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Guwahati, Feb. 25: An inquiry by a group of civil society organisations has attributed recent deaths in Bhuban Valley Tea Estate in Barak Valley’s Cachar district to lack of food and healthcare.
The committee of People’s Rights Forum (PRF) had visited the garden and said starvation led to the death of 12 persons, including a three-year-old girl, in the tea estate and demanded an independent inquiry into the incident.
“We visited the families of the victims, interacted with members, met panchayat members and others and we found that 12 people have died of starvation and the conditions of 45 other labourers are still critical. The estate management decided to close down the estate on October 11, 2011 and it led to starvation, as the labourers had no other option to earn their livelihood,” said Raju Narzary, the convener of the PRF.
Barak Valley-based human rights organisation, Barak Human Rights Protection Committee, had earlier said starvation had caused death of labourers in the tea estate and the group had sent letters to the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) and to the Union labour minister.
The NGO identified the names of the 12 persons, who died between October 2011 and February 2012 as Nagendra Bauri, 60, Panchami Bauri,3, Sonamoni Pandey, 65, Ratana Gowala, 35, Rameswari Kurmi, 45, Subasini Paul, 70, Sancharan Bauri, 75, Atul Bauri, 60, Susom Tanti, 45, Rasis Dusad, 85, Belboti Bauri, 75 and Jugendra Bauri, 55.
The organisation said seven more tea gardens were awaiting a similar fate in Barak Valley. It was found that the garden workers had no other option but to move out in search of livelihood and were working as wagers at Rs 30 to Rs 40 per day.
“It’s a clear violation of Right to Live enshrined in Article 21 of the Constitution. The Supreme Court had made it clear in one of its recent judgement that labourers must be given at least PDS rice by the local administration in case of closure of the garden,” said Narzary.
The organisation also condemned the Assam government’s inquiry report which negated any starvation death in the tea estate. “We suspect that there is a bias in the government inquiry,” he said.
“The incident of starvation in Bhuban Valley is an eye opener. Labourers in the other seven tea estates are also waiting similar fate as the management continues to give poor wages to them, far below the wage fixed by the government. There is no basic amenities in the estates,” a member of the inquiry committee, Wilfred Topno said.
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