Siliguri, Feb. 17: The Joint Forum has alleged that the state government is taking no initiative to scout for investors who can run three tea estates which were acquired by the administration last year.
The state government had taken over the land and property of Redbank and Dharanipur in Jalpaiguri district and Bandapani in Alipurduar district, which together have around 2,700 workers (see chart).
The three plantations had been shut for around one year and the decision to acquire the gardens was spurred by the reluctance of the respective management to reopen them.
Chitta Dey, the convenor of the forum, told The Telegraph yesterday that around 2,700 labourers and their families were living in deplorable conditions in Redbank, Dharanipur and Bandapani. "They subsist on the measly relief provided by the government. It is disappointing that the state has not taken any initiative to find investors and hand over the three estates to them. The government has recently sold all five estates owned by the West Bengal Tea Development Corporation to private entrepreneurs. The condition of workers on these five estates is comparatively better than those in Redbank, Dharanipur and Bandapani," he said.
"What we find surprising is that the three estates were acquired by the government in October and November last year and it was almost at the same time that an initiative was being taken to sell the five WBTDC-owned gardens. The state ministers and officials concerned seem to have forgotten the need to look for prospective investors to buy the three estates," Dey added.
The gardens owned by the WBTDC were Hilla and Mahua in the Dooars, and Rungmook-Cedar, Rangaroon and Pandam in the Darjeeling hills.
The government is providing food grains, kerosene and sugar to workers in Redbank, Dharanipur and Bandapani through the state food and supplies department. Medical teams also visit the estates and distribute free medicines.
Another leader of the forum said "a permanent solution to the problems faced by the three estates is their reopening".
"There had been deaths because of malnutrition and starvation in all the three plantations. There are five other closed estates in north Bengal. Workers of all these estates are living with uncertainty as they do not know what the state is going to do to get them out of the crisis. They do not want to thrive on doles, while the state ministers and officials, whenever told about the closed gardens, speak about the relief measures given to the workers," said Ziaur Alam, the Jalpaiguri district secretary of the CITU.
The forum is a conglomeration of 24 trade unions. The Trinamul Congress's trade union is not a constituent of the forum.
Alam went on: "Further, no clarification has reached the workers of the three estates from the state labour department as to when and how they will receive dues like provident fund, gratuity and wages. As a whole, the situation is pretty serious and we want the state to act immediately, if required, in consultation with the Centre."
A leader of Trinamul's trade union said the forum was harping on about the condition of workers in the three gardens to divert attention from its stand vis-à-vis interim wage hike.
"Leaders of the forum are delaying wage negotiations for political interests. They have realised that tea garden workers are getting discontented everyday because of the delay. They are now trying to divert the attention by raising new issues," said Alok Chakraborty, the working president of the Trinamul-backed Dooars Terai Plantation Workers' Union.
North Bengal development minister Gautam Deb evaded a direct reply when asked if the government had any plan to get the three estates reopened.
"The government is concerned about workers in the gardens. The forum is indulging in politics and that is why it is accusing the government. Forum leaders should realise that the government wouldn't have taken over the three plantations, if it didn't have a proper plan for the workers there," said the minister.
