Chungthung Tea Estate to Reopen with a Managing Committee

The district administration has decided to take a firm stand in ending the impasse at the Chungthung tea garden.

The decision to convene a meeting — minus the management of East India Produce — at Bijanbari on March 1 is indicative of the administration’s determination to take a stern step to break the deadlock. “The meeting will be held between the labourers and the administration to look into the demands of the workers,” said J. Chattopadhaya, subdivisional officer, Darjeeling.

Earlier, representatives of the Chungthung management had attended only one of the four reconciliatory meetings that were held following the closure of the garden on January 13.

The suicide committed on Saturday by Baburam Dewan, a social activist, to press for strong action against Ajit Agarawal, the proprietor of the Chungthung tea estate, also seems to have unnerved the district administration. Sources maintain that the administration has decided to re-open the garden immediately through a managing committee, comprising the workers and government officials.

“The present scenario is such that we don’t believe in the proprietor coming back to re-open the garden. At the same time, we cannot let things go on as they are and this is the reason why the administration is keen about finding a solution,” said an administrative source. Representatives of Joint Action Committee of Chungthung — an umbrella organisation of all operative trade unions in the garden — also met the district administration today and demanded that a managing committee be formed at the earliest to sell the tea leaves of the garden.

“We have also demanded that Ajit Agarawal be arrested and the government initiate steps to cancel the lease of the garden,” said L.M. Lama, the pradhan of Chungthung gram panchayat and adviser to the joint action committee.

But after the estate’s closure, the DGHC has been providing work to at least one family member of the garden’s workers under the Gram Swarak Yojna. “The district administration too has been distributing foodgrain,” said Sonam Bhutia, BDO, Bijanbari.

Aariz Aftab, the Darjeeling district magistrate, said the administration was trying to mobilise funds to ensure that workers are not inconvenienced till the garden re-opens. The estate employs 1,252 workers while the total garden population is pegged at around 6,500.

Source > The Telegraph