Strike in support of tea gardens workers cripples north Bengal

Siliguri, Aug 11: A 12-hour bandh, called by the Coordination Committee for Tea Plantation Workers (CCTPW) demanding wage hike, today crippled life in this commercial town and five other districts of north Bengal.
Most businesses, trade and commercial banks were closed and vehicles were off the roads, especially in the Dooars and Terai region, the hub of tea producing areas of West Bengal.
Police said some 200 pro-bandh supporters were arrested for picketing and obstructing public life.
Tension prevailed at the Gulma tea estate area of Dhagapur near here when some 100 workers were prevented by pro-bandh supporters from going to work, police added.
The CCTPW and Defence Committee for Plantation Workers Rights, the two apex bodies of 32 trade unions in the tea gardesns, called the general strike jointly to demand a minimum wage hike and reintroduction of variable dearness allowance for more than 2.5 lakh tea gardens workers in the Terai and Dooars comprising Darjeeling and Jalpaiguri districts.
The two apex bodies have representations of CITU, INTUC, Hindu Mazdoor Sabha, UTUC and other splinter groups active at the tea garden unions.

--UNI