Wage in govt tea gardens raised to Rs 90

VIVEK CHHETRI

Rangmuk-Cedar tea garden. File picture Darjeeling, Feb. 10: The West Bengal Tea Development Corporation has decided to increase the daily wage of labourers in its three gardens in the Darjeeling hills to Rs 90, the standard amount paid by the industry in the region. The hike comes after the trade union of the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha threatened that it would launch a fast and stop the dispatch of tea from the three gardens if the wage was not increased from Rs 67 to Rs 90. The Darjeeling Terai Dooars Plantation Labour Union today called off the agitation following the increase in the wages of workers in Rangmuk-Cedar, Pandam and Rangaroon tea gardens. An official of Rangmuk-Cedar tea garden said: “We received a verbal instruction from the WBTDC head office in Calcutta to disburse wages at Rs 90 a day from February onwards. We have been directed to make requisition (for salaries) at the new rate and we have already started work. The labourers will be paid the arrears as and when the state government provides us with additional funds.” The “arrears” he was referring to was the amount accumulated since April 1, 2011, when the new wage deal came into effect in the Darjeeling tea industry. Before that, the workers were being paid Rs 67 a day. Although the headquarters of the WBTDC could not be contacted, sources said a circular on the wage hike was expected to be issued soon. When the Morcha union issued the agitation threat on Wednesday, industries minister Partha Chatterjee claimed that the workers in the three WBTDC gardens were being paid Rs 90 as in the entire industry. Baban Subba, a central committee member of the union, said today: “The workers are very happy with the development (the decision to increase the wage hike). We have decided to call off our agitation.”(Telegraph)

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Gurung-CM talks today - Delay in gta formation to top agenda of mamata-morcha meeting

Mamata Banerjee, flanked by her cabinet colleagues and the chief secretary, at an administrative meeting in Siliguri; (Below) a rally before the inauguration of Uttar Banga Utsav on Friday. Pictures by Pradip Sanyal and Kundan Yolmo

Darjeeling, Feb. 10: The Gorkha Janmukti Morcha president will meet Mamata Banerjee in Siliguri tomorrow and take up with the chief minister the delay in forming the administrative arrangement for the Darjeeling hills.

The talks come a day before the Morcha holds rallies across the hills to demand an early creation of the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration.

Morcha general secretary Roshan Giri said: “We will meet the chief minister at the NHPC guest house in Siliguri tomorrow. There is a strong possibility of our party president (Bimal Gurung) leading the delegation.”

Sources in the party said Gurung would leave for Siliguri tomorrow and meet the chief minister.

The Morcha had been invited to the inauguration of Uttar Banga Utsav in Siliguri today and the party was represented by Giri.

Asked about the agenda of the meeting, Giri said: “It will definitely be the GTA.”

The hill outfit has of late started attacking the state government for the delay in the formation of the GTA. The party even set a deadline of March 27 for the creation of the autonomous set-up and decided to hold rallies across the hills to protest the delay.

The meeting between Mamata and Gurung assumes significance as the government is unlikely to put in place the GTA before the deadline expires. One of the major stumbling blocks to the formation of the GTA is the inability of the high-powered territorial committee — constituted to look into the Morcha’s demand to bring certain mouzas in the plains under the GTA — to submit its report before March 27.

The committee, headed by Justice (retd) Shyamal Sen, was expected to place its recommendations before the government by February end. But given the complexity of the issue, the tenure of the panel has been extended by six months, a move which did not go down well with the Morcha.

Gurung even threatened to withdraw four representatives of the Morcha from the committee, if around 400 Gorkha-dominated mouzas were not brought under the GTA. The mouzas are scattered across the Dooars and the Terai.

The panel has called all those who are for and against the inclusion of the plains mouzas in the GTA to a meeting in Calcutta on February 24. The Morcha wants the GTA to become a reality as early as possible because of rival parties’ attempts to make a comeback in the hills taking advantage of the complex situation.

The party’s anxiety could be gauged from the statement of a top leader on tomorrow’s meeting. “We are sticking to our deadline. Let us see what the chief minister has to say. We are hoping that the outcome of the meeting will be positive,” said the Morcha leader.

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SC order to Sikkim on office abuse

BIJOY GURUNG

Gangtok, Feb. 9: The Supreme Court has directed the Sikkim government to give comprehensive publicity to measures taken by the state to implement guidelines framed by the court to tackle sexual harassment of women at workplaces. Justice G.S. Singhvi and Justice Sudhansu Jyoti Mukhopadhyay asked the Sikkim government to comply with the norms laid down by the Supreme Court in the 1997 Vishakha and in the 1999 Medha Kotwal Lele cases. The court in its February 3 order said the government would have to publish the measures taken in Sikkim dailies with maximum circulation within two months. It said wide publicity should also be given through Doordarshan. The social welfare department and the legal service authority of Sikkim were also directed to give publicity to notifications and orders issued by the state not only for government departments but also for private companies. The court was responding to a petition filed by a resident of Sikkim. The lady — a victim of sexual harassment at her workplace (a public sector bank in Gangtok) — had filed a case in the chief judicial magistrate’s court here on March 1, 2008. But with the police investigation not helping much, she moved Sikkim High Court on April 27, 2010. The woman’s counsel, Doma T. Bhutia, said a petition was moved in the apex court after the high court dismissed the case on September 29, 2010, when the government submitted that it would bring in an “appropriate legislation” to comply with the apex court order on the Vishakha case. “Sexual harassment at workplaces is one of the biggest concerns for working women in Sikkim where a lot of private sector enterprises like pharmaceutical factories, hotels with casinos and power projects have come up. There is low awareness among women of the legal remedies for sexual harassment,” Bhutia said. The guidelines issued by the apex court in the Vishakha case had directed that complaint committees headed by women with involvement of a third party be formed in both private and public sector undertakings. The third party can either be an NGO or any other body familiar with the issue. The committees were to submit annual reports to the government and action taken by the department concerned. On January 2, the Supreme Court directed Sikkim chief secretary Karma Gyasto to file an affidavit detailing the steps taken by the government to implement the Vishakha case guidelines. The affidavit was submitted on January 30 with the government listing a comprehensive list of complaint committees. “There were no committees before that,” said Bhutia. A senior government official refused comment on the order and said the state was yet to receive a copy of it.(Telegraph)

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Morcha counters Partha claim on wage - Government still pays Rs 67 to workers in three hill tea gardens, says Kurseong MLA

VIVEK CHHETRI

Darjeeling, Feb. 9: Kurseong MLA Rohit Sharma today rejected the industries minister’s claim that workers in three government-owned tea gardens in the Darjeeling hills were being paid revised wages since April 1 last year. The trade union of the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha had yesterday threatened to launch a fast and halt the dispatch of tea from the three hill estates if the wages were not increased from Rs 67 to Rs 90. Minister Partha Chatterjee expressed surprise over the threat and said the government was paying the increased wages. Chatterjee had also said he had told Sharma about the disbursal of the revised pay. But the Morcha MLA today stood his ground and said the labourers continued to receive only Rs 67 a day. “It is true that I had met Partha Chatterjee in Calcutta almost two months ago and handed over to him the details. The state government owes an accumulated amount of over Rs 7 crore to the workers as they are not getting the revised wages, we are certain about that. During our meeting, the minister promised me that he would solve the problem immediately (but he didn’t),” Sharma said over the phone from Calcutta. The West Bengal Tea Development Corporation, (WBTDC), a state government undertaking, runs Pandam, Rangaroon and Rangmuk-Cedar tea gardens in the hills. The three estates have a combined workforce of around 2,300. The threat to launch the fast and halt the tea dispatch was issued by the Darjeeling Terai Dooars Plantation Union, an affiliate of the Morcha. The government had played an active role in increasing the wage from Rs 67 to Rs 90 in the Darjeeling tea industry with effect from April 1 last year. The Morcha union said yesterday that although the wage deal had been brokered by the government, workers of the three plantations run by the WBTDC were still paid Rs 67. The agreements with the workers had been signed separately by the Darjeeling Tea Association and the Indian Tea Association on behalf of the garden owners. Most of the tea gardens in the hills are affiliated to either of the associations. Although the government plantations are not members of the DTA or the ITA, they generally implement the pacts inked by the two associations. When told about the Morcha union’s agitation threat, Chatterjee had expressed surprise yesterday. “Who said we are not giving them the revised wages? We are giving them the revised wages. I have conveyed this to Kurseong MLA Rohit Sharma. This kind of threat is not acceptable,” said the minister. The MLA was today doubtful if the government could clear the dues as the WBTDC was not in good financial condition. But he saw a ray of hope for the workers as Chatterjee had promised to come to the hills and sort out the problem. “I had a conversation with the minister in Calcutta a few days back. He said he would be in Kalimpong on February 11 and asked me to meet him there and sort out the matter. I won’t be able to meet him as I will be travelling to Hyderabad. I have told our party’s trade union leaders to meet the minister in Kalimpong. I think that there is a possibility of a solution being reached in Kalimpong. We are keeping our fingers crossed,” said Sharma.(Telegraph)

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