Darjeeling, March 27: Cracks appeared in the apex body of tea producers’ associations in India with the Darjeeling Tea Association holding separate talks with trade unions in the hills today on the revision of garden workers’ wages.

The Gorkha Janmukti Morcha had demanded an increase in the daily wage from Rs 67 to Rs150-Rs154. Following this, the Consultative Committee of Plantation Association, the combination of all tea producers’ bodies in India, had started negotiations with the Darjeeling Terai Dooars Plantation Labour Union, an affiliate of the Morcha.

However, the DTA felt that the association has not furthered their interests. “The CCPA is an apex body which looks into the interest of tea gardens throughout the country. Darjeeling to them represents only one per cent and since they have not been able to achieve a breakthrough, the DTA, which represents the majority of the gardens in the hills, decided to start its own negotiations,” said a source.

According to sources in the DTA, the CCPA is more inclined towards solving the wage hike issue with the plain-centric gardens where the CITU and National Plantation Workers’ Union affiliated to the Congress have a majority.

The three-year wage agreement for the gardens in Darjeeling, Dooars and the Terai will end on March 31. However, with the Morcha imposing an embargo on the dispatch of the first flush, the DTA wants an early settlement.

“Following our call for an intervention from the state government, the labour department has called a meeting of all operating tea gardens in Bengal on March 29 in Siliguri. The issue of wage hike must be solved with all the unions from the entire tea producing belt,” said the source.

The Morcha affiliated union, however, said since the bonus negotiations for the Darjeeling and the Dooars gardens were held separately, wage negotiations, too, should be held that way. “After all one cannot compare the price of Darjeeling tea with that of Dooars tea. This has to be reflected in the wage hike,” Suraj Subba, the general secretary of the Morcha affiliated union had earlier said.

Today’s meeting, however, did not yield much. “The meeting was held in a conducive atmosphere and the second round will commence tomorrow,” said Sandeep Mukherjee, secretary of the DTA.

The association had invited all operating gardens from the hills. However, the GNLF and the CPM affiliated unions did not turn up for the talks.