At least 106 tea workers have died of hunger in the past three months in North Bengal. Most of these deaths have occurred at Alipur and Bagrakote tea gardens, sources said adding whatever meagre help that comes from the Government in the name of relief falls in wrong hands.
Ironically, the news of deaths comes at a time when Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has announced `100 crore-dole to about 10,000 clubs spread across the State.
While 56 workers have died at Alipur, 29 have perished at Bagrakote tea gardens. Red Bank tea estate saw 8 deaths while four each died at Dharanipur and Surendranagar tea gardens.
Deaths have also been reported from Panighatta tea estate where about five workers have died in the past one week, sources said adding about 40,000 workers were facing starvation in 32 tea gardens which are lying closed on account of “bad management.”
Hiran lohar, a local trade union leader, said most of the deaths occur because the unscrupulous businessmen buy over the gardens, extract the cream without re-investing in them and then simply close the gardens and move out to Kolkata or other places leaving the workers to their fate.
When asked about the tea garden-deaths, State Food and Civil Supplies Minister Jyotipriya Mullick said the Government had taken adequate measures by reaching relief materials to the starving plantation workers.
Incidentally, the Government had recently transferred the case to the CID which had in turn summoned for interrogation a top industrialist who also owns a tea garden in North Bengal where a number of deaths had taken place.
“The Chief Minister is not concerned with the poor working class and farmers. She only wants votes by creating gimmicks. Summoning the industrialist is another way of creating that gimmick. Instead of taking a concrete step she is only making cheap publicity by proposing takeover of sick units but doing nothing about those promises” Ashok Bhattacharya CPI(M) leader and Siliguri Mayor said.
In Kolkata Opposition leader Suryakanto Mishra lashed out at the Chief Minister for giving doles to the clubs often with no genuine registration or addresses. “This is being done to capture these clubs which will ensure rigging and booth-capturing during the elections” Mishra said adding if she had spent even a small fraction of Rs 100 crore then the poor planters could have been saved.