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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Amid tall poll promises, distress looms over north Bengal tea gardens -Shiv Sahay Singh

Amid tall poll promises, distress looms over north Bengal tea gardens -Shiv Sahay Singh

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published Published on Apr 16, 2021   modified Modified on Apr 18, 2021

-The Hindu

With no ownership of land or houses and denial of minimum wage, lakhs of workers continue to live in a vicious cycle of bondage plucking

Over the past few elections, Benam Oraon, a tea garden worker at Nagrakata Tea Estate in West Bengal, attended several election meetings and kept a note of the promises which political parties made. This election, however, he is contesting the polls as a candidate from Nagrakata Assembly seat in Jalpaiguri district representing an unregistered Progressive People’s Party .

“My election symbol is football. This is to give a message that tea garden workers have been treated like a football by the political parties,” the tea garden worker said.

As the districts of Darjeeling, Kalimpong and Jalpaiguri go to polls on April 17, more than 10 lakh workers of tea gardens and leaf factories are set to vote in the 13 Assembly constituencies. Behind the picturesque tea gardens in Darjeeling hills and the Dooars, there is a story of distress.

Kiran Kalindi, a trade union leader of the Progressive Planters Workers Union (PPWU), said that the wages of tea garden workers stands at 202 per day. “Several tea gardens remain closed in the Dooars. The workers are still demanding that a notification for inclusion of tea garden workers’ wages under the Minimum Wages Act,” said Mr Kalindi.

The issue of a legally binding wage for tea garden employees has been raised for many years but political parties have shied away from addressing it. Though the parties recognise the problem, no concrete measures have been taken so far. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), in its election manifesto for the Assembly polls, has promised to increase wages to 350 per day.

The Trinamool Congress has promised pucca housing to more than three lakh permanent tea garden workers through the ‘Cha Sundari’ project, along with steps to ease distress faced by tribal communities. The State’s ruling party has also promised that 23 tea gardens will come under a renewal project. The Left parties, in their manifesto, have said that they will place special emphasis on addressing the concerns of workers of closed down tea gardens and take steps on reopening.

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The Hindu, 16 April, 2021, https://www.thehindu.com/elections/west-bengal-assembly/amid-tall-poll-promises-distress-looms-over-north-bengal-tea-gardens/article34338275.ece?homepage=true&fbclid=IwAR3Z_dn0pvLuDjN4UZfo5mPX3h7bF4EPdNJ5I46UtQ3nqnWe1lzVRhyuzzo


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