Proposal to Goverment to acquire closed tea gardens

In a bid to reopen the closed tea estates in the Dooars, the Bengal labour department has forwarded a proposal to the central government to acquire all of them under the Indian Tea Act, 1953.

“We have sent a proposal to the Centre to take over the tea gardens in the Dooars belt which are lying closed for years,” said the principal secretary of the labour department, Subesh Das, at a news conference in Jalpaiguri today. “The central government can do so under the Tea Act.”

Das, who met the regional provident fund commissioner today, told reporters that at present, the total provident fund due in all the tea gardens of north Bengal stands at Rs 25 crore. “Officials of the provident fund department have been instructed to take steps and realise the dues,” the principal secretary added.

Representatives of trade unions and officials from the district administration also attended the meeting on the issue of provident fund. “It was decided that in the absence of the management (as in the closed estates), certificates of employment or death issued by any gazetted officers would be considered as proof enough to claim a worker’s provident fund,” said Chitta Dey, the convener of the Coordination Committee of Tea Plantation Workers.

State health secretary Kalyan Bagchi, who was present at the news conference, said his department did not have any medical record of death by starvation at the closed tea estates.

Source: The Telegraph