Women on their way to work at Vah Tukvar tea estate. Picture by Suman Tamang

Vah Tukvar (Darjeeling), Jan. 2: The rusty gates of the Vah Tukvar tea estate reopened today after almost a decade, bringing hope to hundreds of workers of other closed gardens of Darjeeling.

The garden, which was abandoned by the government-run Tea Trading Corporation of India (TTCI) in 1995, has been taken over by Saycotta Tea Company Ltd, following the state?s decision to liquidate the corporation. Saycotta Tea Company ? a major player in the Darjeeling tea industry with 12 gardens ? has taken over the estate without any previous liabilities. Sources maintain that outstanding dues will be settled by the high court, as is the norm in such takeovers.

Arun Kejriwal, officer in charge of the garden re-christened Shri Dwarika Tea Estate, said: ?It will take time to set up the factory but for the time being the green leaves will be send to Soom tea garden for processing.?

The garden factory, manager?s bungalow and other infrastructure were vandalised a year after the estate, located 8 km from Darjeeling town, was abandoned. ?The TTCI had started defaulting on ration and wages from 1993. A couple of years later the garden died a natural death and though there was no official intimation about the closure, most of us stopped going to work,? said a garden labourer.

It is learnt that though officially the plantation area is spread over 197 hectares, in reality it is only about 120-130 hectares. The new management has plans to go in for re-plantation at a later date but at the moment it is focussing more on pruning and weeding.

The general mood in the garden was upbeat, though many have to wait for some more time before they start working again. Of the 751 labourers who were employed by the TTCI, only 200 have been retained as permanent workers. The new company will, however, take many more as ?temporary workers? as and when required.

Champa Tamang, who has retained her job, said: ?It is nice to go back to work. I am very happy.?

For most garden workers, the last decade had been difficult. Many of them have been forced to eke out a living working as daily labourers in nearby areas. A functioning garden is expected to give them more ?security? in the coming days.

However, for the husband-wife duo of Mani Prasad Chhetri and Pravita Chhetri ? former workers who could not retain their jobs ? the wait is agonising. ?We are sad, but we are hopeful about getting jobs soon,? said Mani Prasad.

The garden is expected to roll out almost 40,000 kg of made tea annually.