Lepetkata Tea Estate workers protest uprooting of tea bushes for hotel project
The plantation, owned by Luxmi Tea Company, has already cleared about 300 bighas of the garden's land.;
Luxmi Tea Company has threatened the livelihood and social security of hundreds of workers and their dependents.
Representational image: Tea garden workers (Photo: PTI)
Dibrugarh, Jan 25: The workers of Lepetkata Tea Estate, led by the Assam Tea Tribes Students' Association (ATTSA), staged a protest on Thursday against the garden management's act of uprooting tea bushes in the Bolai division of the estate to reportedly pave the way for setting up an industrial unit.
The plantation, owned by Luxmi Tea Company, has already cleared about 300 bighas of the garden's land to construct a five-star hotel and other amenities at the location on the pretext of promoting tea tourism, according to the ATTSA.
The chief organising secretary of ATTSA's central committee, Basanta Kurmi, said that the move by Luxmi Tea Company has threatened the livelihood and social security of hundreds of workers and their dependents.
The ATTSA leader demanded that the garden management should immediately plant tea saplings at the site, warning that they would intensify their stir if this is not done immediately.
Echoing similar sentiments, ATTSA's central executive member Montu Urang said that this decision of the tea company will negatively impact the community. "Uprooting tea bushes means declining job opportunities for the local population.
This will cause large-scale migration of workers for job opportunities elsewhere and disintegrate the settled communities within tea estates," he said.
By-
Staff Correspondent
