Nalsa Tea Garden Report submitted to PM

A report submitted to the Prime Minister and the Chief Justice of India recently says that “state-based infrastructure has failed to support the income-less (garden) workers” of the Dooars.

The study by the National Legal Services Authority was referring to the “mismanagement in distribution of job cards and old age pensions and implementation of the 100-days-work scheme” in the closed tea estates, where 571 workers have died in the past 15 months.

The report also states that the starvation in the gardens was mainly due to “unemployment, absence of alternative income opportunities and limited access to social justice measures.

The survey comes at a time when the Bengal government has been claiming that the deaths in closed tea gardens is at par with the state average and had nothing to do with starvation.

Sreerupa Mitra Chaudhury, the national adviser to Nalsa, who submitted the report in Delhi last week, said: “We have conducted public hearings in Siliguri and also in the closed tea gardens, where hundreds of workers and residents made their submissions before our counsels.”

“Whatever facts and figures we have found from the hearings and during field investigations have been included in the report,” Mitra Chaudhury said over phone from Sikkim.

The report points out that women in these gardens are often compelled to take up exploitative tasks to avoid starvation. Added to this is the problem of trafficking.

On medical care, Nalsa’s national adviser said common support systems like ambulances for pregnant women and emergency drugs for snake bites, malaria and tuberculosis were absent, especially in the wake of the closure of garden hospitals.

The investigation also revealed poor and minimal supply of medicines and doctors. With the situation worsening in the brew belt every day, workers and even some labour leaders have indicated in their submissions the erosion of faith in trade unions.

Mitra Chaudhury has cited absence of free and competent legal aid and legal literacy. The National Legal Literacy Mission, aimed at community-based education of legal rights, has not been implemented in the gardens.

The report does not stop with the stark reality. It also suggests measures.

“We have recommended criminal proceedings against defaulting garden owners, cancellation of their lease, rescinding ownership to buildings and infrastructure raised on leased garden land and using the same as social infrastructure for residents,” the legal adviser said.

Other suggestions include development of rehabilitation strategies for residents and speedy implementation of packages announced by the Union commerce and industry ministry.

A nine-member all-women delegation from Nalsa will visit the closed gardens on June 25. The national adviser, who refused to reveal the names, said: “They hold eminent positions in the government and the judiciary and are decision makers.”

Source: The Telegraph

NALSA's special plans for Dooars' Tea Gardens

The National Legal Services Authority (Nalsa) has chalked out special plans for tea gardens of the Dooars, 13 of which are either closed or have been abandoned.

Other than helping to provide food, security and protection of fundamental rights, the objective of Nalsa under its newly introduced “Save the Garden, Save Workers” campaign is to rescue and rehabilitate sick and ailing workers and their families.

Under the project, a helpline (9933946884), a relief collection and distribution centre, a legal aid and advice cell, a hospice and geriatric care centre, ambulances and other services have been introduced. The centres will operate from the premises of Matrisangha Janakalyan Ashram here, a welfare organisation headquartered in Calcutta.

The implementing partners include NGOs, community-based and voluntary organisations, trade unions and district and subdivisional legal service authorities.

Nalsa was constituted on December 5, 1995 (though it effectively started working five years later) as an outcome of the Legal Services Authorities Act, 1987. The act had been introduced to give a statutory base to legal aid programmes throughout the country in a uniform manner.

A five-member Nalsa delegation, led by its adviser and head of national programme implementation Sreerupa Mitra Chaudhury, was here to launch the initiative yesterday. M.K. Sharma, the Chief Justice of Delhi High Court, and Justice Indira Banerjee of Calcutta High Court were some of the others who were present.

Mitra Chaudhury said a Lok Adalat would be held after the registration of every 300 complaints for the settlement of disputes. If conciliatory efforts do not work out, cases will be initiated and the ruling of the judges of the Lok Adalat would be “as binding as any other court”.

A discussion on the state of the tea gardens was held today. It was attended by the divisional commissioner, Jalpaiguri, the district magistrates, sabhadhipatis, social welfare officers and the BDOs of Darjeeling, Jalpaiguri and Cooch Behar. Trade union and NGO representatives as well as some garden workers were among the 350 participants.

“The DMs presented the work their administrations had done in the gardens, which was challenged to an extent by some trade union leaders. Some NGOs complained of lack of security in the gardens. We have collected all versions and will take up follow-up measures,” Mitra Chaudhury said.

Administration and trade union sources are, however, sceptical about how effective the initiative will be. “The Lok Adalats may help in minor cases like theft or land disputes. However, they may not be a solution for industrial and labour disputes,” said Chitta Dey, a trade union leader .

Source: The Telegraph