Lok Sabha elections: In tea belt, lack of jobs and hope leads to workers’ migration

But around 20 tea gardens have shut. Kalchini tea garden is among them. It has been shut for more than seven months.

“When the tea garden was open, we used to get Rs 250 as daily wage along with the PF (provident fund) amount of Rs 350. But when the tea garden was closed, we could earn around Rs 200 to Rs 220 per day, minus the PF,” says 52-year-old Kali Lama.

“We are paid this rate by the committee, but the tea is sold to wholesalers at a very high rate,” he adds, referring to “committees” formed by the ruling TMC in closed tea gardens through which workers collect tea leaves and through touts and middlemen sell them to wholesalers.

Shyamali Tanti (43), who works at the Dheklapara tea estate that has been shut for months, says, “Last year, the tea garden opened, but before the end of the year it closed again. We did not get Puja bonus. My husband was forced to look for a job outside the state. I am now going to the Binnaguri tea estate to earn some money.”

However, the TMC government’s ambitious housing scheme for tea workers has found hardly any takers here.

Rows and rows of blue and white houses built under the Chaa Sundari project near Torsha tea garden in Alipurduar lay vacant. Out of nearly 500 houses built under the state government’s scheme, only around 70 have been occupied by the families. Despite the houses having a kitchen, two bedrooms, a toilet and a regular water and electricity supply, there are few takers for these houses.

“The main reason for people not moving into the Chaa Sundari houses is the distance. Workers are used to living near or around the tea gardens. But the houses built under the scheme are far from the tea gardens… Those who moved into the houses are either relatives of tea garden workers, or in some cases workers have rented them out to locals,” says Dhiren Mahali (52), a resident of a Chaa-Sundari housing colony.

Kusum Bhujel, 25, who stays in one of such houses in Torsha tea garden, says, “My house is in the name of my cousin sister. She stays at Dalchinpara tea garden. Instead of her, we are staying here. My husband Padam Lama (50) is a driver and he used to work as a commercial driver at Jaigaon which is near here.”

After the Chaa Sundari scheme flopped, the TMC government launched another scheme in which tea workers could stay on their land in the tea estate and they would get “patta” for the land.

“The problem is that we are getting only “patta” which is basically a land lease. We cannot sell or cannot take loaa n against that land. Also, if we get land in the area, then it is fine. But if we get land outside the estate, then what will we do? Here, even after the garden is closed, we can pluck leaves here and earn something but if we go outside the garden how will we earn?” says Kali Lama, who resides in Kalchini.

According to a local leader of CITU, the trade union organisation of the CPI(M), there is a wide wage gap between tea workers in North Bengal vis-a-vis southern states. “Tea workers in southern states like Kerala, Tamil Nadu, and Karnataka Tea get around Rs 450 as daily wage as per the Minimum Wages Act, 1948. Whereas, the governments of Assam and West Bengal are reluctant and politically unwilling to enforce the Minimum Wages Act strongly. So, in the TMC-ruled West Bengal and BJP-ruled Assam, tea workers are getting Rs 250 per day,” says CITU leader Jia Alam.

“Education, health, and employment scenarios are deteriorating fast, and the rate of school and college dropouts is also increasing. Migration from tea gardens of West Bengal and Assam towards South and subsequent increasing absenteeism in the tea gardens here is a major issue,” he adds.

While the state tea belt’s two Lok Sabha constituencies – Alipurduar and Jalpaiguri will vote in the first phase of Lok Sabha polls on Friday, polling in Darjeeling will take place a week later on April 26.

Meanwhile, the TMC blames the BJP government at the Centre for the deteriorating condition of tea workers, the BJP blames the TMC government in the state. TMC leader and West Bengal Tea Directorate member Sourav Chakraborty says, “From 2014, Narendra Modi promised that the Central Government will acquire tea gardens. Then he promised that the Centre would give a Rs 500 crore special package for the development of tea gardens in West Bengal. But none of the promises were fulfilled. However, because of the wrong policy of the Central Government, the tea industry is facing many problems. All these things are now known to tea workers, and they will not vote for BJP this time.”

BJP MLA from Madarihat, Monoj Tigga, who is contesting from Alipurduar, says the welfare of tea workers is the responsibility of the TMC government in the state.  “The TMC government not only deteriorated the livelihood of tea garden workers but also took away their normal facilities which labourers used to have. The BJP government at the Centre, on the other hand, has always tried to develop tea gardens through the tea board. The Centre’s Antyodaya Anna Yojana (AAY) helped workers to get free ration. Tea workers know that the BJP always stands for them and will vote for Modiji.”

In Alipurduar, Tigga is contesting against TMC Rajya Sabha MP Prakash Chik Baraik and Left-Congress alliance’s Mili Oraon.