PBKMS North Bengal takes up tea worker's grievances with public officials

In an industry where the exploitation of workers by touts is more the rule than the exception, Paschim Banga Khet Majoor Samity (PBKMS) has focused its attention on getting workers their statutory dues without paying bribes. 

In this regard, a delegation of Paschim Banga Khet Majoor Samity from Alipurduar and Jalpaiguri district met the PF commissioner and Assistant Labour Commissioner on September 24 and 25 respectively. With the Assistant Labour Commissioner Alipur Duar (ALC), the delegation brought up the issue of 137 tea plantation workers of Kohinoor who have not got part payment of their dues as interim relief as per Supreme Court orders till now. The ALC promised that their amount will be cleared shortly, even if the management refused to countersign their forms.

The delegation with the charter of demands

The delegation to the PF Commissioners was informed that physical/offline disbursement of provident fund was not possible as the entire functioning has been made online. However, the delegation of PBKMS informed  the PF Commissioner that this is not feasible for the workers of over 30-40 tea gardens like Madhu Tea Garden which have been abandoned or closed for long periods of time, or which have been sick and  are managed by fly-by-night employers. Also, using online mode is also difficult for the nominees of the workers who have passed away. Therefore the delegation insisted that they should modify the mode of disbursing the provident fund savings for these workers, without depending on online payment alone. 

The delegation also raised the issue of hindrances created by the management in claiming provident funds and gratuity by the workers. The management does not provide details to the retired workers which creates problems for the workers. The management also doesn't initiate the procedure until a replacement of the worker is provided by the retired workers themselves. The delegation also raised the issue of mismatch in names and date of birth on documents like Aadhar Card, PF records and Bank Accounts which creates problems for the tea garden workers in withdrawing their Provident Fund Savings and Pensions.

In many tea gardens, the managements are deducting the Provident Fund contribution  from the workers but are not depositing the same with the EPFO. For example, in Kohinoor Tea Garden, the current management has not submitted the PF contributions of the last 23 months. The workers also do not know whether the previous management has submitted their Provident Fund contributions or not. The delegation informed the PF Commissioner that Birpara TG and Dumchipara TG , owned by Duncans Industries Limited have not submitted PF contributions of the workers since 2010, even though the company has been deducting the provident fund contributions from the workers. Similarly, in Kohinoor TG, Raidak TG and Turturi TG, the gratuity amount of the workers haven't been paid for many years,even though the management has to pay the gratuity amount within 30 days after retirement.

While the officers at the Jalpaiguri PF office have promised all kinds of cooperation, PBKMS has followed up its deputations with an open letter to the Chief Minister on 29th September, 2020, when she visited North Bengal. They have also decided to draw the Supreme Court’s attention once again to the total lack of progress in payment of workers’ dues. They also will be meeting the Regional PF Commissioner at Kolkata in the first week of October.