Row rages as two more Duncan Tea Estate workers die

Kin of deceased cite malnutrition, lack of treatment as reasons

Two more workers have died in the closed tea gardens of Duncan Industries Limited at the Dooars of North Bengal on Monday, taking the toll to 15, according to the government, while unofficial estimates place the number at 30.

The latest deaths were reported from Nagaisuree and Bagracote, two gardens owned by top industrialist G P Goenka, chairman of Duncans. While 65-year-old Sukra Manki Munda died at Nagaisuree, 66-year-old Shibu Pradhan died at Bagracote, union representatives said.

Claiming that he died due to malnutrition and lack of treatment, Munda’s family members said he was unwell for months. Pradhan, too, was suffering from a variety of ailments for several months and succumbed to malnutrition, his family claimed.

Union representatives alleged that with hardly any work and no pay from Duncans management since May, most workers are drawing subsistence from bare minimum food they can afford.

Even as the district administration claimed that workers are being provided with rice at Rs 2 per kg, Anisur Haque from the joint forum of trade unions blamed the administration for not taking adequate measures to ensure better condition for the workers.
“The rice being provided is of the lowest grade and cannot be consumed. The government has to ensure gardens are reopened,” he said.

A group of concerned citizens, including academics from Kolkata, North Bengal and Sikkim, along with civil rights activists, journalists, legal advisors and cultural activists, have formed an umbrella body that plans to raise the issue at the national level.

Working under the banner of Cha Bagan Sangram Samiti (the committee for tea garden movement), the organisation will hold demonstration outside Parliament at the beginning of the winter session.

“We will raise the plight of tea workers in this region outside Parliament. We will also organise demonstrations in Kolkata and Delhi to press for rights of the tea workers,” said committee convener Sukman Moktan. Besides seeking amendment of the existing Plantation Labour Act, the committee will demand reformulated fringe benefits and minimum wages for tea workers.