More than 1,000 workers of Bharnobari Tea Estate blocked the Jaigaon road at Hasimara for eight hours, demanding their dues. The protesters positioned bicycles and benches on which women workers sat.
The blockade was lifted at 4pm after the garden management sent a part of the dues to the SBI’s Hasimara branch and promised to pay the rest by the middle of this month.
The agitation that began at 8am did not allow any Indian and Bhutan army vehicles to cross Hasimara, 40km from Alipurduar. More than 100 vehicles were stranded on both sides of the blockade.
Nearly 40 students off to appear for their second year BA exams were held up because of the blockade. “The examinees had to walk for more than a kilometre and then reached the Jaigaon college in two pick-up vans we arranged for them,” said Haider Ansari, the general secretary of the students’ union of the college.
The protesters threatened to block NH31C and also hold up railway movement if their salaries for February and March along with 10 installments of rations were not distributed by Sunday.
The tea garden in Jaigaon had reopened on April 28 last year after being closed for three years. However, payment problems cropped up from January. The management paid a portion of the workers’ wages for February on Saturday and assured that the rest would be paid by the middle of this week. But the dues were not cleared till yesterday.
At 11am today, Kalchini block development officer Rajendra Raj Sundas arrived at the spot but failed to convince the protesters.
“When the garden was reopened, the buyers assured told on timely payment of our wages. But the salaries of two months and rations for 10 weeks are due,” said Nilmani Kheria, a worker participating in the agitation.
The workers said they would chase out any politician who would come to campaign in the garden. “No one cares for us. We have no doctor, no power. We will boycott the elections,” Nilmani said.
Surojit Basu, an owner of Bharnobari, cited the bank closure for the past few days for the non-payment. “We are facing funds crunch because of the poor tea market,” he said over the phone from Delhi.
The Akhil Bharatiya Adivasi Vikas Parishad today warned of a non-co-operation movement if the electricity company disconnected power supply to the Bharnobari Tea Estate in the Dooars.
The workers of the garden turned away the officials of the West Bengal State Electricity Distribution Company Ltd when they had come to yank off power lines to the estate on Saturday.
“We protest against the biased attitude of the power officials. They do not have the guts to collect crores of rupees due in the hills for months, while they cannot wait for a few days in Bharnobari. If we find that power supply is disconnected in the workers’ quarters in the garden or in any other place during exams, we will launch non-cooperation movement against the government,” said Rajesh Lakra, the general secretary of the Terai-Dooars Coordination Committee of the Parishad.
The state power minister, Mrinal Banerjee, during his visit here last month, had said although his department had incurred heavy losses, it would not disconnect power supply to the hills on humanitarian grounds.
“How can officials of his department think of disconnecting lines in Bharnobari then? Don’t they or the minister find it inhuman to put so many Madhyamik examinees in a spot?” Lakra asked
“We want to make it clear that the laws and rules are same for everybody. If the government relaxes some norms, everybody should be benefited. There should be no bias as is seen in this case,” Lakra said.
The workers blamed the garden management for the problems, saying the money deducted from their wages for power consumption had not been deposited with the electricity company.
Jayanta Banerjee, the manager of the estate, said at least one month’s bill would be paid latest by Wednesday.
March 1: Workers of Bharnobari Tea Estate yesterday turned away electricity department officials wanting to disconnect supply to the garden and pleaded that the power lines, if snapped at all, should be done after the Madhyamik Examinations.
However, Shibesh Deb, the divisional manager of the West Bengal State Electricity Distribution Company Ltd in Alipurduar, could not promise much. “We can give time only till tomorrow,” he said.
In the past two months, the power bills in the garden has accumulated to more than Rs 6 lakh over the past. The garden has electricity connection only in its labour lines, which have 70 Madhyamik candidates this time.
The block development officer of Kalchini, R. Sundas, too, had visited the estate yesterday asking the family members of two teenagers who died within 24 hours of each other last week to meet him so that he could arrange for relief material and cash. Sundas has asked the union leaders to compile a list of those in distress and submit it to him so that relief could be distributed.
This is probably the first time that aid will be given to an open garden. Last week, The Telegraph had on two days reported the plight of the workers in the struggling Bharnobari, located 42km from Alipurduar town on the India-Bhutan border.
The garden hospital has not functioned even after the estate reopened on April 28, 2008 after more than two years. The workers have not received their salaries for January and the union leaders suspect that they will not be paid for February too. The garden has not given any ration for the past 10 fortnights.
Biplab Sarkar, a leader of the Intuc-affiliated National Union of Plantation Workers, said: “The deputy labour commissioner has called a meeting in his office in Jalpaigiuri to discuss the situation. Let us see what happens.”
Jayanta Banerjee, the manager of Bharnobari estate, said: “We may be behind in clearing the rations but over the past few months, we have disbursed them every week.” He said his absence should not be considered as “abandoning” the garden. “I had to leave to perform the last rites of a relative who died in Delhi.”
Death stalks open garden - two teenagers die in 24 hours
Posted by darj at 1:18 PM Labels: bharnobari tea estate
Jaigaon, Feb. 27: Two teenagers of the struggling Bharnobari Tea Estate have died in the past 24 hours even as workers continue to succumb to diseases because of lack of medical attention in the garden.
One of the two girls, Urmila Kharia, however, had committed suicide. The other, Rima Oraon, had been suffering from fever for the past one week. She died at 6.30am today.
“There is no doctor in our garden. We could not afford a private doctor because we have not been paid wages for the past two weeks nor have we got our rations for 10 fortnights,” said Rima’s mother Sukurmoni, a garden worker. Her husband, Milu, is unemployed.
The Telegraph had yesterday reported the plight of the workers of Bharnobari, which, although open, had not paid the salary for January and might also default on February’s wages.
On the 19th of this month, a 26-year-old pregnant woman, Anastasia Oraon, died following complications. Her husband could not take her to Siliguri where she had been referred to by the Hasimara central hospital. “She died the day after I brought her home from the Hasimara hospital. I did not have the money to take her to Siliguri. She was six months pregnant,” said Nelson Oraon, the husband.
This morning, Urmila’s widowed mother, along with other garden workers and relatives, started from Soreng in West Sikkim, after cremating the body there. Urmila was found hanging in a room of a house in Timberbong where she had worked as a domestic help for a school teacher.
Raju Biswakarma, one of those who went to Timberbong to claim Urmila’s body, said over the phone that the 18-year-old girl had last come to the garden on December 24 on a seven-day visit. “After that, she returned to the house of the teacher, D.M. Subba, on January 1. She was forced to work there to supplement the family’s income. We do not see any foul play in her death,” Raju said.
Soreng police said Urmila committed suicide around 2pm yesterday, while Subba was in school and his wife was away attending a wedding ceremony.
“Subba returned home later in the afternoon and found the girl hanging from the ceiling. We have handed over her body after post-mortem to her relatives,” an officer of the Soreng police station said.
The condition of the other workers in Bharnobari, 10km from here, too, was serious. Sirnosh Kheria, 50, has been suffering from tuberculosis and does not have the means to get treated. “After the garden reopened on April 28, the doctor has not joined work. Since we are going without wages, the women go to the forest to collect roots and edible leaves so that we can survive,” the ailing man said.
Madan Sarki, a Citu leader and the former convener of the operating and management committee, said the workers had not been paid since January and no ration had been distributed for the past four-and-a-half months.
“The management has hung up a notice that wages for January will be paid between February 28 and March 2, but the manager, Jayanta Banerjee, left the garden 15 days ago and has not yet returned,” Sarki said.
Sarki had earlier alleged that from June, the employers’ share of the provident fund had not been paid and from September, the employees’ share had not been deposited.
R.R. Sundas, the block development officer of Kalchini, said he would soon convene a meeting to discuss the problems plaguing Bharnobari.Jaigaon, Feb. 27: Two teenagers of the struggling Bharnobari Tea Estate have died in the past 24 hours even as workers continue to succumb to diseases because of lack of medical attention in the garden.
One of the two girls, Urmila Kharia, however, had committed suicide. The other, Rima Oraon, had been suffering from fever for the past one week. She died at 6.30am today.
“There is no doctor in our garden. We could not afford a private doctor because we have not been paid wages for the past two weeks nor have we got our rations for 10 fortnights,” said Rima’s mother Sukurmoni, a garden worker. Her husband, Milu, is unemployed.
The Telegraph had yesterday reported the plight of the workers of Bharnobari, which, although open, had not paid the salary for January and might also default on February’s wages.
On the 19th of this month, a 26-year-old pregnant woman, Anastasia Oraon, died following complications. Her husband could not take her to Siliguri where she had been referred to by the Hasimara central hospital. “She died the day after I brought her home from the Hasimara hospital. I did not have the money to take her to Siliguri. She was six months pregnant,” said Nelson Oraon, the husband.
This morning, Urmila’s widowed mother, along with other garden workers and relatives, started from Soreng in West Sikkim, after cremating the body there. Urmila was found hanging in a room of a house in Timberbong where she had worked as a domestic help for a school teacher.
Raju Biswakarma, one of those who went to Timberbong to claim Urmila’s body, said over the phone that the 18-year-old girl had last come to the garden on December 24 on a seven-day visit. “After that, she returned to the house of the teacher, D.M. Subba, on January 1. She was forced to work there to supplement the family’s income. We do not see any foul play in her death,” Raju said.
Soreng police said Urmila committed suicide around 2pm yesterday, while Subba was in school and his wife was away attending a wedding ceremony.
“Subba returned home later in the afternoon and found the girl hanging from the ceiling. We have handed over her body after post-mortem to her relatives,” an officer of the Soreng police station said.
The condition of the other workers in Bharnobari, 10km from here, too, was serious. Sirnosh Kheria, 50, has been suffering from tuberculosis and does not have the means to get treated. “After the garden reopened on April 28, the doctor has not joined work. Since we are going without wages, the women go to the forest to collect roots and edible leaves so that we can survive,” the ailing man said.
Madan Sarki, a Citu leader and the former convener of the operating and management committee, said the workers had not been paid since January and no ration had been distributed for the past four-and-a-half months.
“The management has hung up a notice that wages for January will be paid between February 28 and March 2, but the manager, Jayanta Banerjee, left the garden 15 days ago and has not yet returned,” Sarki said.
Sarki had earlier alleged that from June, the employers’ share of the provident fund had not been paid and from September, the employees’ share had not been deposited.
R.R. Sundas, the block development officer of Kalchini, said he would soon convene a meeting to discuss the problems plaguing Bharnobari.
Shutdown fear haunts workers - Bharnobari relives nightmare: Wages, ration pending
Posted by darj at 9:49 AM Labels: bharnobari tea estate
Workers of Bharnobari are making a beeline for Jaigaon in search of jobs even though the garden has been open from April last year.
After the management of the estate, located 42km from here, failed to pay up the wages for January and rations for 10 fortnights, the workforce has been on tenterhooks.
“All these are tell-tale signs and reminds us of the days when the garden was locked. It is better to keep our options open. Some of us are going to Jaigaon to work as day labourers or else how will we manage without rations and wages,” asked Ashoke Sarki. He is not alone.
Shankar Baidar, Santu Damai, Nakul Damai, Sumitra Lama and Tara Lama to name only a few among the 1856 workers, are regulars to Jaigaon on the India-Bhutan border. Most of them earn Rs 90 a day at the construction sites.
When the garden opened on April 28 last year, Surojit Basu, one of the three buyers had said, electricity connection to the garden factory would be restored within three weeks. Till date, however, there has been no sign of any power connection.
From August-end to November, tea was produced with the help of generator and before that — from May to August— green leaves were sent to Radharani Tea Garden for processing.
Madan Sarki, a member of Bharnobari unit of the Citu-affiliated Cha Bagan Mazdoor Union, said: “The garden is open but only in name. Today we were supposed to receive wages but in the morning a letter arrived from Calcutta saying the workers would be paid on March 2. It means that the wages of two months will be due.”
Calls on Basu’s mobile went unanswered.
From June, the employers’ share of the provident fund had not been paid and from September, the employees’ share has not been deposited, the Citu leader alleged.
The district magistrate of Jalpaiguri, Vandana Yadav, said: “There is no arrangement to monitor open gardens, but the labour department usually keeps a watch.”
Rajat Pal, the deputy Labour commissioner of Jalpaiguri, said nobody had told him about the plight of the workers in Bharnobari. “Now that I have come to know, I will definitely look into it.”
The owner of Radharani Tea Estate in Kalchini, Jalpaiguri, has shown an interest in taking over the closed Bharnobari garden, the tea board said. Radharani is owned by Kingshuk Sinha.
“Representatives of Radharani met our chairman,” said G.Boriah, the director (tea development), Tea Board of India, over phone from Delhi today. “We asked them to meet the district magistrate and trade union leaders with his proposal.”
Earlier, Sinha had discussed the proposal with the Dooars Branch of the Indian Tea Association (DBITA), of which Bharnobari is a member.
“We have arranged for a meeting on January 10 at our office where representatives of the prospective entrepreneur will meet central trade union leaders to discuss the takeover,” said Prabir Bhattacharjee, the DBITA secretary.
R. Ranjit, the district magistrate of Jalpaiguri, confirmed the development.
Bharnobari Tea Estate, with 1,856 workers on its payrolls, has been closed since December 30, 2005. The total dues of the garden, according to the district labour department, are around Rs 3.2 crore apart from a bank loan of Rs 8.07 crore.“
“We appreciate the move and want the garden to reopen. However, the workers’ interests should be safeguarded,” said Prabhat Mukherjee, the general secretary of the Intuc-affiliated National Union of Plantation Workers.
Source: The Telegraph
Four hundred workers of the closed Bharnobari Tea Estate have been left in the lurch after an alleged assault bid prompted two financiers to abandon the garden.
A notice declaring suspension of work was put up yesterday in Malangi Out Division, 45km from here. The Main Division of the garden — shut since December 2005 — is run by an Operations and Maintenance Committee.
One of the financiers Tapan Das said unless the Jalpaiguri district administration promised them security, work will not resume. Das along with Raja Bhattacharjee had been buying tea leaves from the Out Division since early this year.
According to an agreement with the financiers, workers were paid daily at the rate of Rs 45, office staff members Rs 100 and drivers Rs 60 for the period covering March 13 to December 31. There was no promise of bonus in the deal signed in the presence of an administrative official.
However, for the past few days the workers had been clamoring for bonus. A bipartite meeting was held on Monday and when Das and Bhattacharjee refused to give in to the demand, members of Cha Bagan Majdoor Union — affiliated to the Citu — and Dooars Cha Bagan Workers’ Union, an RSP-backed body, allegedly tried to beat them up.
“They even threatened to kill us,” said Das.
Charku Lohar, a member of the Jaigaon Block Committee of Majdoor Union, has denied the allegations. “Some of the workers may have shouted out of frustration. That is natural. But nobody tried to beat them up.”
Source: The Telegraph
Bharnobari (Alipurduar)/ Siliguri: Bharnobari Tea Estate had an unexpected visitor today.
Om Prakash Agarwal, a tea exporter, accompanied by Philip Khalko, the saha-sabhadhipati of the Jalpaiguri zilla parishad, went around the garden, located 42 km from Alipurduar town, and inspected the factory for an hour from 10 am. He also talked to the office staff about the outstanding dues and later sent two of his employees to check the tea bushes.
Agarwal is being touted as the new owner of the garden that is expected to reopen during Union minister Jairam Ramesh’s visit to the Dooars tea belt on June 29.
“The garden will be officially handed over to Agarwal on June 29. This was decided recently at a Tea Board meeting attended by the Union minister of state for commerce. Agarwal said he would talk to all the trade unions before opening the garden,” Khalko said after the garden tour.
Tea Board officials also confirmed Agarwal’s interest in the garden, though they were not sure about the date of the official handover.
“The present owner of the garden has decided to sell it and Om Prakash Agarwal is the prospective buyer. Agarwal is based in Calcutta and is the second largest Indian exporter of tea,” Tea Board chairman Basudeb Banerjee told The Telegraph over phone from Calcutta. “In case the two sides do not settle the deal by June 29, there are chances that they would sign an agreement on that day. The garden could then be formally opened later.”
Garden workers, who have witnessed at least 88 deaths since the closure two years ago, however, seemed apprehensive about the new development. “We have heard that the new owner has come to the garden and that he will open it on the 29th. But we are not sure whether he will pay our dues that have accumulated over the years,” said Rabi Baraik, a resident of the Kothim line.
Redbank Tea Estate, the other garden looking to reopen during Ramesh’s visit, remained mired in uncertainty. The garden has gone into liquidation. To reopen it formally, owner Rabin Paul needs to get a stay order on the liquidation process from Calcutta High Court.
“We are in touch with Paul who is trying to get the order. If it doesn’t come through, the minister will visit the garden but it cannot start functioning,” Banerjee said.
The chairman, who met state ministers and officials about the reopening yesterday, felt that a concerted Centre-state effort could do the trick.
Source: The Telegraph
Tea Garden kids drop out of school
Posted by darj at 7:22 AM Labels: bharnobari tea estate, tea children, tea garden children education, tea kidsJaigaon: Ratan Lohar, a father of four and a worker at the closed Bharnobari Tea Estate, does not know what to do about his children’s education.
On one hand, there is almost no work at the estate and consequently no wages. On the other, local schools have increased their annual fees to more than three times the figure fixed by the government.
“My two elder children stopped going to school last year,” says Lohar. “The younger ones have been promoted to Class V this time, but I don’t think I will be able to pay the fees to let them continue with their education.”
Lohar’s children are not alone. Students from closed and abandoned tea gardens of north Bengal are increasingly dropping out of schools and colleges because they cannot meet the expenses.
In Bharnobari alone, there are over 100 such students. “We have two schools in the vicinity, Hasimara Uchha-Madhyamik School and Hasimara Hindi High School,” said Krishna Baraik, a member of the operations and maintenance committee currently running the estate. “The annual fees at the schools are more than Rs 200 per student. We have had no work for the past fortnight, where will the families get the money from?”
Sudarshan Bhagat, also from Bharnobari, is a second-year arts student at Jaigaon Nani Bhattacharjee College. “Last year, I had to shell out Rs 2,000,” he says. “This year, with the garden closed, my family cannot afford to let me continue with my studies.”
The district inspector of schools (higher secondary), Mohim Payra, said the annual fee fixed by the government was Rs 63. “Schools can charge extra money from students under different heads but they should not do so from children of closed and abandoned tea gardens. I will definitely look into this,” Payra said.
The secretary of the governing body of Hasimara Uchha-madhyamik School, Tarun Bose, said the additional Rs 137 covered the cost of programmes like freshers’ welcome, Saraswati Puja and prize distribution and the salary of the night guard. “We have not taken any decision regarding the children from closed gardens,” Bose said.
Alipurduar subdivisional officer P.D. Pradhan said he had heard about the schools overcharging the students. “I have decided to convene a meeting with the school authorities in this regard,” Pradhan said.
The general secretary of the National Union of Plantation Workers, Prabhat Mukherjee, said there were more than 10,000 students in the 14 closed gardens in the Dooars. “I will draw the attention of the Bengal government to this problem of dropouts,” he said.
Source: The Telegraph
Political goons attack tea woman
Posted by darj at 8:19 AM Labels: bharnobari tea estate, closed tea gardens, jaigaonJaigaon: Five persons were injured in the second round of attack on women workers at Bharnobari Tea Estate on Friday.
Kamala Bhagwar, 24, has been admitted to the Jalpaiguri district hospital, 100 km from the closed garden, with head and chest injuries.
The victims said goons owing allegiance to the CPM and the RSP — Thule Rai, Rakesh Chhetri and Polikar Chela are some of the names that figure in the FIR filed on Friday — assaulted them while they were returning to the labour colony after a protest rally.
The protest was against alleged police inaction in arresting culprits who had attacked them and members of Cini, an NGO, on May 3.
The attackers reportedly owed allegiance to Suresh and Naresh Agarwal, the financiers who had proposed to run the garden paying a daily wage of Rs 45. The women workers had rejected the offer since the operations and maintenance committee (OMC), which is running the estate now and already paying them Rs 50 per day.
The current convener of the OMC, Madan Sarki, a Citu member, claimed that he was receiving threats from workers, who have sided with the vested interests.
Additional superintendent of police K.B. Dorji said five persons had been arrested on the basis of the first FIR. But they have been let out on bail, a source said.
“If men who mercilessly beat up women go scot-free, we will get together and give them a proper hiding,” said Krishna Baraik, a worker and the vice-president of Jalpaiguri-Hashimara Adivasi Mahila Sudhar Samiti, an apolitical organisation.
Lalita Toppo, another worker, said: “A number of ministers and MLAs are attending Citu and RSP conventions nearby. They are busy discussing the fate of closed gardens, but don’t have time to find out why we were attacked by their supporters twice last week.”
Joseph Kujur, the zonal secretary of the Cha Bagan Mazdoor Union, a Citu affiliate, was adamant in his stand. “Those who are opposed to the financiers running the garden should either take charge of the estate themselves or leave it to us to get the financiers,” Kujur said.
Source: The Telegraph
Furious tea workers wage meeting
Posted by darj at 2:42 PM Labels: bharnobari tea estate, closed tea gardens, tea laborers, tea news, tea wages, tea workersNine persons were injured when a section of workers of the closed Bharnobari tea estate, 16 km from here, beat them up during a wage meeting this morning.
Among the nine were two children and four women workers, who had opposed the new wage structure that was announced today. The remaining three were members of an NGO, who were conducting a training programme in another part of the garden.
The attackers, owing allegiance to a financier, also ransacked a clinic run by Child in Need Institute (Cini). A complaint has been lodged with the Hashimara police outpost, 3 km from the garden. Cini, which was running a nutritional programme for children, has decided to withdraw its Bharnobari unit.
Rupan Mahali, one of the injured women, said today’s meeting was held to discuss the new wage set-up proposed by Suresh and Naresh Agarwals, the financiers who have offered to run the garden instead of the operations and maintenance committee (OMC). The garden with a workforce of 2,100 had closed down in 2005.
“We opposed their offer as we were already getting Rs 50 from the OMC as against the Rs 45 they had proposed. But the minute we dismissed the proposal, some workers from among us, all men, started beating us,” said Mahali who is also a leader of the Jalpaiguri-Hashimara Adivasi Mahila Sudhar Samity.
“These men claimed they had formed a new committee and that the Agarwals would pay us wages from May 7 to December,” added Mahali. Like her, many women at the garden feel that in the absence of a legitimate owner, the financiers were fighting among themselves to take possession of the plucked tealeaves. “In the process, they are making us victims,” said Sita Lohar, who was also injured.
Some workers on conditions of anonymity said a section of OMC members might have got money for backing the new financiers. “Otherwise, why will they go for lower wages?” a worker asked. Madan Sarki, the OMC convener admitted that a section of workers within the committee were backing the Agarwals.
Tushar Bhattacharya, a spokesman for Cini, said: “They have attacked three of our members and taken away Rs 25,000 in cash. This was the first garden where we had started the project, but we will not work here anymore.”
Joseph Kujur, an OMC member, who has been named by some workers as the mastermind of today’s attack, was unavailable for comment.
Source: The Telegraph
Jaigaon: The future of school and college students in the closed Bharnobari tea estate hangs in balance as bureaucratic red-tape threatens to choke the promised relief.
The students, who have to pay their annual fees within a week, were pinning their hopes on a promise made by Jalpaiguri zilla parishad sabhadhipati Banamali Roy a month ago.
“We had gone to meet the sabhadhipati at the block development office at Kalchini on March 22. At that time he was discussing the problems of closed tea gardens with the district magistrate and the subdivisional officer of Alipurduar. He had assured us that the zilla parishad would provide money for our fees if we apply in writing. Now if the promise is not fulfilled, it will be impossible to continue our studies,” said Sunita Lohar, a second-year arts student at Birpara College.
Lohar said she and her friends had submitted the written requests with the block development officer just as the sabhadhipati had asked them to do.
Jalpaiguri district Congress secretary Sanjib Biswas also claimed that on April 11, 32 applications were submitted at the Kalchini block office. “The district administration should follow up the matter and help the students,” he said.
Roy, however, said he had not received any of the applications. “I had asked the students to submit written requests to avail of the monetary help, but I have not received a single letter till date,” Roy said when contacted today.
Raju Sherpa, the Kalchini block development officer, said he had received not 32 but 17 applications. “I am yet to receive any order from the zilla parishad to forward these applications to them. I will do so as soon as I get the directive,” Sherpa said.
A member of the operations and maintenance committee of the Bharnobari tea estate, Krishna Baraik, said more than 100 boys and girls had been forced to leave their studies in the 18 months since the garden closed down.
The situation is similar in the Raimatang tea garden, which is also closed and falls under the same block as Bharnobari. Sources said more than 50 young men and women there had been forced to migrate from the garden for jobs.
Source: The Telegraph
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