The INTTUC, the trade union of the Trinamool Congress, has decided to exert pressure on the Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO), a central body, over the issue of PF arrears in several north Bengal tea gardens.

In the brew belt, allegations are often levelled by tea garden workers' trade unions that a section of tea companies is irregular in depositing the provident fund of workers. Such irregularities, in certain cases, deprive the workers of their dues after retirement, they claim.

Ritabrata Banerjee, the state INTTUC president, said on Wednesday that soon, the trade union would launch demonstrations before the offices of the EPFO in the region so that the authorities could take steps against tea companies that defaulted on PF deposits.

“We have submitted in detail the amounts of PF due at the regional PF office in Jalpaiguri. The authorities at the office, however, mentioned a much lower amount. This is unacceptable,” he said while speaking at a public meeting organised by the Trinamool Industrial Estate Workers Union on the Raninagar Industrial Estate near Jalpaiguri.

“We will soon launch protests at the PF offices with the demand that the authorities take legal steps against such tea companies that have not deposited the PF of the workers. If the PF authorities do not make any move, our movement will continue,” Banerjee, who is also a Rajya Sabha member, said.

Political observers said the TMC, which is reviving its support base in the tea belt by playing the development card and through regular revision of wages, now wants to put the BJP under pressure while consolidating its base.

“As the EPFO is a central government organisation, the TMC and its trade union want to prove that the Centre is apathetic towards the tea workers over the PF issue while the state is putting efforts for socio-economic development of the workers and their families,” said an observer.

At the meeting, the state INTTUC president also referred to the party’s performance in the Dooars tea belt, while trying to drive home the point that the Trinamool Cha Bagan Workers’ Union (TCBSU) has made inroads into the tea industry.

“In the Lok Sabha polls of 2019, the TMC managed to get the lead from only 19 of 483 booths in the Dooars belt. However, in 2024, we could secure leads from 244 booths. This proves that our trade union is building its base but we have to work more to augment the support,” said Banerjee.