Centuries-old tea estate in Tripura shutdown for indefinite period following attack on managers
Jan 17, 2023The centuries old tea estate in Tripura- Murticherra Tea Estate at Kailasahar in Unakoti district of the state is shut down for an indefinite period of time following alleged attack on the managers of the tea estate by the workers. The tea estate was reportedly reeling from the financial crisis for the past few years.
The incident took place on January 13 last after the garden workers gheraud the garden authorities including general manager Raju Kumar Gupta, assistant manager
The tea estate workers alleged a series of irregularities by the garden authorities including the manager Somnath Chakraborty and senior manager Subrata Deb over the non-payment of their dues. They alleged that they did not get their salaries on time, the supply of ration was irregular and other amenities including healthcare facilities were discontinued since covid pandemic.
The situation turned worse on January 13 last after the workers got volatile and allegedly assaulted the garden authorities. It was alleged that despite repeated appeals and assurances of paying the pending dues within a short period of time, the tea workers continued to protest. Following the attack, the garden authorities managed to escape from the garden office and lodged an FIR against the accused but no arrest was made yet.
The authorities later announced the shutdown of the garden for an indefinite period of time.
Meanwhile, the agitated garden workers alleged that for the past many years they were deprived from the wages, salaries and many other benefits. Following this, a group of garden workers on January 13 last entered into the office of the garden authority and demanded for their pending dues. The workers alleged that soon after they started demanding to clear their dues, the managers started abusing them. They also alleged that the authority had illegally closed down the garden.
On the other hand, the Chairman of the Tripura Tea Board Santosh Saha condemned the incident and hoped that the issues will be solved soon.
Talking to our correspondent on Tuesday evening, Saha said, “I came to know about the incident which was triggered due to non-payment of some dues of the workers. But I believe that the concerned authority of the garden will solve the issue soon to get the workers back into their work.”
“In the past many such incidents took place. But on the later course of action, the problems were duly solved,” he said over telephonic conversation on Tuesday.
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