MP voiced tea garden workers' problems in Parliament

Kalimpong: The Congress MP from Darjeeling, Dawa Narbula, has raised the problems faced by workers in tea gardens and cinchona plantations in the Parliament.

Narbula has demanded stringent measures against managements found violating the Plantation Labour Act, Factories Act, Payment of Bonus Act, Industrial Disputes Act, Gratuity Act and Employees’ Provident Fund Act.

A recent workshop on exploring alternatives in closed and abandoned tea gardens held in Siliguri also suggested changes in the legal and institutional instruments governing the brew industry.

Narbula had blamed the Bengal government for the plight of the workers at the cinchona plantations in the Darjeeling hills.

“There is a huge demand for cinchona and other medicinal plants, but the government is doing nothing to tap the market,” The Congress MP told The Telegraph over phone from New Delhi.