Ration for tea Laborers

Tea garden labourers across north Bengal will receive their rations from the respective garden managements for the next six months, as the government uses the time to prepare for the shift to the public distribution system (PDS).

This was decided at a meeting between state food minister Paresh Adhikary and Sharad Pawar, his counterpart at the Centre. The meeting, which was held at Krishi Bhavan in Delhi was also attended by Cooch Behar MP Hiten Barman and senior Forward Bloc leader Debabrata Biswas.

The Union minister has promised the state that the Food Corporation of India (FCI) will restart allotment of foodgrain to the tea industry, at least for the next six months. The minister’s assurance will now hopefully defuse the resentment brewing among the 3 lakh garden workers, who have not received rations since the beginning of this month.

The FCI had halted the allotment of foodgrain in the current month after the Centre made a final decision to bring all tea estates under the purview of the Targeted Public Distribution System (TPDS). Under this system, the labourers will have to buy the cereals from ration shops at PDS rates. At present, the rations are distributed by the garden managements at heavily subsidised rates, as a component of their salary.

“At the meeting, we explained the problem in the estates after distribution of ration was stopped. Sharadji was cooperative and extended the existing system for at least six more months,” Adhikary told.

The decision has brought a reprieve for both trade union leaders and planters of the region, who seemed headed for a showdown if the stalemate continued.

“We were apprehending a major crisis in the gardens as we cannot give rations to the workers this month,” said N.K. Basu, principal adviser to Indian Tea Planters’ Association.

“We have made it clear that the supply of foodgrain is a part of their wages. It is good that the Centre has decided to restart allotment. Otherwise, it would have been a severe blow to the workers,” said Alok Chakraborty, the district secretary of the Intuc-affiliated National Union of Plantation Workers (NUPW).

Source > The Telegraph