Tea Plantation Owners owe 35 crore to Tea Workers

The regional provident fund (PF) office here has decided to soon start collecting the pending provident funds of workers from a number tea estates in north Bengal.

Even after several reminders, around 40 tea estates in the Dooars, Terai and Darjeeling have reportedly failed to pay provident funds to their workers that have been due to them for years.

According to a PF source, a team of officials, including inspectors of the department, will soon head for Calcutta, where most of the tea companies (owners of particular tea gardens) are located. “We have our list ready. With the help of our staff in Calcutta, we will visit the houses of the defaulting planters. We will ask them to pay immediately or else face arrest,” he said.

Last month, PF officials served a notice on the planters concerned, asking them to pay the arrears — amounting to around Rs 35 crore — by January 15. The officials had stated that if the planters failed to pay by the ascribed date, legal action would be taken against them.

According to S. Bhattacharya, the regional provident fund commissioner of Jalpaiguri, the department had been able to collect only around Rs 25 crore before setting the deadline but the planters still owe around Rs 35 crore to the workers.

Provident fund officers have already registered 30 FIRs at different police stations in Jalpaiguri and Darjeeling districts, where the estates are located, the source said. Over 120 cases are also lying pending in the respective district courts, he added.

While the union leaders at the tea estates welcomed the measure taken by the PF officials, the planters found it “ominous for the industry”.

“The officials might arrest the chairmen and managing directors of tea companies, but we do not think that will help them realise the pending dues, especially since this is the non-productive season,” said Prabir Bhattacharya, the secretary of Dooars Branch of Indian Tea Association. “The best way, we feel, is to persuade the planters into paying the amount. The drive taken by the PF office will only accelerate the closure of a few more gardens.”

Trade union leaders, however, are pleased with the step. “We welcome the decision of the PF office,” said Chitta Dey, convener of Defence Committee of Tea Plantation

Source > The Telegraph