Leader of the Opposition V.S. Achuthanandan on Sunday likened the agitation of plantation workers in Munnar to the iconic peasant struggles in Kerala in the mid 1940s.
In a statement on Sunday, he graphically portrayed the daily struggle of the tea pickers. Braving rain, darkness, snakes and wild animals, they trudged up hill with tea leaf packs weighing up to 75 kg on their bent backs for a monthly pittance of less than Rs.2,000. Most of them suffered from stress injuries to the spine. Many have had to suffer snakesbites and cancer after being exposed to pesticides. The workers had no access to health care.
Their children were fated to poor education, till Class IV in Tamil medium schools. They were barred from posh public schools set up to educate the children of Tata company managers. Despite its tall claims of philanthropy, the Tata company charged its poor workers for the water and power they drew.
Even essential provisions were not free. The workers lived in dilapidated dormitories, partly exposed to the elements.
‘Fudged records’
Mr. Achuthanandan said the very inception of Kanan Devan Hills Plantation Private Limited was steeped in corruption. The firm had fudged records and entered into unconstitutional accords with colonial businesses to usurp the huge swath of plantation land it claims to own currently. The company had moved the High Court against the demand to produce original deeds to prove claim over vast plantation lands.
The Opposition leader said the company’s claim that the firm was partly owned by workers was a big lie. Most of the shares were in the hands of the firm itself.
The firm had over the years ravaged the hills, exploited their workers and cheated the government to reap crores of rupees that should have ideally benefited the State exchequer, he said.
