When the West Bengal government intervened by setting up Operating Managing Committees (OMCs) of workers in closed and sick tea gardens in the state, it was done to also alleviate the basic problems of the workers’ families. But this seems to have only given rise, as reported in the earlier parts of this series, to a section which makes money by exploiting other workers in collusion with local contractors. There is little evidence of any intervention, either by the district administration or political bigwigs, to curb this.
In almost all the closed gardens where OMCs are in place, they become a stumbling block to all outside interventions. A few OMCs have resisted the entry of any new management in their gardens, forcing the latter to flee or risk losing their lives. Subrata Sarkar, a social worker who took upon himself the task of monitoring the conditions of life in closed tea gardens, points out that because of the vested interests which have developed in the gardens, the OMCs do not want these opened by the new management and run normally.
Seasonal sale of green tea leaves from closed gardens has given the OMCs a regular source of income, which they spend with little or no accountability. The district administration hardly bothers them with monitoring. So, even if the workers and their families might be living in penury, a number of OMC members who were workers themselves have now bought houses in nearby towns and cars.
Sushil Oraon, who till some time earlier was an ordinary worker in the garden and is now the convenor of the Kathalguri OMC, came to meet us in the garden in a new motorbike, priced in the range of Rs.65,000. The nexus of contractors and labour leaders, and the indifference of the administration, has turned a poor tribal worker into a corrupt manager.
The Kathalguri garden, with whose story we began this series, might see good days again if the proposal moved by the owner of Makaibari Tea Estate is approved by the government. According to sources, the owner of Makaibari has formed a new company with some other partners and applied to the department of industry to take over the garden under lease. According to the Indian Tea Association, since the earlier lease has lapsed, this would be a fresh one, with no pre-takeover liability. With Makaibari’s brand strength and goodwill, Kathalguri might turn around again. But for that to happen, the nexus of the contractors and a section of labour have to be broken first.