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Will Ramjhora re-open?

September 12, 2008

Hanuman Tea Co's ownership of Ramjhora estate has been revoked; the estate is now owned by the state of West Bengal.

The state is considering options to turn around these sick estates through new owners, but there is no timetable for ending the misery of workers who, a few months ago, had staged a road block demanding electricity, to draw national attention. Says Ramesh Sharma, "If the government settles the outstanding of Rs 532,000 with the West Bengal electricity board and has the electricity reconnected, the workers will in future work out how to pay the bills themselves."

M B Chhetri, garden babu at the Bharnobari Tea Estates, believes that the issue of tea estate closures should be sorted out as quickly as possible government (the central government has control of all tea estates under the Tea Act of 1953), "They must give a time limit and cancel the lease. If gardens are left closed for too long, the stem of the plant gets too thick and pests set in. Ramjhora garden is finished. I don't think it can open again."

The workers at Ramjhora feel that if a new owner invests Rs 10 crore or Rs 100 million, the place can make a comeback. Biswas says if a potential buyer comes along, the workers have agreed to forgo past dues, provided the place opens up again and they can get back to work.

Kimsuk K Sinha, owner of the Radharani Estate near Kalchini in central Jalpaiguri district, believes that any closed tea garden can reopen with a little investment -- it is just a matter of planting new bushes, and waiting it out. Time has to be given, he adds, to workers so they can regain their physical strength.

"I am an optimist," Sinha says. "I think Ramjhora can re-open. But it is very important for the workers of a closed tea garden to roll out the red carpet for a potential investor. They have to realize that a new owner is putting in money, and he will make money only five years later. They must not have the attitude: 'Oh here is someone with money, let's pounce'."

What will happen to the desperate Jahira and Bahadur and the other impoverished workers if Ramjhora does not start up again?

"If this garden (Ramjhora) does not open again, I do not know what will be the fate of these workers," says a worried Oraon. "The land around here is not arable.

"The government has to help them somehow."