The Trinamool Cha Bagan Sramik Union (TCBSU) leadership instructed their local units across the tea gardens in the Dooars to conduct door-to-door visits to help tea workers and their families in the ongoing special intensive revision (SIR) process of the electoral roll that has been initiated by the Election Commission of India across the state.

Since Monday, the union has set up help desks in every tea garden of the Alipurduar district to assist the workers in filling up forms required for SIR and in resolving document-related queries.

In Alipurduar, there are 64 tea estates, of which three are closed. According to representatives of the TCBSU, around 40 per cent of people from these tea gardens live and work outside the state, while around 25 per cent of the migrants are voters.

“We have instructed our garden units to visit every household. The Election Commission of India has provided an online option to fill the forms, but most tea garden residents are not familiar with digital platforms. Our members will assist them through help desks, which have been functioning in every tea garden since yesterday (Monday),” said Nakul Sonar, the TCBSU chairman.

He said that the initiative had been taken to ensure no tea garden worker or their family member was left out of the SIR loop because of lack of awareness
or accessibility.

While in towns and villages, people are actively discussing the SIR process and reaching out to the booth-level officers (BLOs) to ensure their documents are in order, the situation in the tea garden areas is different.

Most tea workers are indifferent or unaware of the exercise.

“Most of us do not have land rights and thus, no land-related documents, unlike those living in towns and villages. Also, our family members have migrated to other states and may find it difficult to return home to complete formalities. That is why we are concerned whether our names would be there in the voter list after the SIR,” said a worker of the Kalchini tea estate.

Another worker who lives in a closed tea estate — Ramjhora tea estate in Madarihat block of the district — said job records in the tea garden’s office were a major document for people like them to prove they were living in the garden for years.

“However, as our garden is closed, we cannot access such documents, unlike those in the open gardens,” he said. “This is yet another problem for us when it comes to the submission of documents. We hope those manning help desks will help us find a way out.”

While TCBSU leaders and a section of workers spoke of the challenges in connection with SIR, managerial employees in the gardens believed that workers and their families had nothing to worry about.

“They have been residing in tea gardens for generations and have documents like provident fund accounts and records of their employment. Even if someone lacks any document, there are alternatives,” said the senior manager of a tea estate.

The help desks, TCBSU leaders said, will continue till the SIR exercise is over. “We have also asked our leaders in the Terai to open help desks,” said a TCBSU leader.