Malnourishment is the major cause of disease leading to deaths in tea gardens, say doctors. (File photo)
In Bengal, malnourishment and poverty related diseases have killed at least 100 people since January in the tea gardens in the Dooars, according to NGOs working in the area.
Most of these deaths have been reported from six tea gardens that have been closed for years. One of them recently reopened, but five others remain abandonded by owners, leaving more than 3000 workers and their families high and dry.
One of the worst affected gardens is Red Bank where 34 people have died since January. "Many died because of years of malnourishment as our garden has been closed since 2003," says Praveen Jha, 28, who has been born and brought up at Red Bank. "The management disappeared and since then workers have not been getting wages and all the other faciities the management is supposed to provide."
In tea gardens, the management provides not just wages but also housing, electricity, water, ration and health care. With the management abandoning the gardens, workers are left with nothing.
The state government, in the last one month, has stepped in to provide free ration and work under MNREGA (the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act) but close to 30,000 people are still living on the edge.
"The state government has stepped in now but all this is temporary," says Red Bank Head Clerk Debabrata Pal. "What must be done is the garden has to be reopened. The government has to either find an investor or take over the garden."
The five closed tea gardens in Dooars are Red Bank, Surendranagar, Dharanipur, Dheklapara and Bundapani.
Malnourishment is the major cause of disease leading to death, say doctors. "Most people in the gardens suffer from severe anemia," says Dr Sabyasachi Sarkar who works with an NGO called MANT and visits Redbank regularly. "People have no money to buy food."
The issue of ownership of the five tea gardens is under litigation. Workers want the state government to take over gardens but there is no sign of that happening.
There are 276 gardens in north Bengal, of which 81 are in Darjeeling hills, 45 in Terai and 150 in the Dooars.
Wages of tea garden workers range from Rs 90 to 95 per day against the minimum wage of Rs 206 paid to agricultural labourers.