State Labour Department's hold on the slip

The state labour department, and more importantly, the labour minister’s grip on labour-related matters, is slipping.

On 20 January, Mohammad Amin convened a meeting here with the management of locked-out or abandoned tea estates of the region. The objective was to discuss reasons behind the closures and to arrive at possible solutions to reopen the plantations. Of the 18 such plantations, representatives of just two attended the meeting.

The minister and his department chose to avoid any action, which earned wide criticism from the workers’ representatives.

Pursuant to the meeting, the labour department convened a meeting with one of the abandoned tea estates, Shikarpur in the Dooars at Jalpaiguri yesterday but the concerned plantation’s management or its representatives abstained from it.

Exhibiting patience, the labour department has convened a second meeting with the Shikarpur management at Siliguri on 30 January. But department officials are unsure whether to take a soft or hard stance if the plantation’s management fails to turn up for a second time.
The inaction is helping to make workers and workers’ unions jittery.
It is also drawing criticism from pro-Left platforms like All India Trade Union Congress and Citu, as has been evident from recent remarks of their leadership.

According to the labour department’s figures, 18 tea estates remain either locked out or abandoned in the Terai, Dooars and Darjeeling hills. They are Jogmaya, Sepoydhura, Peshak, Potong and Chungtung in the Darjeeling hills; Pahargoomiah and New Chumta in the Terai and Kathalguri, Ramjhora, Chamurchi, Raipur, Srinathpur, Bamandanga Tondu, Samsing, Mujnai, Chinchula, Bharnobari and Mal Nuddy in the Dooars.

In addition to these, the Shikarpur riddle has stumped the labour department. While one concern owns the plantation, another runs the management or so was the case recently.
“We have summoned the original owner for discussion on 30 January. We are not officially aware if another concern is running the plantation’s management,” DLC Mr D Rasailey said.

The labour department also has to sort out a unique problem dogging Jogmaya Tea Estate in the Darjeeling hills. The plantation closed down on 15 September 2003 and has been running through a receiver appointed by the state government ever since.

The Jogmaya management has expressed interest in reopening the plantation, which was conveyed to Mr Amin on the 20 January meeting and the minister in turn asked the Darjeeling district magistrate to look into the matter.

“The matter is rather complicated. But it is being looked into,” Darjeeling DM Mr Ariz Aftab said.

Source > The Statesman