Prime Darjeeling tea producer Jungpana, which closed its garden two days back owing to labour problems, was now in talks with the Darjeeling Tea Association for its re-opening.
"The Jungpana tea estate had been put under closure due to some labour problems. But we are negotiating both with the management and the workers' union so that it re-opens," S S Bagaria, president of Darjeeling Tea Association (DTA), told PTI.
Considered as one the best producer of Darjeeling tea, the garden was relatively small in nature covering 78 hectares producing nearly 40,000 kg of tea annually and employed 260 workers.
The suspension of work notice issued by the general manager of the tea estate saidL "The management notes with concern the recurrence of indisciplined, organised incidents that is being wilfully instigated in the running of the estate for the past few months with a malafide intention against the management."
Sandeep Mukherjee, principal advisor to the Darjeeling Tea Association (DTA), an umbrella organisation of the 87 tea gardens of the hills, of which Jungpana is a member, said in Darjeeling, "The management will not tolerate indiscipline, interference and intimidation by trade unions. It is the prerogative of the management to run the garden."
The principal advisor said, "We cannot give in to the demands of personal indulgence by 'netas' which is unethical."
"We wanted to address the issues and had asked the trade union to sit for meetings on many occasions, the last being on July 30. The union never turned up in any of the meetings we called and even went against their own central leadership. This reflects their defiant attitude and it will not be tolerated by the management," Mukherjee said.
Suraj Subba, general secretary of the Darjeeling Terai Dooars Plantation Labour Union (DTDPLU), said the central committee will sit for a meeting to resolve the issue.
"Whatever the problems, they have only been discussed with our garden level unit. It seems the DTA had called a meeting Wednesday and our unit failed to attend it. But that is not reason enough for the management to suspend work," he said.
