Tea planters and trade union leaders signed an agreement today to reopen two closed gardens.
Simulbarie Tea Estate, 15km from here, will reopen tomorrow while
work on Kalchini Tea Estate in Alipurduar district will resume on March
30.
The agreement was signed at a tripartite meeting held in the joint labour commissioner's office here.
"Simulbari had been closed since February 1
because some workers had illegally occupied a portion of the garden's
land. On the other hand, the management of Kalchini had closed the
garden because of labour unrest. Separate meetings were held at my
office in the presence of management representatives and tea trade union
leaders. The meetings were successful and the management of Simulbarie
and Kalchini agreed to reopen the gardens," Chandan Dasgupta, the joint
labour commissioner, said.
Dasgupta informed that the dates of payments of dues would be settled
through talks between the managements and trade unions of the gardens
in due course.
As of now, 13 tea gardens in north Bengal are closed, the official said.
M.P. Bansal, the owner of Simulbarie, said: "Some workers had
illegally occupied a portion of the garden's land and were later removed
by police. The garden will start functioning from tomorrow. We will
start paying the workers' dues in a couple of days."
The development comes shortly after representatives of the Bagan
Bachao Committee, a joint forum of four tea unions, had threatened the
management and the Darjeeling district administration that they would
encroach on the vacant plots in Simulbarie.
"We are happy that the garden will reopen tomorrow. The management
has also promised to clear our dues shortly," Kalyan Bagdas, the
convener of the committee, said.
There are 1,200-odd workers in Simulbarie, who have been jobless for the past one-and half-month.
N.K. Basu, a senior executive of Buxa Dooars Tea Company that owns
Kalchini, also sounded satisfied. "The garden was closed down because of
labour unrest. We will resume work in the garden on March 30. Payment
of dues will be decided in due course," he said.
Kalchini Tea Estate had been closed since February 8. There are around 2,200 workers in Kalchini.(TT)
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