SILIGURI, 18 APRIL: The state government will look for ways to meet demands from trade unions to give land rights to tea workers who have been living in the same places for generations in the Hills, the Terai and the Dooars.
The Trinamul Congress-led state government has decided to consider the matter at a time when the tea workers' unions backed by the Gorkha Jan Mukti Morcha and Akhil Bharatiya Adivasi Vikas Parishad have demanded that the state government should provide land rights (patta) for tea plantation workers.
Though trade unions backed by political parties including the CPI-M have long demanded land rights for tea workers, the Left Front government was unable to oblige because of legal complexities.
State panchayat minister Subrata Mukherjee said: "I will interact with tea workers and trade union leaders on the matter during my visit to the tea plantation areas in the Dooars on 27 April. I will also discuss the legal matters with the administrative officials and try to find a way to provide land rights to the tea workers.
"If there is any legal complexity, I will report it to the chief minister so that she can find out a permissible way to provide land rights for tea workers," Mr Mukherjee said over the phone from Kolkata.
Former state urban development minister Asok Bhattacharya said: "We have been demanding for many years that the tea workers belonging to both the Adivasi and Nepali communities be given land rights in the tea plantation area where they are living. The Left Front government had implemented land reforms and provided lands rights to many people except in tea plantations, due to legal complexities.
"We had also proposed to the then chief minister, Mr Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, in 2010 to find a way to execute resumption of lands, which are not being used for tea plantation, to provide land rights to the workers. Though the initiative was taken, it was not materialised after change of guard in the state," Mr Bhattacharya said.
Mr TC Roka, advisor to the GJMM-backed Darjeeling Terai Dooars Plantation Labour Union, said: "The demand for land rights in the interest of the tea workers is at the top of the agenda for our agitation. We are demanding that the tea estate owners use the leased land for tea plantations and other necessary requirements, but that unused land be provided to tea workers."
Leaders of the ABAVP-backed Progressive Tea Workers’ Union served memorandums to the Jalpaiguri and Darjeeling district administration on Monday demanding land rights for tea workers. The ABAVP leader, Mr Rajesh Lakra, said: "When the Adivasi people are getting land rights in forest area based on the Forest Rights Act, why would tribal tea workers be deprived of their legitimate claims?"
A senior CPI-M leader in Darjeeling said: "Tea estates are controlled here under the Plantation Labour Act of 1951. Resumption of land was the way to provide land rights to the tea workers. Resumption of land was started during the Left Front government’s period. But, recently, the Supreme Court has issued an order against resumption. Though there was an alternative way, the previous state government could not do it in 2010."
The Trinamul Congress-led state government has decided to consider the matter at a time when the tea workers' unions backed by the Gorkha Jan Mukti Morcha and Akhil Bharatiya Adivasi Vikas Parishad have demanded that the state government should provide land rights (patta) for tea plantation workers.
Though trade unions backed by political parties including the CPI-M have long demanded land rights for tea workers, the Left Front government was unable to oblige because of legal complexities.
State panchayat minister Subrata Mukherjee said: "I will interact with tea workers and trade union leaders on the matter during my visit to the tea plantation areas in the Dooars on 27 April. I will also discuss the legal matters with the administrative officials and try to find a way to provide land rights to the tea workers.
"If there is any legal complexity, I will report it to the chief minister so that she can find out a permissible way to provide land rights for tea workers," Mr Mukherjee said over the phone from Kolkata.
Former state urban development minister Asok Bhattacharya said: "We have been demanding for many years that the tea workers belonging to both the Adivasi and Nepali communities be given land rights in the tea plantation area where they are living. The Left Front government had implemented land reforms and provided lands rights to many people except in tea plantations, due to legal complexities.
"We had also proposed to the then chief minister, Mr Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, in 2010 to find a way to execute resumption of lands, which are not being used for tea plantation, to provide land rights to the workers. Though the initiative was taken, it was not materialised after change of guard in the state," Mr Bhattacharya said.
Mr TC Roka, advisor to the GJMM-backed Darjeeling Terai Dooars Plantation Labour Union, said: "The demand for land rights in the interest of the tea workers is at the top of the agenda for our agitation. We are demanding that the tea estate owners use the leased land for tea plantations and other necessary requirements, but that unused land be provided to tea workers."
Leaders of the ABAVP-backed Progressive Tea Workers’ Union served memorandums to the Jalpaiguri and Darjeeling district administration on Monday demanding land rights for tea workers. The ABAVP leader, Mr Rajesh Lakra, said: "When the Adivasi people are getting land rights in forest area based on the Forest Rights Act, why would tribal tea workers be deprived of their legitimate claims?"
A senior CPI-M leader in Darjeeling said: "Tea estates are controlled here under the Plantation Labour Act of 1951. Resumption of land was the way to provide land rights to the tea workers. Resumption of land was started during the Left Front government’s period. But, recently, the Supreme Court has issued an order against resumption. Though there was an alternative way, the previous state government could not do it in 2010."
statesman news service
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