Siliguri, Feb. 19: Trinamul tea union leaders in the Dooars have expressed worry over the presence of multiple unions of the party in some gardens that could hamper campaigning in a region where Mamata Banerjee's party has not been able to make much headway in the face of a united opposition.

The Trinamul union leaders said they would write to the state leadership of the INTTUC and request it to take an initiative to float a common union in these gardens.

"Since 2011, a number of tea trade unions backed by the INTTUC have mushroomed across the north Bengal tea belt. We have time and again pointed out that it is necessary to have a single trade union front of INTTUC in the tea belt like other trade unions to avoid confusion among workers," Aloke Chakraborty, the working president of the Trinamul Tea Plantation Workers' Union, said. "Some initiatives were taken up by the state leaders last year after our party supremo Mamata Banerjee passed clear instructions to float a single union. Meetings and discussions were held but a decision has not yet been reached."

He added: "We are waiting for the decision of state INTTUC leaders."

According to trade unions leaders of Trinamul, other than the union that Chakraborty represents, there are unions in the name of Dooars Terai Plantation Workers' Union, Darjeeling Tea Workers' Union and INTTUC which are working in the tea belt.

"As the state leaders are yet to take a decision on this issue, we have decided to write to them by next week, mentioning the hurdles we will face ahead of the Assembly elections," said a trade union leader representing the Dooars Terai Plantation Workers' Union, who is based in the Dooars.

"First of all, the Joint Forum (a platform of 24 tea trade unions including the Citu, Intuc and the trade union of Gorkha Janmukti Morcha) is consistently mounting pressure on the state government on a several issues, ranging from minimum wage to distribution of food grains to reopening of closed tea estates. They have even arranged a series of protests next month. Second, the issue of the Duncans group gardens is always there, particularly because none other than the chief minister had said in November last year that the state would take over the gardens to end the impasse. The matter has not yet ended and in fact the situation has become more complicated now," he said.

All these issues, he said, would be raised by the leaders of the Joint Forum during campaigns.

Dola Sen, a state leader of the INTTUC and Trinamul, who was in Jalpaiguri today to attend a conference of Trinamul workers, avoided speaking on the issue. "Our party general secretary Subrata Bakshi has made it clear that we will have to win in all Assembly seats in north Bengal. We have to work in this regard to consolidate votes and will make all possible efforts," Sen said.

In north Bengal, there are at least 11 Assembly segments where votes of the tea garden population would be a deciding factor.

Back in 2011, when Trinamul had allied with Congress, the former had failed to win a single seat from any of these constituencies. The Congress, however, managed to bag four seats, courtesy its strong support base under the banner of the National Union of Plantation Workers, the tea trade union affiliated to the Intuc.