Planters and tea garden owners in north Bengal are now facing
problems as they fail to provide jobs to all permanent workers. The
garden managements are having a tough time when it comes to selecting
the 25 percent workforce that the state government has allowed to be
deployed in each garden for plucking and manufacturing tea.
“All the workers are coming out to resume their duties as they have
come to know that that garden owners would not pay wages without work,”
sources said.
Asked to comment, Chairman of the Terai Indian Planters’ Association
(TIPA), Mahendra Bansal, said: “We are happy with the Central
government’s revised guidelines for the tea industry and decision to
allow deployment of 50 percent workers. On the other hand, we are
unhappy, having failed to provide jobs to all permanent workers to
complete several pending work, as the gardens were closed for nearly
three weeks, since the state government asked to deploy only 25 percent
of workers. We fear law and order problem as we fail to provide jobs to
all willing workers. Workers are unhappy with us. The state government
should allow us to deploy 50 percent workers.”
According to him, they do not have funds to pay the remaining workers, who are not given work.
Mr Bansal, who owns three gardens in the region, added, “We are
maintaining better Covid-19 protocol in plantations, as compared to
alleged lockdown violations in the markets of Siliguri, but a section of
the local people has been filing complaints with the administration by
sending a few mobile photos against us.”
Jalpaiguri District Magistrate Abhishek Tiwary today issued an order,
asking planters and small growers to maintain proper social distancing.
Spokesperson for the BJPbacked Bharatiya Tea Workers Union (BTWU),
Rajeev Sharma, on the other hand, blamed the state government for
allowing the managements to continue operations and raised questions on
whether the state government will take responsibility for an outbreak of
coronavirus in tea gardens.
“We had made our stand clear that the tea gardens will be closed and
workers will be getting their full wages without work during the
lockdown,” Mr Sharma said, adding, “With the state government’s order,
the tea garden management has engaged 100 percent workers by violating
the Covid-19 norms.”
He also alleged that the police have “politically forced” chairman of
the BTWU, John Barla, the MP from Alipurduar, to remain in his home.
“Police are not allowing me to distribute food among tea workers, who
have not yet got food grains. We have asked locals to ready a list of
such people and submit it to the police for distribution of food items,”
Mr Barla said, adding, that he would also file a complaint with
authorities against the state police.
Notably, Darjeeling MP Raju Bista, Mr Barla and even fugitive Gorkha
Jan Mukti Morcha leader Bimal Gurung have requested the central
government to keep tea plantations under lockdown, but tea garden owners
are happy with the Centre’s revised guidelines issued today, allowing
operations in tea plantations, including tea marketing.
Asked to comment, Mr Bista said: “Plantations do not only mean tea
gardens. Considering representations from the tea, coffee, rubber, palm,
spices and other industries, the Union government permitted plantations
to function at a maximum 50 percent capacity.
However, the onus of enforcing rules and strictly adhering to social
distancing norms are with the state government. Given the absolute
failure of administration in maintaining lockdown, today, I am not just
worried about the tea garden workers, I am worried about the entire
North Bengal turning into a potential Covid-19 hotspot.”
“The administration that cannot maintain social distancing in front
of the chief minister, can we imagine them to maintain social distancing
in the tea gardens?” he added.
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