Hridesh Mohan. Picture by Avijit Sarkar

Siliguri, Jan. 28: The green carpet of Chandmoni tea estate may soon vanish as the work of uprooting bushes begins from February 1, making space for the satellite township.

Speaking to reporters today, Darjeeling district magistrate Hridesh Mohan said: “In a series of tri-partite meetings, most of the demands put forward by the Chandmoni tea garden workers have been addressed.”

This is the second attempt by the administration to start building the township on the 406.64-acre Chandmoni tea estate.

An attempt to start work last June had met with stiff resistance from the work force, prompting the police to open fire. Two labourers were killed triggering a series of protests.

The garden was ultimately closed down. When the gates opened again on October 17, the area of work had been cut down to 30 acres.

On July 11, a special committee was formed under the chairmanship of the district magistrate to “monitor the progress of the township and sort out day-to-day problems that could act as blockades”.

Admitting that some issues still remained sticky, Mohan said: “Though we have been able to reach a consensus on most points, there are still some differences which have not been sorted out. But those problems are matters of Laxmi Tea Company, the owner of Chandmoni tea estate, and need to be tackled by the management on its own.”

In 1998, the government had taken over the 406.64-acre land, almost four-fifth of the estate’s total area, from Laxmi Tea Company and leased it out to Laxmi Township Company on a 99-year lease. Laxmi Township Company belongs to the same group.

The township is a joint venture project of the West Bengal Industries Development Corporation, Siliguri Jalpaiguri Development Authority and Laxmi Township Company.

“Vacant posts will be filled and care will be taken to see there is no retrenchment of workers. Intensive plantation of new bushes will be carried out in the garden,” said the district magistrate. The workers, on the other hand, claimed there was a bunch of unkept promises and unresolved issues.

“How can they start work when there are so many questions to be answered?” asked Abhiranjan Bhaduri, the joint convenor of Chandmoni Anti-Eviction Joint Action Committee.

Issues like building houses with electricity connection, compensation to workers and payment of old dues still remained unsettled, he said.

“They are not working towards filling up the vacancies and there are many old dues that the management owes to the workers. In short, there has been no change in the scene after the June-26 incident,” Bhaduri added. According to him, the areas chalked out in the township plan for cultivation of tea were low-lying marshy areas unsuitable for tea.

Asked if February 1 could be a repeat of June 26, Mohan said: “Suitable precautions and adequate measures are being taken to prevent any untoward incident.”