The state labour department on Monday pulled up the owner of a closed tea estate, saying continued absence from tripartite meetings convened to expedite the garden's reopening might prompt the department to hand it over to a new investor, obeying standard operating procedures.
Gopal Biswas, the deputy labour commissioner of Alipurduar, said that the Madhu tea estate in the Kalchini block of the district had closed down on May 18 as the managerial staff left the garden.
The state labour department convened two tripartite meetings for the garden's reopening, one in Siliguri and another at the Alipurduar district collectorate. However, none from the management’s side turned up in both.
“We convened another tripartite meeting, the third one, today (Monday). It was cancelled as the management abstained from it. Another bipartite meeting (only with the management) has been convened at the joint labour commissioner’s office in Siliguri tomorrow (Tuesday),” said Biswas.
“If the management doesn’t attend that meeting, we will have to adopt the SOP to reopen the garden,” the official added.
Earlier this year, the state government introduced an SOP to facilitate the reopening of the closed tea estates. The SOP mention that if the present owner of a closed garden is disinclined to reopen the garden and stays away from talks, the state can find a new investor to hand over the garden so that it resumes normal functioning.
The Madhu estate has around 360 workers.
The absence of the management from three meetings has made the Trinamool Cha Bagan Shramik Union (TCBSU) and the BJP-backed Bharatiya Tea Workers’ Union (BTWU) demand that the state find a new company to run the garden.
“It is unfortunate that the management is staying away from the meetings. The state should use the SOP to find a new owner,” said Birendra Bara Oraon, the TCBSU chairman.
Rajesh Barla, the general secretary of BTWU, echoed Oraon. “We doubt whether the existing owner wants to reopen the garden at all. In this situation, the state should hand over the garden to a new investor in the interest of workers,” he said.
Workers' wage protest
Workers of the Chinchula tea estate in the Kalchini block struck work on Monday, demonstrating throughout the day in front of the garden’s factory to demand immediate payment of wages.
They were supposed to receive wages on Saturday, the workers claimed. “The management did not disburse the wages on time. That is why the workers resorted to demonstration and abstained from work,” said Tendup Tamang, the garden unit secretary of TCBSU.
Garden manager Santosh Sabar said bank-related issues prevented the wages from being transferred to workers’ bank accounts. “We believe wages will be disbursed in a couple of days,” he said.