The management of the Bamandanga-Tondu tea estate in Jalpaiguri district on Tuesday declared a lockout in the garden, alleging highhandedness by outsiders and a lack of cooperation by a section of workers.
The plantation with around 1,600 labourers is located in Nagrakata block in the western Dooars and owned by Jayanta Roy.
He is the brother of Prasanna Roy, a close aide to former education minister Partha Chatterjee who is in jail in connection with the alleged School Service Commission recruitment scam. Prasanna was also arrested by the CBI in connection with the SSC scam.
When workers assembled in front of the factory in the garden to join their duties on Tuesday morning, they found that the management had put up a lockout notice and the managerial staff had left.
“Yesterday was the weekly off day and today, the management was supposed to disburse wages. But they declared a lockout in the garden. This is undesirable,” said Agni Lohara, a woman worker.
A senior trade union leader said Prasanna Roy had taken over the Samsing and Bamandanga-Tondoo tea estates in 2019. Since then, both the gardens have been running normally.
However, as he handed over the gardens to his brother Jayanta a few months ago, problems started cropping up. Earlier, the management closed down the Samsing tea estate which left around 1,500 workers unemployed.
“The workers at Samsing are lucky that the garden reopened in due course. But today, Bamandanga-Tondoo closed down,” said the senior trade union leader.
In the notice, the management said alleged interference by outsiders, including leaders of the Trinamul Cha Bagan Sramik Union (TCBSU), and non-cooperation by a section of workers had prompted the lockout.
“The management has been running the garden smoothly but the trade union had been sending outsiders who had expressed willingness to buy the garden. Interestingly, the management has never said that it is willing to sell the tea estate,” said a source.
A section of workers was not joining their duties on time, especially in the plantation, the management alleged. “Besides, the leasehold land of the garden has been encroached on in different areas by outsiders,” the source added.
Leaders of the TCBSU, however, denied the charge.“The management could not clear the workers’ dues on time and left the garden. It has come up with some baseless charges to hide the truth,” said a trade union leader.
Subhagata Gupta, the deputy labour commissioner of Jalpaiguri, said a tripartite meeting would be held on December 30 to discuss the opening of the estate. “The meeting will be held in Malbazar. Representatives of the tea company and trade unions would be called to the meeting,” he said.
No representatives of the management could be contacted by The Telegraph for their version.
