Darjeeling, Nov. 18: Nepal tea is giving its Darjeeling counterpart a run for its money. But the 17-member delegation from the Himalayan kingdom found glaring differences in the benefits the workers reaped for their services.

Touring the Darjeeling tea gardens during their four-day visit, the Nepal Tea Worker’s delegation members said housing and medical facilities that were taken as a given in the hills were non existent in their country. The delegates, along with themembers of B.P. Koirala Foundation, a Delhi-based organisation and West Bengal Cha Mazdoor Sabha, an affiliate to the Hind Mazdoor Sangh, had visited gardens in the Terai before coming to Darjeeling yesterday.

Arjun Timsinha, leader of the party said: “Garden owners in Nepal draw the picture of a loss making industry to keep us in the dark. But now we understand that they have been doing this to pocket the profits we have a right to. We work in the gardens all day and they get rich at our expense.”

Calling the tour an “eye-opener” Timsinha, also a central committee member of the National Tea Union Congress, said that the experience would help them streamline the worker movement in a better manner.

“Nepal has been a democracy for only 12 years and we have a lot to learn from India,”Tinsinha said.

A.K. Pratap, another delegate said that they were surprised to learn that the worker’s gratuity ceiling for Indian tea garden labourers was Rs 2.5 lakh.

“In Nepal it is just 20,000 in Nepalese currency (NC),” he said.

“Provident fund in Nepal is only 5% of the wages as compared to 10%in India. Medical facilities are unheard of. Only the seven gardens that come under the Nepal Tea Development Corporation are allowed Rs 200 NC annually as medical expense,” he said.

The delegates believed that the future of tea in their country was bright, marred only by the attitude of the garden owners.

There are some 70 tea gardens, concentrated in the eastern part of Nepal.

“Tea gardens at Jhapa, Ilam, Panhar, Dhankuta and Bhojpur form the backbone of the industry. But with owners ignoring the aspect of our welfare and basic needs, development of these areas will not be easy,” said Dil Ram Bhujel, one of the delegates.

“Maoist insurgency is also a debacle development because we work in constant fear of sudden militant attacks,” he added.