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Workers suffer as government and Duncan’s Tea Estate wrestle over ownership of estates

While the government and the Duncan’s Tea Estate wrestle it out in court over who owns the seven tea estates in the Dooars-Terai region in the midst of a lockdown, the ones to suffer the most are the workers in the tea gardens.

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While the government and the Duncan’s Tea Estate wrestle it out in court over who owns the seven tea estates in the Dooars-Terai region in the midst of a lockdown, the ones to suffer the most are the workers in the tea gardens.

This week, on Thursday, several of the workers travelled overnight from their gardens to Kolkata to protest in front of the office of Duncan Goenka and meet the labour minister and the food minister to appeal for help. Many of the workers, who went under the aegis of the Paschim Banga Khet Majoor Samity (PBKMS), accused Duncans of stealing money from them,to the tune of Rs 40 crore, including their PF and pensions.  

“West Bengal labour minister assured us of help and said that he will meet the Central Government’s Regional Labour Commissioner within 10 days to pressurise him to take steps or to declare the gardens closed. He also promised to consider a monthly allowance of Rs1500 per month for workers in closed industry and to try and bring us under MNREGA,” said Dunbar Tamang of the PBKMS. 

In 2015, after the tea estates stopped payment to workers for months, Duncans Goenka shut down several tea estates without any lockdown notice owing to heavy losses. In February and March 2015, the Central government took over the gardens in order to take care of the workers. 

Yet, a year and a half later, despite several starvation deaths, neither the government nor the Duncans Goenka have helped the workers. In July this year, following a PIL in the matter, a division bench of the Kolkata High Court headed by the Chief Justice ordered the state government, the Tea Board of India and the central government to submit a report on the actions taken by August 12. 

Apart from starvation and water shortage, several women are looking after the children without basic amenities and have been forced into harmful and insecure odd-jobs available nearby. 

“With many of the men leaving for metros like Kolkata and Chennai, the women have been left alone to tackle threats from local mafia and goons, which is on the rise as these mischievous groups have begun encroaching on the tea garden property and resources. While many women workers have come together to form groups and start plucking by themselves, harassment from all quarters, ranging from middle-men to contractors, is rapidly destroying both the minimum chances of these women to survive,” said Anuradha Talwar of the Right to Food Campaign. 

Bhairon Orang from Duncipara Tea Estate, a member of PBKMS, said that the workers got together to clean over 218 hectares of tea gardens. “We started plucking leaves on our own; we even brought chemicals,” he says. “We sell the leaves to other gardens and distribute whatever money there is amongst the workers”. 

Ritu Beck of the same estate says that after the close down some workers started working in another tea estate. “We would leave at 6 am, and reach at 8 in the evening. If the car broke down, we’d be home at 11 pm. When season ended, we started toiling in a stone quarry,” she says. 

In Alipore, where Duncipara is, in the last few days alone 7-8 people have died of starvation. 

Tamang, who is from Lankapara, says that water is scarce. “After the gardens shut down, a tanker from the Public Health Engineering (PHE) department gives us water for an hour three days a week. That means many of us don't get water,” he says, adding that a PHE official has guaranteed them of two new pipelines. 

MP Tapan Kr Sen, a standing committee member of the labour department of the Tea Board, says that the issue is criminal. “The tea board says that they have issued expression of interest in the gardens twice, with poor response. This is criminal, the tea industry is making so much profits, why is that the government has no money for the workers?” asks Sen. 

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