West Bengal tea garden workers protest 'unjust' takeover plan, insist: Pay dues

By Sandip Singha, et al*
About 1,300 workers of the Jateswar Division of Birpara Tea Garden have begun a struggle to prevent the illegal and unjust takeover of their garden by Merico Agro Industries Ltd. They have read from the newspapers that a meeting has been organised by the West Bengal Labour Department between trade union leaders and the management of Merico Agro Industries Ltd.

They received no information about this meeting. Nor were they consulted in any way. Also present at this illegal meeting was local MLA, Manoj Tigga. On February 13, 2021, in a workers’ meeting in the garden, the tea garden workers came up with the following three demands:

As per Supreme Court order, the dues which are remaining should be paid immediately before opening of garden.
All the Provident Fund dues which have not been paid by the management should be paid before opening of garden.
The new management should directly come to the garden and make agreement with the workers of the garden before opening the garden.

According to the Tea Board, the total dues which needs to be paid to the workers are Rs 6.33 crore (till 2016, gratuity not included). If gratuity and interest is included this amount would be more than Rs.10 crores . The workers have been only paid an interim relief of Rs 1.76 crore by the government of West Bengal due to a Supreme Court order. The 2,623 workers of the Birpara garden have not been paid their Provident Fund dues since the last 20 years. They have also not been paid their gratuity since 2007.
Birpara tea garden (gram panchayat Shishujhumra, district Alipurduar) was abandoned by the Duncans Pvt Ltd in 2015. It was temporarily opened in 2017 by Duncans, but was again abandoned in September 2019. After this, the Jateshwar division of the Birpara garden made a collective of their own to run the garden. 1300 workers started working on 405 acres. Since then, the workers have received Rs. 10 per kg for plucking leaves.
Thus, many workers were able to earn around Rs 250-300 per day during the season. The collective started saving right from September 2019 and has now successfully saved so much by selling green leaves that each tea garden worker of the Birpara Jateshwar division received Rs 11,280 as bonus from the surplus savings on October 7, 2020. They have also recently received money for their paid leave (“saal chutti”) during the off season. Workers feel the past year has been better for them than even when Duncans was there.
The workers are especially upset about the agreement that took place between so-called trade union leaders and the Merico Agro India Limited in the presence of the Labour Department because this is in contravention of both High Court and Supreme Court orders .On September 20, 2016, in a case filed by Duncans Industries Limited (MAT 562 of 2016), the High Court gave an interim order that states as follows:
In that view of the matter, subject to result of the appeals, the following interim arrangement has been made by us after hearing the learned advocates for the parties:
"(a) the appellants-writ petitioners shall take over management of all the seven tea gardens;
(b) the appellants-writ petitioners shall pay both the current and arrear dues of the workers;
(c) the appellants-writ petitioners shall run the gardens in a prudent businessman like manner; and
(d) the appellants-writ petitioners shall keep the Tea Board informed by fortnightly returns as to the steps taken by them.
It is clarified that the interim order has been passed only for the purpose of improving the lot of the workers as also that of the gardens. The appellants shall not be entitled to alienate or encumber any of the fixed assets except in the usual course of business."

The seven gardens (Lankapara, Gairganda, Tulsipara, Hantapara, Dumchipara,Birpara and Dimdima) thus belong to Duncans and they are not allowed by the court order to give these gardens to any other owner. They are to run the gardens and return dues to workers.
There is also a Supreme Court order (CONMT PET (C) No 16/2012 In W.P.(C) No. 365/2006), in which the Supreme Court had ordered that workers in over 50 closed and abandoned tea gardens (including the 7 Duncans gardens) in 4 states to receive all their dues , including Provident Fund and gratuity.

Also, each tea garden owner was ordered on December 11, 2019 to deposit an amount of Rs 2 crore which to this date have not been deposited by Duncans, Merico or any other of the tea garden owners.
According to the workers of Jateswar division, they have put a lot of effort to turn the garden into a paying venture ,after it was deserted by Duncans. Now that it is in profitable condition a new greedy owner is wanting to take over. The workers are angry with the management as well as the government, and do not have any faith in the new employer who didn't even consult with them before taking this decision.
So, the workers have decided that they will not allow any company to enter the garden unless and until all their demands are fulfilled. The workers met MLA Manoj Tigga and informed him about their intentions. They have also sent a letter to Labour Minister Shri Moloy Ghatak, and to the Additional Labour Commissioner. and have given a deputation to the Assistant Labour Commissioner at Birpara. 15 women workers are meeting the police and teams of workers are going to the BDO and DM.
---
*Kiran Sharma, Vinay Karketta, Christian Kheria, Kuldeep Lama, Anuradha Talwar with Paschimbanga Khetmajoor Samity (PBKMS)

Comments

1857 War of Independence... when Hindu-Muslim separatism, hatred wasn't an issue

"The Sepoy Revolt at Meerut", Illustrated London News, 1857 By Shamsul Islam* Large sections of Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs unitedly challenged the greatest imperialist power, Britain, during India’s First War of Independence which began on May 10, 1857; the day being Sunday. This extraordinary unity, naturally, unnerved the firangees and made them realize that if their rule was to continue in India, it could happen only when Hindus and Muslims, the largest two religious communities were divided on communal lines.

A comrade in culture and controversy: Yao Wenyuan’s revolutionary legacy

By Harsh Thakor* This year marks two important anniversaries in Chinese revolutionary history—the 20th death anniversary of Yao Wenyuan, and the 50th anniversary of his seminal essay "On the Social Basis of the Lin Biao Anti-Party Clique". These milestones invite reflection on the man whose pen ignited the first sparks of the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution and whose sharp ideological interventions left an indelible imprint on the political and cultural landscape of socialist China.

The curious case of multiple entries of a female voter of Maharashtra: What ECI's online voter records reveal

By Venkatesh Nayak* Cyberspace is agog with data, names and documents which question the reliability of the electoral rolls prepared by the electoral bureaucracy in Maharashtra prior to the General Elections conducted in 2024. One such example of deep dive probing has brought to the surface, the name of one female voter in the 132-Nalasopara (Gen) Vidhan Sabha Constituency in Maharashtra. Nalasopara is part of the Palghar (ST) Lok Sabha constituency. This media report claims that this individual's name figures multiple times in the voter list of the same constituency.

N-power plant at Mithi Virdi: CRZ nod is arbitrary, without jurisdiction

By Krishnakant* A case-appeal has been filed against the order of the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC) and others granting CRZ clearance for establishment of intake and outfall facility for proposed 6000 MWe Nuclear Power Plant at Mithi Virdi, District Bhavnagar, Gujarat by Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL) vide order in F 11-23 /2014-IA- III dated March 3, 2015. The case-appeal in the National Green Tribunal at Western Bench at Pune is filed by Shaktisinh Gohil, Sarpanch of Jasapara; Hajabhai Dihora of Mithi Virdi; Jagrutiben Gohil of Jasapara; Krishnakant and Rohit Prajapati activist of the Paryavaran Suraksha Samiti. The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has issued a notice to the MoEF&CC, Gujarat Pollution Control Board, Gujarat Coastal Zone Management Authority, Atomic Energy Regulatory Board and Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL) and case is kept for hearing on August 20, 2015. Appeal No. 23 of 2015 (WZ) is filed, a...

Spirit of leadership vs bondage: Of empowered chairman of 100-acre social forestry coop

By Gagan Sethi* This is about Khoda Sava, a young Dalit belonging to the Vankar sub-caste, who worked as a bonded labourer in a village near Vadgam in Banskantha district of North Gujarat. The year was 1982. Khoda had taken a loan of Rs 7,000 from the village sarpanch, a powerful landlord doing money-lending as his side business. Khoda, who had taken the loan for marriage, was landless. Normally, villagers would mortgage their land if they took loan from the sarpanch. But Khoda had no land. He had no option but to enter into a bondage agreement with the sarpanch in order to repay the loan. Working in bondage on the sarpanch’s field meant that he would be paid Rs 1,200 per annum, from which his loan amount with interest would be deducted. He was also obliged not to leave the sarpanch’s field and work as daily wager somewhere else. At the same time, Khoda was offered meal once a day, and his wife job as agricultural worker on a “priority basis”. That year, I was working as secretary...

Proposed Modi yatra from Jharkhand an 'insult' of Adivasi hero Birsa Munda: JMM

Counterview Desk The civil rights network, Jharkhand Janadhikar Mahasabha (JMM), which claims to have 30 grassroots groups under its wings, has decided to launch Save Democracy campaign to oppose Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Vikasit Bharat Sankalp Yatra to be launched on November 15 from the village of legendary 19th century tribal independence leader Birsa Munda from Ulihatu (Khunti district).

Two more "aadhaar-linked" Jharkhand deaths: 17 die of starvation since Sept 2017

Kaleshwar's sons Santosh and Mantosh Counterview Desk A fact-finding team of the Right to Feed Campaign, pointing towards the death of two more persons due to starvation in Jharkhand, has said that this has happened because of the absence of aadhaar, leading to “persistent lack of food at home and unavailability of any means of earning.” It has disputed the state government claims that these deaths are due to reasons other than starvation, adding, the authorities have “done nothing” to reduce the alarming state of food insecurity in the state.

Ground reality: Israel would a remain Jewish state, attempt to overthrow it will be futile

By NS Venkataraman* Now that truce has been arrived at between Israel and Hamas for a period of four days and with release of a few hostages from both sides, there is hope that truce would be further extended and the intensity of war would become significantly less. This likely “truce period” gives an opportunity for the sworn supporters and bitter opponents of Hamas as well as Israel and the observers around the world to introspect on the happenings and whether this war could have been avoided. There is prolonged debate for the last several decades as to whom the present region that has been provided to Jews after the World War II belong. View of some people is that Jews have been occupants earlier and therefore, the region should belong to Jews only. However, Christians and those belonging to Islam have also lived in this regions for long period. While Christians make no claim, the dispute is between Jews and those who claim themselves to be Palestinians. In any case...

Fate of Yamuna floodplain still hangs in "balance" despite National Green Tribunal rap on Sri Sri event

By Ashok Shrimali* While the National Green Tribunal (NGT) on Thursday reportedly pulled up the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) for granting permission to hold spiritual guru Sri Sri Ravi Shankar's World Culture Festival on the banks of Yamuna, the chief petitioners against the high-profile event Yamuna Jiye Abhiyan has declared, the “fate of the floodplain still hangs in balance.”

Counterview

Search This Blog