Over a million Bengal tea workers lost jobs, says study
May 1 2009. The Hindu
More than a million workers have lost their jobs and are facing abject poverty, starvation and diseases after tea gardens were closed down in recent years in the Dooars region of West Bengal, a study claimed today.
The study - Miseries of Tea Garden Workers of Darjeeling Tea Region - conducted by Jawaharlal Nehru University, found that over 1,400 people have died due to starvation and other related diseases in the region after the tea gardens were closed since 2000 .
The first tea factory at Dooars tea garden was closed down in 2000. In the next two years, 13 more tea gardens were closed, affecting more than three million people in the region, comprising Darjeeling, Jalpaiguri and Coochbehar, Mr Amita Singh a professor at JNU, who led the team of researchers, said.
Speaking on the occasion, national convener for ‘Save the garden save workers campaign against hunger, Ms Sreerupa Mitra Choudhary said, “The state government and the Centre have done nothing to provide relief to these workers”.
She took a dig at the West Bengal Chief Minister, Mr Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee for not being concerned about the tea industry.
