At New Dooars tea garden. (Archive Photo) At New Dooars tea garden. (Archive Photo) The state government will begin the process of disbursing Rs 15 crore in wages to around 35,000 tea garden workers, many of whom haven’t been paid once in the last 15 years, from June 3. The disbursement is pursuant to a Supreme Court order passed last month that directed four states — Assam, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal — to ensure that payment is made to workers in their tea gardens. The central government had then submitted that Assam owed its workers Rs 249 crore, Kerala 27 crore, Tamil Nadu Rs 70 crore, and West Bengal Rs 30 crore. The Supreme Court on April 4 directed the four state governments to pay half the outstanding dues by way of interim relief, within 60 days, to the workers. “There are 28 tea gardens in West Bengal. We have already informed the tea garden owners and have held meetings with the trade unions, the workers themselves in Jalpaiguri earlier this month, as well as the petitioners. The state will be making a payment of Rs 15 crore to 35,000 workers in these tea gardens. This is an interim relief that the government will undertake and payment will be made directly into their accounts,” said Pasupati Ghosh, additional labour commissioner. “The Supreme Court order also includes tea garden workers who have retired as well as those who have died and who had not been paid dues for work they rendered. For those who died, we will pay dues to their legal next of kin. For the gardens that have shut, workers will be paid for the period that they worked there.’’ He added that the state government had already taken up the mammoth task of verifying workers and would be completed by May 28. The original petition claiming non-payment of wages was filed in 2006 by the Paschim Banga Khet Majoor Samity(PBKMS) and others. “In 2010 the Supreme Court ordered the governments to pay the workers. When this was not followed through, the petitioners filed a contempt petition in 2012,” said Anuradha Talwar of the PBKMS. The April 4 order is based on this contempt petition. “Hundreds of workers had died of starvation during this period. The payments differ from garden to garden. For some gardens dues start from 1996. Some gardens have shut down and others were abandoned by the management. There are some gardens which are still running but where salaries have not been paid. Nor have other arrears such as gratuity, provident fund and bonuses,” said Talwar. The Supreme Court had also summoned all the companies that were running the tea estates. The lists of the tea estates were submitted to the apex court and they were told to appear in the court on the next date of hearing which is likely to take place in July, although a date has not been fixed. “Not all owners had gone bankrupt and could therefore not pay. Many did not want to pay. They shifted capital from tea gardens and invested in other industries. They sucked the money out of the gardens,” Talwar said. PBKMS had submitted in the highest court that such “rogue employers” had unpaid dues totalling Rs 135 crore in gardens in West Bengal (see box). “The recovery of the total amount will be raised in the next hearing PBKMS,” said Talwar. For all the latest Kolkata News, download Indian Express App

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