A Kalimpong resident has filed a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) in the Supreme Court alleging non-compliance of various provisions of the Disaster Management Act and other government mandates by Darjeeling tea gardens.
Tea is the biggest industry in north Bengal and the Centre and the state have both allowed work and production in the plantations. Work resumed in many tea gardens in Bengal on April 12, which was a Sunday.
Bandana Rai, a lawyer and social worker currently based in Delhi, while speaking over the phone, said: “The petition in the Supreme Court has been filed by Sangeeta Limbu.”
Rai will be one of the lawyers for Limbu. Two other people from Darjeeling and Kalimpong, Ajoy Edwards and Pratap Khati, respectively, are also supporting the case.
Khati, who is also a lawyer, said: “We want the Centre to quash its order allowing work in the garden with 50 per cent labourers.”
The Centre had on April 3 allowed for work in tea plantations with 50 per cent workforce. The Bengal government initially resisted and allowed for skiffing with 15 per cent work force on April 9, only to raise the ceiling to 25 per cent for tea production through an April 12 order.
“The PIL is a fight for poor workers. We have also mentioned that some tea garden owners have not yet paid for the 21-day lockdown period violating the Centre’s order,” said Khati.
Khati said another issue included in the PIL was violation of conditions for allowing work in the garden. “Social distancing is not properly maintained in some gardens. Proper masks are not provided and more importantly, some gardens are involving more than 25 per cent of the work force in clear violation of government directives,” said Khati.
The central and state governments, Tea Board and the Darjeeling Tea Association were made parties to the PIL.