Trinamool claims credit for Jungpana reopening

DARJEELING: It may have taken three rounds of meeting and an extensive exchange of parleys between the management and the trade union to reopen Jungpana Tea Estate, but the Hills unit of Trinamool Congress on Wednesday claimed credit for the reopening with a top party office bearer claiming to have facilitated the entire process.
“We facilitated reopening of the Jungpana garden.We visited the tea garden on August 11 after we heard that workers had refused to accept rations distributed by the district administration. We spoke to the chief minister, our trade union and also the North Bengal development minister to settle the matter,” said Rajen Mukhia, the Hills Trinamool president.
The Kurseong SDO issued a notice to the garden management on August 8, asking it to start distributing rations to workers within 24 hours. But on August 10, the workers refused to accept it and urged the administration to reopen the garden. While suspending work, the management made it clear that no subsidized ration, wages, salaries and other statutory obligations would be fulfilled during the no-work period.
However, Mukhia on Wednesday also demanded all benefits for workers for the duration of the closure. “The workers are not at fault. So their wages should be paid. We also feel having a single trade union in the garden is not good for the worker’s cause,” said Mukhia.
Darjeeling Terai Dooars Plantation Labour Union, affiliated to the GJM, rebuffed Mukhia’s claims. “Trinamool never participated in any meeting. In the August 4 meeting, we almost came to a conclusion to reopen the garden. However, the third meeting was called to sort out the grey areas,” said Suraj Subba, DTDPLU general secretary.