The State government on Saturday allowed one-day relaxation to the management of Jungpana tea garden in Darjeeling district to distribute ration to the workers of the closed tea garden.
The State government had on Friday warned the authorities of the closed tea garden to reopen the tea garden’s godowns and release ration to the workers in the next 24 hours or else the State government would break open the godowns.
According to district officials, the management during the day asked the authorities to review the order, but the administration remained firm and allowed only one-day relaxation.
“The management of the tea garden has not paid the salary to the workers for a certain period they had worked for and also not released the foodgrains they were entitled to. We will visit the tea garden on Sunday and if they did not hand over the keys of the godowns we would break open them,” Kurseong Sub-Divisional Officer (SDO) U Swaroop told The Hindu over phone from Darjeeling.
The tea garden has suspended work since July 31 with the management citing intimidation by the workers’ union as the reason behind suspension.
The closure of the tea garden is in consonance with the Industrial Dispute Act and following personal threats by union officials, a management official said.
He also claimed that foodgrains bought at an average price of Rs. 17 per kg is distributed to workers at 0.47 paisa a kg and it is part of the wage component.
The SDO said that Section 144 of the CrPC empowers the administration to take the proposed action. Mr. Swaroop added that the owners of the garden said that they being in Kolkata had not received the government order.
“We through a messenger have sent the order which we had pasted on the wall of the tea garden as well,” the SDO said.
While the State government is grappling with closure and abandonment of several tea gardens in north Bengal, the development at Jungpana is a reason for fresh worries to the authorities.
However, the stand taken by the State government in providing foodgrains to nearly 550 workers associated with the tea garden is a unique development in the recent past.
