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Murder of tea estate staff triggers panic

By Barun Das Gupta

GUWAHATI June 14. Panic has gripped the seven hundred and odd tea gardens in Assam, following the killing of three garden managers by workers in two incidents in quick succession.

The deputy manager and assistant manager of Sopai tea estate in Sonitpur district were lynched on May 30. Again on June 12, the assistant manager of Nandanban tea estate in Dibrugarh district, Mukul Duara, was hacked to death.The Bharatiya Cha Parishad chairman, Robin Barthakur, said from Dibrugarh that Duara was killed by some casual workers who had been laid off about three weeks ago.

He said it was an ominous sign since there were about three lakh casual workers who got seasonal employment in the tea industry. Usually they are from the families of the permanent tea garden workers.

``If the casual employees demand regularisation and resort to murderous assaults on the managerial staff to press their demand, then no garden manager or his deputy would feel safe anywhere in the State,'' Mr. Barthakur said.

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