Darjeeling Tea Laborers' union threatens stir or Panighatta Tea Estate

Darjeeling, May 8: The Gorkha Janmukti Morcha-affiliated Darjeeling Terai Dooars Plantation Labour Union (DTDPLU) has threatened to launch an aggressive movement if there was no headway by the last week of this month regarding the Panighata tea estate.

Joint Labour Commissioner Sunil Kumar said the tripartite meet, which was scheduled for Sunday to decide fate of the closed plantation, could not take place as the owner Shankar Sharaf sent a letter requesting for more time and the said letter was later sent to the Darjeeling district magistrate.

Next meeting

With the next meeting’s date decided on May 25, the participating unions and the government decided to give the owner time till May 20, Kumar said.

Harihar Acharya, the Terai chief of the DTDPLU, said if the owner failed to attend that meeting too and the tea estate did not re-open by May 25-26, they will start a massive agitation in support of the hapless workers of Panighata, which is in its seventh month of closure now.

Other unions

Besides DTDPLU, the Himalayan Plantation Workers’ Union (HPWU) of the Gorkha National Liberation Front was also present during the deliberations.

“Despite several rounds of meetings for reopening the tea estate, the owner has not shown any interest to that effect. Now that we have given the May 25 deadline, he will stand responsible for the outcome of the agitation we have threatened to launch,” warned Acharya.

Panighata Tea Estate is spread across an area of about 1,200 acres and lies adjacent to forest area.

Since October 10 last year, when the garden was shut down indefinitely, 13 labourer deaths had been reported till date by the unions.

PTI

Govt affiliated Darjeeling Tea garden worker wage reach Rs 90

Darjeeling: The West Bengal Tea Development Corporation has decided to increase the daily wage of labourers in its three Darjeeling Tea gardens to Rs 90, the standard amount paid by the industry in the region.

The hike comes after the trade union of the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha threatened that it would launch a fast and stop the dispatch of Darjeeling tea from the three tea gardens if the wage was not increased from Rs 67 to Rs 90.

The Darjeeling Terai Dooars Plantation Labour Union today called off the agitation following the increase in the wages of workers in Rangmuk-Cedar, Pandam and Rangaroon tea gardens.

An official of Rangmuk-Cedar tea garden in Darjeeling said: “We received a verbal instruction from the WBTDC head office in Calcutta to disburse wages at Rs 90 a day from February onwards. We have been directed to make requisition (for salaries) at the new rate and we have already started work. The labourers will be paid the arrears as and when the state government provides us with additional funds.”

The “arrears” he was referring to was the amount accumulated since April 1, 2011, when the new wage deal came into effect in the Darjeeling tea industry. Before that, the workers were being paid Rs 67 a day.

Although the headquarters of the WBTDC could not be contacted, sources said a circular on the wage hike was expected to be issued soon.

When the Morcha union issued the agitation threat on Wednesday, industries minister Partha Chatterjee claimed that the workers in the three Darjeeling WBTDC tea gardens were being paid Rs 90 as in the entire industry.

Baban Subba, a central committee member of the union, said today: “The tea workers are very happy with the development (the decision to increase the wage hike). We have decided to call off our agitation.”

Source: The Telegraph