Labourers force Assam tea garden manager to leave estate

A tea garden manager was forcibly evicted from his official bungalow and compelled to leave the estate in Assam by irate labourers alleging that they were deprived of their dues like provident fund and gratuity for a long time, the police said today.
Labourers of Craigpark Tea Garden in Cachar district almost dragged out garden manager Pranab Roy, hailing from Kolkata, out of his bungalow yesterday.
However, the police rescued him and safely took him out of the estate. He was staying alone in the bungalow.
The mob had come with kerosene to set ablaze the bungalow but were prevented from doing so, the sources said.

The protesting labourers, however, occupied the bungalow stating they would run the garden themselves but would not allow Pranab Roy to return.
Craigpark Tea Garden labour leader Sankar Ree claimed before the media that the garden authorities have been depriving them of PF, gratuity, etc, since long with crores of Rupees under PF belonging to over 750 labourers of the garden pending payment.
The labourers alleged that Roy also took harsh steps like not providing them with quarters if they did not attend to 225 working days in a year.
The Cachar district administration about a year and a half back had asked garden owner Shib Kanai to come from Kolkata to take charge of his estate, Ree said adding the owner began to neglect the garden again and the condition of the estate deteriorated with the labourers facing an uncertain fate.