The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has issued notice to West Bengal government over reported deaths of nearly 1,000 people due to malnutrition in three closed tea gardens in Jalpaiguri district and two in Alipurduar district.
In a statement, the Commission said it has taken suo motu cognizance of a media report that nearly 1,000 people have died due to malnutrition in tea estates in Dooars and Surendranagar in Jalpaiguri, and Dharanipur, Dheklapara and Bandapani in Alipurduar.
NHRC has observed that the contents of the media report, if true, raise a serious violation of human rights. A notice has been issued to the Chief Secretary, Government of West Bengal, calling upon him to submit a detailed report in the matter within four weeks, it said.
"The tea workers were never a happy lot, with low wages, poor quality of ration and insufficient medical facilities which have led them to contracting rampant tuberculosis and other unknown ailments.
"The rice distributed under PDS being unfit for consumption, there was nothing else to eat. These workers barely survived on shrubs collected from the gardens," the NHRC statement said.
Reportedly, the West Bengal Government has declined to acknowledge that these deaths occurred due to starvation. It has even declined to recognise that there was any malnutrition death.
According to reports, some of the workers had even sold their children for survival and what made the situation more complex was the pride of the Adivasi workers and their shame in speaking of their poverty. Some of these workers got employment under MGNREGA but their wages were not paid timely, adding to their plight, the Commission noted.
