Workers at a tea plantation in eastern India killed the
owner during negotiations over a pay dispute. The owner of the Sonali tea
estate in West Bengal was dragged out of talks on Saturday, beaten up and
stabbed by a crowd. The workers had reportedly not been paid for two or three
months. Many workers in India's tea plantations are malnourished and poorly
paid.
According to Raja Das, Secretary of Terai Indian Planters’
Association (TIPA) the tea estate had been plagued with a series of issues relating
to non-payment of dues. “It had long history of defaulting in payment of
statutory dues to workers. According to initial reports the garden did not
implement the industry-wide wage settlement, and, denied supplying the promised
rations. On top of all, it had failed to pay wages in time,”
Several incidents of
attacks on tea executives by workers have been reported in recent years. In
2012 a tea plantation owner and his wife were burned to death in the
neighbouring state of Assam.
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