Jaigaon, Jan. 9: Four employees of Dalsighpara Tea Estate have filed an FIR against the owner at the Jaigaon police station, alleging that money deducted from their salaries as insurance premium has not been deposited with the Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) for the past nine months.

Kaloo Mangar, one of the complainants, said the management has not been depositing the amounts with the LIC since April 2007. “The LIC manager has told us that the policies will lapse if the payments are not made soon,” he said.

The manager of the Birpara branch of the United Bank of India (UBI), U. Shyamal, said the account of Octavius Tea and Industries, the company that owns the garden, had been attached by the provident fund office in August and there was no money in the account.

Sources said a cheque of Rs 45,540 dated September 8, 2007 and signed by the management as LIC premiums for 416 workers for the month of April had bounced. Since then, no payments had been made to the savings scheme despite the amount being deducted from the salaries of the staff, the sources added.

When told about the FIR, Jalpaiguri district magistrate R. Ranjit said: “I am asking the subdivisional officer of Alipurduar to start legal proceedings against the owner of the garden.”

However, there was some cheer for nine school students of the garden who received their annual educational stipend from the Tea Board today.

The stipends had been held up because of the attached account.

The problem was solved after the provident fund commissioner II, Gautam, ordered UBI to accept a cheque of Rs 40,013 sent by the Tea Board and release the amount to the students.

Meena Chhetri, one of the recipients, said she and the others were delighted that the money had finally arrived. “We were wondering if we would be able to continue with our studies, but now we are happy,” she said.

In another development today, the Octavius Group paid up half of the Rs 4.78 lakh that was due as electricity bills for its Dalmore tea garden. Yesterday, the workers had blocked the Birpara-Bhutan road for nearly 12 hours demanding restoration of electric supply, which had been disconnected.