Jalpaiguri: Management of the Ramjhora tea estate located under Lankapara Gram Panchayat in Madarihaat block of Jalpaiguri district declared suspension of work in the garden Wednesday following some labor unrest. The laborers and the management of the garden were into a feud from the past few days as the labourers had stopped plucking of tea leaves demanding implementation of the revised wage in the garden. The anagement had repeatedly asked the laborers not to shun the work but all appeals fell on deaf ears. On Wednesday the garden management issued suspension of work notice and abandoned the garden. However, in the notice it has been mentioned that services like providing drinking water, medical assistance, electricity and other basic amenities will not be hit owing to the suspension of work.
According to reports the garden authority had not implemented the revised wage in the garden. The garden had earlier got locked out on August 10, 2002 and it was only in October 2010 that the garden got reopened after eight years. The new management had asked for some time for implementing the revised wage scale. But the laborers were not ready for the delay.
This resulted into a feud and the laborers of the garden stopped plucking tea leaves from the garden. After observing the situation for few days the management finally locked down the garden on Wednesday morning.
It may be recalled that during the closure of the garden from 2002 to 2010, workers of the garden had suffered from starvation and malnutrition and about 175 persons had died, of which more than 30 percent were infants. Closure in the garden has again made the 906 existing laborers jobless. The laborers are again trying to manage a work in the dolomite factories in Bhutan and some other are looking to break boulders in the riverbeds as daily laborers to earn their livelihood.
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