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From Tehelka Magazine, Vol 9,
Issue 08 Dated 25 Feb 2012
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Did
they die of hunger? The question haunts Barak Valley
By Ratnadip Choudhury
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Death to the T Labourers of Bhuban Valley Tea
Estate await government aid
Photos:
Partha Seal
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THEY WERE subjected to inhuman
exploitation since Independence.
And now that they are dying, the quibble over whether it was due to
starvation, malnutrition or disease offers no dignity in death — or hope for
their kin.
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Laxity A worker at the NRHM hospital
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In the past one month, the news of
deaths in Bhuban Valley Tea Estate in Lakhipur sub-division of Assam’s
Cachar district took the state by surprise. The district administration puts
the death toll at nine; human rights activists claim it is as high as 11.
Ironically, the Barak Cha Shramik Union, the flag-bearer of tea tribes or
Adivasis, says only four people died.
The state government claims it is
probing the cause of death. But this offers little hope for the 1,000-odd
people who know that the government and the tea tribe leaders have been party
to this era of neglect.
The Bhuban Valley Tea Estate, owned by
a Kolkata-based private firm, was declared sick last October. The garden and
factory shut down on 8 October 2011, without paying wages for nine weeks;
forget Provident Fund dues and other promised benefits. For four months, they
survived on bare rations, with no means of alternative livelihood. Then they
started falling ill, and some died without any treatment.
While the 500 permanent workers and an
equal number of casual labourers fought their battle for survival, leaders of
the Barak Cha Shramik Union, said to be close to the ruling Congress in
Assam, chose to remain silent. The district administration, headquartered at
Silchar, about 30 km from the tea garden, did not try to alleviate the
distress in the Bhuban
Valley. It could have
at least tried to implement the five flagship schemes of the UPA government,
like MGNREGA and National Rural Health Mission (NRHM). They are supposed to
be operational in the region, but there is no sign of them on the ground.
“Just before the closure of the
garden, we were told by the management that the estate is suffering losses
and we must forget the dues,” says Ram Prasad Tanti, a permanent labourer in
the Bhuban Valley garden. “We were told that if
the company revives, we will be employed again. We at once took the matter to
the workers’ union and the local MLA. They sided with the management, telling
us to wait. During this period, so many people died. Had newspapers not
reported it, many more would have died here,” he says.
To save face, or out of genuine
concern, the state government and local MLA and former minister Dinesh Prasad
Gowala, who is also general secretary of the Barak Cha Shramik Union, is said
to have “convinced” the estate management to reopen the garden on 9 February.
But it seems to be a case of too little, too late.
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‘Our
family lived on one meal of rice and salt per day for three months,’ says
Bablu Bauri, an estate worker
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“When the tea garden was closed down,
no one bothered to think about an alternative livelihood for the labourers.
They were left to die,” alleges WA Lashkar, from the Barak Human Rights
Protection Committee. “These people have no education; they do not know their
rights. There is no mechanism in place to check the violation of labour
laws,” he adds. His group has now taken up the cause of justice for the
laid-off workers.
When TEHELKA met the tea estate
workers, it heard tales of people eating far less than required for survival
and falling prey to disease. “Our family lived on one meal of rice and salt
per day for three months,” says Bablu Bauri. “My father died because he was
unwell for a long time. His disease aggravated due to lack of nourishment.
The local hospital does not have a doctor, we did not have money to either
take him to Silchar town or bring a doctor here. He died in front of our
eyes.”
After his father Atul Bauri, 60, died,
Bablu worries about how to save his mother Surabala, who is battling for
survival. “We know the garden has reopened in name only,” he says. “It might
close down any day. We need alternative sources of income.” But the fiscal
condition of other tea gardens in Barak
Valley is bleak; the
neighbouring villages too are poverty-stricken.
THE TEA tribes have been a traditional
vote bank for the Congress in Assam.
The Tarun Gogoi government has been high on rhetoric about giving them
Scheduled Tribe status. But this seems farcical when survival is at stake and
wages are disgracefully low. Permanent workers get Rs 55.20 per day and
casual workers get only Rs 41, whereas the minimum wage specified for the
state is Rs 100 for unskilled workers, and Rs 120 for those who are skilled.
“From this wage, a permanent worker
had to pay Rs 20 for rations,” explains Prasenjit Biswas, eminent human
rights activist of the region. “This is a violation of Tea Plantation Labour
Act, 1951, Minimum Wage Act, right to food and livelihood. Thus, this is not
only a case of gross violation of fundamental rights but also laws passed by
elected bodies have been violated at will.”
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Laxity a closed tea factory in Cachar
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Poverty, death and an uncertain future
stalk almost every household in Bhuban
Valley. The hutments
and hamlets that dot the landscape of the tea garden tell the same story. A
story of narrowing options, desolation and despair — and increasingly, of
death. Pratima Tanti, daughter of Susom Tanti, who died a month ago due to
lack of treatment, spoke her heart out, saying, “My father was ailing, which
meant we could have a meal only once a day. Since we had no money, he had to
die an untimely death.”
For children, there are seven
Anganwadi centres under the Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS) to
provide nutrition and healthcare for kids and lactating mothers, but none of
the centres open more than twice a month in the garden, so say the local
people. When a few Indira Awas Yojana huts were allotted to the garden, they
all went to those close to union leaders. The health centre run by the NRHM
does not have doctors. It does have stocks of medicines but paramedics did
not turn up for duty when people were dying. The paramedics, in turn, allege
that they are not paid regularly.
“An inquiry into the deaths is going
on: We will have to wait for the final report. We will also find out if the
Rs 10 lakh grant to the garden under NRHM was utilised. We are also looking
into violation of labour laws,” says Harendra Dev Mahanta, the Collector of Cachar
district. Almost everyone who could have saved the poor labourers is now
trying to pass the buck.
This is not unprecedented. A similar
wave of deaths was reported from Pathini tea estate in 1991. The government
and the union remained silent spectators in that episode as well.
With inputs from Arindam Gupta
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