Another tea garden abandoned by management

Darjeeling: Yet another tea garden is abandoned by its management in less than a week of time. This time it is Pooboong T. E., 17 km from Darjeeling and falling under Sukhiapokhari block. As is apparent, such incidents almost always, boil down to management - trade union misunderstandings. The CPI(M) affiliated CITU had been pressurising the management on various demands such as, ration cards, medical benefits, provident fund, etc. The CITU had supposedly called for a hunger-strike from today.

The GNLF affiliated Himalayan Plantation Workers Union (HPWU) on the other hand alleged that, CITU's tactics were not always entirely peaceful.

According to HPWU, CITU is guilty of intimidating and threatening the garden management. They also demanded an immediate arrest of errant CITU members.

The owner, Pawan Kumar Agrawal, the manager, Uttam Pradhan and the assistant manager left the garden suddenly and without prior information. A cloud of uncertainty hangs over the factory and it's 350 workers for now.