West Bengal tea plantation workers yet to be paid

While the Assam government started distributing fortnightly salaries in cash to five lakh tea garden employees two days ago, in the northern districts of neighbouring West Bengal, tea workers are yet to get relief.

Located in far flung areas and under-served by the banking sector, the tea industry pays wages every fortnight in cash. While payments were due in the second week, the cash crunch stopped companies from paying salaries. To safeguard workers’ interest and avoid unrest, the Assam government asked plantations to transfer the requisite money to its disaster management department, which, via special arrangements with the RBI, dispensed cash to the plantation workers. By Tuesday, the salaries were paid at the major gardens.

Taking a cue, the Indian Tea Association requested the West Bengal government to intervene on Saturday. The State contributes nearly a quarter of the country’s tea output. About 60 per cent of its output comes from large estates with over 2.5 lakh people on the payroll.

At a hurriedly called meeting in Siliguri, State officials verbally promised to implement the plan. On Sunday, meetings were held at the district level and tea producers were asked to submit requisitions. The producers submitted the requisitions on Monday, but, the State government is yet to hand over the bank details for the money transfer.

“We are eagerly waiting for further instructions from the West Bengal government to give effect to the plan,” a tea official told BusinessLine, on condition of anonymity.

The cash shortage is acute in the tea region of Bengal. Most of the banks, including State Bank of India and United Bank (which has the maximum penetration in the State) in the Banarhat, Binnaguri, Birpara and Nagrakata areas of the tea heartland have gone dry.

According to tea officials, almost all ATMs are closed. A few SBI branches in Binnaguri are dispensing cash, and the queues there are serpentine.

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