The Election Commission of India has stated that official records of workers at tea gardens and cinchona plantations in north Bengal would be counted as a valid document to prove the identity and the place of residence of a worker, prompting the saffron camp to take credit for the poll panel's decision.
On Sunday, a letter from EC reached the chief electoral officer (CEO) of Bengal, saying the EC had no objection to the proposal to consider tea garden and cinchona plantation records in seven districts of north Bengal as an identity document for the ongoing special intensive revision (SIR) of the electoral rolls.
“On December 31, the CEO had sent a letter to the EC with the proposal. The EC has assented to it,” said a source.
The letter says such records would be applicable for the workers of tea and cinchona in the northern districts of Darjeeling, Kalimpong, Jalpaiguri, Alipurduar, Cooch Behar, and North and South Dinajpur.
Since October last year, BJP leaders had been flagging the issue. Raju Bista, the party's Darjeeling MP, had sent letters to the EC and to the CEO in October and November, saying that tea workers and their families lacked the stipulated documentary proofs mentioned by the EC for their SIR.
Also, Suvendu Adhikari, the leader of the Opposition in the Assembly, had also written to the EC on the same issue.
“I am pleased to share that the Election Commission of India has approved the use of tea garden and cinchona plantation records for SIR verification. I also pointed out that these communities have not yet been granted land rights, leaving them without land records,” MP Bista wrote on social media.
“This decision will benefit thousands of citizens who have long been denied basic documentation and electoral inclusion. Further, the record of employment in tea gardens and cinchona gardens will now become an important document for future official uses,” he said.
Adhikari also posted on his X handle: “I would urge the voters of the tea estates and cinchona plantations to come forward and furnish their employment records during the SIR process."
BJP leaders who shared the post included Amit Malviya, the IT head of the BJP, and Shankar Ghosh, the Siliguri MLA.
“There is no doubt that BJP will try to drive home the point that it is because of them that the decision has come in the interest of the tea population, who were scared of the SIR process due to the lack of proper documents,” said a tea trade union leader in the Dooars.
PF protest today
The Trinamool Cha Bagan Sramik Union will organise a march to the regional office of the Employees Provident Fund Organisation, a central government organisation, in Jalpaiguri on Monday. “We want the PF authorities to publish all details related to the provident fund of tea workers of north Bengal. Many are being deprived of provident fund as authorities are not taking steps against tea planters who don't deposit PF money properly,” said Ritabrata Banerjee, the state INTTUC chief.