Alipurduar, Sept. 1: A section of unions today told the workers of an Alipurduar tea garden that they must condemn the heckling and confining of a manager by a some hands on August 30, development that led to suspension of work in the estate.
The instance of tea unions telling workers to condemn an attack on an official is rare in the Dooars. Sources in the unions said that after the management suspended work yesterday, many labourers aired their fear that the owner may hold back the Puja bonus.
This afternoon at the Sarugaon Tea Estate in Falakata, leaders of the Dooars Cha Bagan Workers' Union, which has the most members, as well as Congress and Left-backed unions, spoke to the workers and told them that they should condemn the attack on V.P. Singh, the garden manager.
On August 30, a section of workers had pushed and heckled Singh and confined him and his wife to their garden quarters till late in the night. Police were called in to rescue the couple and take them away.
The showdown started purportedly over the manager's announcement that some of the workers would have to participate in the 100 days' rural job scheme and work for the maintenance of the garden for a few days. A section of workers who protested did not want to go for the garden work.
They did not cite any reason for not wanting to work under the rural job scheme - the wage of Rs 179 for the central scheme is higher than the garden wage rate of Rs 132. Workers and union sources who did not want to be named said that a section of tea hands take commissions from buyers for supplying leaves, which is illegal and goes unchecked.
Today, Gopal Pradhan, the president of the Dooars Cha Bagan Workers' Union, said: "I, along with Mani Darnal of NUPW (the Congress-backed union) and Rabin Rai of CBMU (Left-backed), went to the garden in the afternoon and spoke to the workers. We asked them to think over the situation because Puja is coming and they need money before the festival. We told them that they have to maintain discipline in the garden and they cannot violate rules. They confessed that they had made a mistake and they are eager to confess in front of management as well. We have requested the labour department to intervene and solve the issue. We hope that on September 10 there will be a meeting in the office of the assistant labour commissioner at Birpara and the garden will reopen."
Amitangshu Chakroborty, an advisor to the Indian Tea Planters' Association, said: "What the workers did in the garden with the manager and his wife was beyond tolerance. This is inhuman."
Bandh
Trinamul leaders based in north Bengal have said they will make all efforts to ensure that there is no strike in the tea belt on Friday.
Leaders of other trade unions, who are supporting the strike, said it will be total in the tea belt. Members of the planters' fraternity estimate a loss of over Rs 100 million if there is strike tomorrow.
"There will be no strike in the tea belt tomorrow. All the tea estates will remain open and labourers will join work. We are in constant touch with tea workers and planters and have realised that they themselves will oppose the strike. Anybody trying to enforce the strike forcibly would be prevented by the administration," Sourav Chakraborty, the Trinamul MLA of Alipurduar, said today.
