BJP MP from Alipurduar, Manoj Tigga, on Wednesday raised pressing concerns about the deplorable condition of tea garden workers across four key districts of North Bengal—Alipurduar, Jalpaiguri, Darjeeling, and North Dinajpur—during the Zero Hour in the Lok Sabha.
Highlighting the grim ground reality, Tigga told the House that workers in these tea estates continue to be deprived of the most basic necessities. He pointed out issues including the acute lack of access to clean drinking water, non-payment or delayed payment of wages, and irregularities in depositing workers’ Provident Fund contributions by garden managements.
He further drew attention to the absence of proper healthcare facilities, poor educational access for children, and an alarming shortage of decent housing. Tigga also demanded that tea garden workers be given ownership rights to the land they have worked on for generations, instead of continuing under lease-based arrangements.
In a grave revelation, the MP said that human trafficking has become a bitter and disturbing reality in several tea belt areas, worsening the crisis of marginalisation.
“This is not merely an economic or social issue, but a question of human empathy,” Tigga said. “We urge the government to intervene and take concrete steps to improve the condition of these shabby tea gardens so that workers may also live a life of dignity.”