Siliguri, March 11: The joint labour commissioner of Siliguri today gave in writing that his office would recognise in a week the tea workers’ trade union floated by the Akhil Bharatiya Adivasi Vikas Parishad, a tribal outfit based in the Dooars.

The assurance was extracted after nearly 5,000 Parishad supporters participated in a rally at Baghajatin Park before 2,000 of them snaked their way through town to the JLC office at Collegepara. While Parishad leaders went in and met JLC Pashupati Ghosh, demanding recognition of the trade union, the crowd waiting outside shouted slogans. The talks went on for nearly two hours, the slogans rising to a crescendo after sometime, forcing Ghosh to give a written assurance that his department would recognise the Progressive Tea Workers’ Union.

Parishad leaders have threatened to confine Ghosh to his office indefinitely and also resort to indefinite strike across tea gardens in the Dooars and the Terai if the promise was not fulfilled in a week.

By noon, more than 5,000 Parishad supporters from the Dooars and the Terai assembled at Baghajatin Park to hold a rally and march to the JLC office, half-a-kilometre away. The procession made its way through Sevoke Road, Bidhan Road and Hill Cart Road, disrupting traffic across Siliguri. A large contingent of police and district commando force was deployed at the JLC office.

“Recognition of our tea trade union is a longstanding demand as the workers are being exploited,” said Rajesh Lakra, the secretary of the Dooars Terai regional unit of the Parishad.

The Parishad supporters reached the JLC office at 2.45pm. State general secretary of the Parishad Tezkumar Toppo, Lakra and other state committee members entered Ghosh’s chamber to submit the memorandum.

Discussions started and went on for two hours. At 4.45pm, Ghosh came out and told the waiting crowd: “Following the discussion with representatives of the Progressive Tea Workers’ Union, it is assured that recognition of the trade union will be granted within seven days after necessary corrections.”

Later, Ghosh told reporters: “I have requested them (the Parishad) to make necessary corrections, that is, they will have to add the words Terai and Dooars within brackets, at the end of the name. Once it is done, and the papers reach us, recognition will be given in seven days.”

The Parishad leaders said they were willing to wait for the Higher Secondary exams to be over before launching their agitation if the recognition did not come within a week.