Alipurduar, Nov. 20: Alipurduar MP Joachim Buxla has donated Rs 12 lakh for installing a solar pump in Bharnobari Tea Estate that will provide water to the workers’ families while helping the operations and management committee (OMC) bypass crippling electricity bills.

“I have donated the money from my local area development fund. The water drawn from under the ground will be stored in overhead tanks (Bharnobari has two such tanks, each with a capacity of 4,200 gallons) and from there it will be distributed among the workers,” said Buxla.

Bharnobari has around 1,200 workers and, counting dependants, close to 5,000 people living in the garden.

“This is pilot project and if it is successful in Bharnobari, then the same method will be applied in other closed gardens in the Dooars. This is a new concept and I think it will save expenditure on electricity bills,” the RSP MP said.

The pump should start functioning within a month, he added.

Bharnobari has been shut for a couple of years. The OMC, which has been running the garden in the absence of an owner, spends Rs 1.72 lakh each month on electricity.

Buxla’s gesture is timely because the OMC depends on the sale of green tealeaves to run the garden and with the lean season about to set in, committee members are particularly worried about the astronomical electricity bills.

Charlis Dhanwar, a local trade union leader, said: “Currently, we run the electric pump only once a day to save money. As a result, the water drawn is used only for drinking. Once the solar pump starts functioning, we will be able to distribute enough water to take care of other activities while saving at least Rs 50,000 every month.”

The solar pump may solve one problem in Bharnobari, but the workers say their lives will not improve until the garden reopens. Around 90 people have died in the past two years. The workers and their families have to do without medical facilities and the children go without education.

“We are eager to run the garden through a cooperative but are not getting permission from the administration,” said Dhanwar.