Candidates from all major political parties in the Madarihat Assembly seat in Alipurduar met tea garden workers on Sunday.

The programme was organised under the banner of the “My Vote, My Right” campaign by the Paschimbanga Chai Mazdoor Samiti at the Jubilee Club in Birpara.

Candidates and representatives of the parties gathered to engage with workers.

“The initiative was taken to ensure the speedy resolution of longstanding issues affecting the tea garden workers and their families. During the session, the tea workers strongly voiced grassroots-level concerns, highlighting different pressing issues such as non-payment of wages in multiple tea gardens, pending provident fund (PF) dues and the dire conditions in gardens that have shut down operations,” said Anuradha Talwar, a central committee member of the Samiti.

Nearly 100 workers from various tea gardens in the constituency attended the meeting.

Along with questions for the candidates, the workers also presented them with an eight-point charter of demands prepared by the organisation.

The charter emphasised issues such as transparent utilisation of MLA funds, women’s safety and the specific challenges faced by both operational and closed tea
gardens.

“The workers made it clear that regardless of the election outcome, all candidates must stand in solidarity with the struggles of tea workers,” said a source.

Among those present at the meeting were Congress candidate Joy Praful Lakra, sitting MLA and Trinamool Congress candidate Joy Prakash Toppo, BJP candidate Laxman Limbu, and Manoj Tigga, the BJP MP of Alipurduar.

The candidates assured the workers that whoever wins the election would take prompt steps to address their concerns.

They also pledged to continue supporting the workers even in the event of electoral
defeat.

“Cutting across party lines, workers raised their issues directly before the candidates. We hope the initiative will help them in due course,” Talwar added.