The Bharnobari tea estate, located in Hasimara under Kalchini block of Alipurduar district, reopened on Monday, two days after four women workers of the garden died in a road accident on their way to another tea estate for work as casual labourers.
Located around 53 kilometres from Alipurduar town, the reopening has brought relief and joy to its nearly 700 workers.
It also comes on the eve of Holi, adding to the sense of celebration among workers.
On February 28, some women workers were cycling on AH48 to work at another tea garden. A car headed towards Jaigaon rammed into the cyclists, killing four on the spot and injuring three others. The injured are still hospitalised.
In protest, residents — mostly from Bharnobari — blocked AH48 for more than six hours, and did not budge despite repeated requests from police to lift the blockade. Eventually, when Gopal Biswas, the deputy labour commissioner (DLC) of Alipurduar, reached the spot, protesters demanded that the garden be reopened, arguing that had it been operational, the women would not have needed to cycle elsewhere to work.
However, even on Monday morning, as the garden reopened, seven female workers reportedly left to join duties at another garden.
Madanlal Jha, the garden’s manager, refused to admit that the accident directly influenced the decision to reopen Bharnobari.
“The incident shocked us all, but it is not true that the accident had any role in the reopening of the garden. On February 27, a tripartite meeting was held at the DLC office in Alipurduar. On Monday, the garden has reopened,” he said.
DLC Biswas said: “We are happy that the management reopened the tea estate soon. We will hold meetings to discuss pending issues related to the garden."