The Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA) on Saturday distributed around Rs 2 crore in cash — Rs 4,000 to each of the 5,000 workers of closed tea gardens —from funds collected by the hill body during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Rajesh Chowhan, the deputy chairman of GTA Sabha, said seven teams were formed to reach as many tea gardens — Peshok, Rangmook Cedar, Mundakothi, Chungthung, Pandam, Magarjung and Ambootia.

“The teams included trade union leaders from other political parties, too. We distributed a sum of Rs 4,000 per worker and covered around 5,000 workers,” said Chowhan.

The amount was distributed in cash by teams which went to each venue with police escorts.

Edwards had in a letter to Thapa on Thursday suggested the lockdown funds be distributed among workers of closed tea gardens who would not be getting bonuses in the festive season.

The distribution of funds to tea workers was facilitated after Anit Thapa, the chief executive of the GTA held a meeting with trade union leaders of all parties and also Opposition leader Ajoy Edwards, an elected GTA Sabha member and the president of Hamro Party, at Peshok tea garden on Friday.

Representatives present at the meeting agreed to use the funds collected during the first wave of Covid-19.

The GTA chairman relief fund was set up by Thapa as the GTA-nominated head, on March 24, 2020, purportedly to take up the task of “paying tea garden workers during lockdown”. Over 11,000 people donated Rs 2.12 crore and Thapa had then said that the GTA would chip in with a matching sum.

However, unlike other sectors in the country, the tea industry stayed shut only from March 25 to April 9, 2020. As tea gardens ran during the pandemic, the fund’s express purpose was defeated.

In 2022, the GTA had formed a 15-member committee comprising representatives of trade unions to decide how to utilise the fund but could not arrive at a consensus.

Then, the GTA announced it would construct a Shramik Bhavan in Siliguri with the amount, to which Opposition parties objected.

However, on Friday, the GTA at Edwards' suggestion, dropped the idea of a Shramik Bhavan and instead decided to give cash to workers of closed gardens.