Tea Garden Abandoned

Alipurduar: Dekhlapara Tea Estate located in the Madarihat-Birpara block has been officially declared abandoned.

Alipurduar subdivisional officer (SDO) P.D. Pradhan today sent a faxed message to Jalpaiguri district magistrate R. Ranjit to inform him of the decision. The development came a day after The Telegraph published a report on how the 600 workers at the estate were losing out on aid because government records did not show Dekhlapara as abandoned (though the management fled in March 2006).

“I have received a report from the assistant labour commissioner of Birpara and today I sent a message to the district magistrate stating that Dekhlapara Tea Estate has been officially declared abandoned,” said Pradhan. “A block-level medical team will visit the garden and the workers will be given foodgrain.”

The SDO added that as in all other abandoned gardens, workers at Dekhlapara would be allowed to prune the tea bushes for 14 days under the food-for-work scheme. “I will talk to the Jalpaiguri deputy labour commissioner about FAWLOI — financial assistance to workers of locked-out industries — for Dekhlapara and I will personally visit the garden very soon to find out the situation there,” Pradhan said.

Source: The Telegraph