Incidents of assault, theft and damage in different tea units of Chopra block in North Dinajpur district are frequently left stakeholders of the tea industry perturbed.

The incidents, they said, have triggered panic among employees and prompted them to seek police intervention so that the units can run properly.

Sources said that a few days back, the management of a bought-leaf factory (a standalone tea factory that buys green tea leaves and then processes those to make tea) located in Ghorugach of Chopra had recovered a portion of their land encroached by a section of local residents.

“This made them furious and on April 4, some of them entered the factory and started abusing the employees. The factory’s manager was present there and as he protested, they assaulted him with an iron rod. When other employees to intervened, all of them, including the security staff, were beaten up,” said a representative of Terai Indian Planters’ Association (TIPA), a tea planters’ body that has written to district police on the incident.

Garden manager Rajiv Varshney who sustained injuries had to seek treatment at a hospital.

His troubles are far from over, the manager said.

“On April 6, while I was going out of the factory with my wife in a car, their associates hurled abuses at us. Again, around 7pm, when we were returning, they blocked the road with motorcycles and threatened us with dire consequences. Somehow, the driver managed to take us out of the situation,” Varshney told this paper

There are 120 workers at the unit and all are panicky as many are facing similar humiliations and threats, he added. “We are feeling insecure,”: he said.

Police arrested two persons who later got released on bail. Police officials, when contacted about this assault, said they were acting on the complaints.

“A specific case was registered after the incident and two persons were arrested. We are acting on complaints and taking appropriate steps to prevent any breach of law,” said Kartick Chandra Mondal, the additional superintendent of police of Islampur police district.

Sources in the TIPA said that over the past few days, they received reports from a tea estate also in Chopra near Ghorugach that local criminals entered the plantation and took away over one quintal of green tea leaves.

In another nearby tea estate of Chopra, the manager told TIPA that on April 4 night goons entered the garden and demolished cement pillars and the tin shade of a rest house built for the workers. They also broke an office room that was nearby and took away iron grilles, windows and doors, among other things.

The goons also took away around five to six quintals of green tea leaves from the plantation, the TIPA representative recounted.

“We sought the intervention of the police and the administration. Such highhandedness of local goons has to stop,” the representative added.

(Additional reporting from Kousik Sen in Raiganj)