Alipurduar tea workers call for repairs and replacement of dilapidated housing
Summary
Date Reported: 20 Dec 2022
Location: India
Companies
Bhatpara Tea Estate - SupplierAffected
Total individuals affected: Number unknown
Community: ( Number unknown - Location unknown , Tea , Gender not reported ) , Workers: ( Number unknown - Location unknown , Tea , Gender not reported )Issues
HousingResponse
Response sought: Yes, by BHRRC
Story containing response: (Find out more)
Action taken: Bhatpara recently supplied tea to Unilever, according to a supplier list publicly disclosed by Unilever. Unilever provided a response to a request for comment from the Resource Centre. Lipton Teas and Infusions, which took over most of Unilever’s tea business in 2022, was also asked for a response. Lipton said it does not source tea from the estate.
Source type: News outlet
Summary
Date Reported: 21 Dec 2022
Location: India
Companies
Kalchini Tea Estate - SupplierAffected
Total individuals affected: Number unknown
Workers: ( Number unknown - Location unknown , Tea , Gender not reported ) , Community: ( Number unknown - Location unknown , Tea , Gender not reported )Issues
HousingResponse
Response sought: Yes, by BHRRC
Story containing response: (Find out more)
Action taken: Kalchini recently supplied tea to Unilever, according to a supplier list publicly disclosed by Unilever. Unilever provided a response to a request for comment from the Resource Centre. Lipton Teas and Infusions, which took over most of Unilever’s tea business in 2022, was also asked for a response. Lipton said it does not source tea from the estate.
Source type: News outlet
"Alipurduar: Tea workers cite home woes, seek key to PMAY"
Workers of two tea estates in Alipurduar district have alleged that their names are not on the list of beneficiaries of the Centre’s housing scheme although they have been living in dilapidated hutments in the gardens.
Such worker allegations have made the BJP question the implementation of “Cha Sundari”, a housing scheme announced by the Mamata Banerjee government exclusively for tea workers, and also on the PMAY lists that the administration is busy readying currently.
A few days back, workers of Kalchini and Bhatpara, two prominent tea estates of Alipurduar district with around 2,600 workers and a population of 10,000–odd in all, flagged the issue before the block development officer of Kalchini.
[...]
“The workers’ quarters where we stay are in pathetic shape. We spend nights under tarpaulin sheets as the roof collapsed years back. It is disappointing that the names of people like us are not there in the list of prospective PMAY beneficiaries. We have informed the BDO about this,” said Mahipal Dorji, a worker of Bhatpara.
According to him, out of the 750-odd quarters in Bhatpara, around 250 are decrepit.
Back in 1998, the tea gardens came under the purview of the panchayat system.
Gradually, housing schemes like Indira Awas Yojana (IAY) were introduced in the tea gardens.
“However, as the gardens are on leasehold land, workers staying on the land need to obtain a no-objection certificate from the tea company concerned which owns the garden to be eligible for a government-sponsored home,” said a source.
In Kalchini tea estate, around 350 quarters out of 900 are in bad shape.
[...]