The INTTUC organised a convention for workers of four tea estates owned by Andrew Yule & Company in the Dooars on Friday and trained guns at the Narendra Modi government for being allegedly apathetic to workers.

The gardens, Banarhat, Karballa, New Dooars and Choonbhutti, all of which are in Banarhat block of Jalpaiguri, are run by the company that functions under the Union ministry of heavy enterprises. Altogether, 5,000 workers work in these gardens.

“For months now, payment of wages is irregular in these gardens while the provident fund of workers has not been deposited with the Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) for years. This cannot go on as these gardens are run by a central government-owned company,” Ritabrata Banerjee, the state INTTUC president, said at the convention that was held at Banarhat today.

Over the past few months, TMC, and especially Inttuc, has picked up the issue of Andrew Yule gardens to exert pressure on the saffron camp.

“There is no school bus in any of these four gardens. The workers had mentioned the issue to us, and in due course, chief minister Mamata Banerjee announced that school buses would be introduced to carry students to their educational institutions from the tea gardens. Though this is not the state’s responsibility, the decision was made for the interest of the tea population,” Banerjee, who is also a Rajya Sabha MP, said.

He mentioned that during the past two days, similar conventions were held at the gardens of Andrew Yule, where district and local Inttuc leaders addressed the workers.

The state INTTUC president mentioned that ahead of the elections, BJP leaders and central ministers have time and again assured the tea workers and their families that the Centre would take initiatives for their development.

“However, those promises have turned out to be hollow, and nothing has been done by the Centre for the industry. Not the Centre’s apathy towards the workers of these four gardens, which are run by the centrally-owned enterprise, proves that the BJP considers the tea population only as a votebank,” the trade union leader said.

Political observers opined that during the past elections, the BJP has managed to win most of the Assembly seats which are in the tea belt. In north Bengal, the results of 10 to 12 such seats are decided by the dwellers of tea estates.

“As the Assembly elections would be held in less than a year, TMC is highlighting the situation in the tea estates to mount pressure on the BJP, while simultaneously underscoring the initiatives taken by the state government for the tea workers,” said an observer.