People now happy for Happy Valley Tea Garden

After years of uncertainty, workers of Happy Valley tea garden have seen a ray of hope.

The subdivisional magistrate’s court has appointed the block divisional officer of Bijanbari, Sonam Bhutia, as the “receiver” of the garden. The receiver is expected to look after the welfare of the workers and protect their interest until the government finds a suitable “employer” for the garden.

Happy Valley, located about 1 km from Darjeeling, is currently being managed by the GNLF-backed Happy Valley Workers’ Committee. The union members run the garden on the lines of a cooperative society.

However, it is learnt that the total tea production this year has come down, following which the union will find it difficult to see through the winters.

“The total produce from the garden this year was about 28,000 kg of made tea,” a source in the garden said. “We would have been safe if we could double the figure.”

The garden, which is spread over 296 hectares, used to employ around 330 workers. It had earlier been leased out to T. Banerjee and F. Banerjee, but sources said they were not able to run the garden due to a severe financial crunch.

Afterwards, a couple of financiers had pumped in money into the garden, but they could not run the estate as a proper administrative unit. So the workers’ union decided to form its own committee to save the garden from closing its gates.

Another problem at the garden is the unauthorised constructions coming up in the prime area. Sources said the occupants maintain that they are only barricading the area as the previous management had allegedly borrowed money from them.

A senior administrative officer, however, said: “The lease of Happy Valley expired in 2002 and has not been renewed yet.” As a result, there is a possibility that the Banerjees’ lease will be cancelled. Once this is done, prospective owners can bid for a new lease of the garden.

Sonam Bhutia held a meeting with the workers today and is also expected to conduct a survey to identify the illegal encroachers at the garden. “Since the garden is on leased land, no one has the right to sell or buy the property. If there is any encroachment, the structures have to be dismantled at any cost,” said an official.

Source> The Telegraph