The Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) on Tuesday filed a complaint with Alipurduar police against the management of a tea estate for not depositing provident fund with them despite deducting the money from the workers’ wages.
“We have filed a complaint with the police against the Patkapara tea estate because it did not deposit provident fund with us. We are maintaining regular surveillance and operations to ensure that the workers’ PF contributions are deposited on time,” said Pawan Bansal, the regional provident fund commissioner of Jalpaiguri.
Sources said that the management of Patkapara, which has around 2,200 workers, has not deposited PF to the tune of ₹33 lakh from June to October 2024.
“The EPFO authorities had issued notices to the garden so that the dues are cleared. But as the garden authorities did not deposit the money, the police complaint has been filed for that period,” said a source.
Sources said that since then to now, the management has not deposited any PF for any month.
Bansal said that in Jalpaiguri, Alipurduar and Cooch Behar districts, outstanding PF dues amount to several crores of rupees.
“Out of this outstanding amount, around 70 per cent is owed by different tea estates,” he said.
In the current year, this is the third case filed by the EPFO against tea gardens for non-payment of PF contributions.
In May this year, a similar complaint was filed against the Sitarampur tea estate, while in June another complaint was filed against the Choonabhutti tea estate, both in Jalpaiguri district.
In the past five years, complaints were filed against 36 gardens, a source said.
“After the complaints were filed, a few tea gardens have begun depositing small portions of outstanding PF amounts,” the source added.
The move is significant as over the past few months, the Trinamool Congress and its tea trade union have time and again raised questions over the role of the EPFO, a central government organisation, in helping tea workers whose provident fund sums have not been deposited by tea companies.
“The Trinamool Congress leadership has underscored that the EPFO is not taking effective steps to address the issue. Now that the EPFO authorities have filed complaints with the state police, it is evident that the BJP will flag the issue to exert pressure on Trinamool, seeking effective steps from the police (which is under the Trinamool-led state government) so that the tea companies pay up,” said a political observer.