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The 150-year-old Giang Tea Estate, employing over 700 workers, reopened on Monday after seven workers accused of assaulting the garden's assistant manager surrendered in a Darjeeling court.
Sandeep Mukherjee, the principal advisor of the Darjeeling Tea Association, said, "The management of Ging Tea Estate has decided to reopen the garden on Monday after it was learnt that all seven workers involved in attacking the assistant manager surrendered in a court here."
Two workers, one of them garden supervisor Harsha Gurung, surrendered in the court of the chief judicial magistrate on Friday. The other five surrendered yesterday.
All the accused have been remanded in judicial custody for 14 days.
The decision to reopen the garden, locked since April 10, was taken after the management and the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha affiliated Darjeeling Terai Dooars Plantation Labour Union, held a meeting in Darjeeling on Monday.
The management had specifically blamed the seven workers for the attack and not the union.
"During the meeting, the union leaders gave an undertaking to the management that such indiscipline would not occur in future and all differences would be solved amicably through a negotiation process as laid down in the industry's norm," said Mukherjee.
On April 9, a group of workers had attacked the garden's assistant manager, Dipesh Kumar Gupta, 28, while he was on his way for lunch.
"We are still unclear about the reason. It could be a personal grudge," said Mukherjee. The management had alleged that the assistant manager was hit with iron roads and empty bottles and other executives who had gone to intervene were pelted with stones. "The assistant manager is still in the ICU. He has suffered cranial injury and his shoulder has been dislocated. There was also heavy loss of blood," said Mukherjee.
