WB Congress delegation meets Prez; seeks help for tea workers

A delegation of West Bengal Pradesh Congress Committee (WBPCC) has met President Pranab Mukherjee seeking his help in improving lives of hundreds of tea workers in the state.
The delegation led by WBPCC chief Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury and comprising Lok Sabha member Abhijeet Mukherjee, who is also the President's son, said that tea workers in West Bengal are passing through uncertainty and unbearable crises of livelihood in respect of minimum wages, housing, medical, electricity and education.
"It is really unfortunate that the cry of the workmen and resident of tea estate never focus among the national issues," the memorandum submitted by them said.

They demanded "focused policy framework" for the workers' community to improve their lives which is presently "completely vested with the whims and fancies of tea garden owners".
"Immediate policy interventions and measures are felt highly urgent to bring normalcy in closed and abandoned tea estates causing eventual starvation deaths," reads the memorandum submitted to the President yesterday.
Besides, Chowdhury and Abhijeet Mukherjee, the delegation included two members of West Bengal Legislative Assembly-- Manoj Chakraborty and Sankar Malakar--and 23 tea garden leaders.