tea estate workers of Darjeeling are on the verge of launching an agitation against various garden owners for non-payments of wages and other benefits for many months.

The trade union of tea garden workers affiliated to the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) said that the labourers of three gardens — Dooteriah, Peshok and Kalej Valley — owned by Trinamool Congress (TMC) parliamentarian K.D. Singh, have not been paid for the last five months and threatened to launch an agitation if the issue is not resolved by January 14.

“Alchemist Group, whose chairman is TMC’s Singh, has not paid workers wages for the past five months. Rations have not been distributed to the workers for the past eight months and the total dues of the company have touched Rs. 55.4 million,” Suraj Subba, general secretary of the GJM union said.

This could be a major concern for north Bengal’s tea industry that is already reeling under workers’ deaths from malnutrition in the Dooars region and the work suspension from workers could be the death nail.

“There are approximately 2500 workers in these three gardens and they are living in sub-human condition as they are daily wage earners and have no saving to fall upon,” said Sunil Thapa, a central committee member of the union and a worker of Dooteriah estate.

“The garden is under lockout. The management is in the garden and workers continue to discharge their duties but they are not being paid. We even met Singh in Delhi on December 16 but apart from empty promises, he has not done anything. Company officials have neither given any concrete answers on paying the workers’ dues,” Thapa added. However, Gulf News could not reach the officials of Alchemist or even Singh in his residence in New Delhi.

Other tea garden though are paying wages are delaying supply of ration, drinking water and other benefits like firewood affecting the people enormously.