The Panighatta tea garden in the Darjeeling hills will reopen on Friday after a decade, with the Bagaria Group agreeing to take over the estate.
Representatives of the company and major trade unions signed an agreement on the plantation’s acquisition at Shramik Bhavan in Siliguri on Tuesday evening.
S.S. Bagaria, who heads the company, was present when the agreement was signed.
“The state labour department approached me about two weeks ago to revive the Panighatta tea garden. We signed a formal agreement in the labour department’s Siliguri office last evening. The garden will reopen on May 2,” Bagaria said on Wednesday.
The Bagaria Group currently operates three other tea gardens — two in the Mirik subdivision and one in Darjeeling.
Located in the Mirik block, about 32km from Siliguri, the Panighatta tea garden lies in the foothills and spreads over 1,000 acres. The estate has more than 500 workers and has been shut since October 2015.
The prolonged closure caused significant hardship for the workers, many of whom were forced to leave in search of alternative livelihoods. Some took up daily wage labour, while others found work in nearby areas, said sources.
J.B. Tamang, the president of the Hill Terai Dooars Plantation Workers Union, which is affiliated with the Bharatiya Gorkha Prajatantrik Morcha led by Anit Thapa, said the latter had played a key role in facilitating the garden’s reopening.
“About a month ago, trade union representatives met state labour minister Moloy Ghatak in Calcutta and Siliguri. He had assured us that the estate would reopen under the new management. We are glad to announce that Panighatta will resume operations on May 2,” said Tamang.
“The management agreed to pay two fortnights’ wages to the workers and one month’s salary to the staff on the day of the opening,” he added.
Harihar Acharya, the vice-president of the union, said efforts were underway to reopen two more closed tea estates — Kalej Valley and Pandam — in the Darjeeling hills.