The Bengal labour department will hold a meeting with trade unions and the management of the Longview estate that produces orthodox Darjeeling Tea on August 28 to discuss the impasse in the garden.
The management had announced suspension of work in Longview, located 26km from here and is in the Kurseong subdivision, on August 21, citing alleged lawlessness. Workers, other the other hand, accused the management of not clearing dues and started a relay fast in the garden.
“The assistant labour commissioner of Kurseong has convened the tripartite meeting at Shramik Bhavan that is in Dagapur, on the outskirts of Siliguri, on Friday. All trade unions concerned and representatives of the management have been invited to the meeting,” said Nima Lama, the president of the GNLF’s Kurseong branch committee.
“We feel all pending issues will be resolved through talks and operations will resume in the garden.”
Darjeeling MLA Neeraj Zimba has threatened to join the hunger strike of the workers if no decision is taken by the state government to facilitate the reopening of the estate. He visited the garden on Tuesday to express solidarity with the labourers.
