The process of clearing the land of a tea garden for establishing the Greenfield Airport here continued for the second day on Friday amid tight security with tea garden workers protesting against the drive in Assam’s Cachar district.
More than hundreds of excavators have been clearing the plantation at the Lalbagh division of Doloo tea estate since Thursday with the workers urging the police personnel deployed in the area to stop it as the garden was their source of livelihood.
A huge contingent of police personnel have been deployed at the spot and the garden area has been cordoned off, police said.
The police had conducted a flag march in the area before the eviction drive began and there has been no report of any untoward incident so far.
Cachar Superintendent of Police Ramandeep Kaur, who was present at the spot, told PTI that the process of acquiring the land for the greenfield airport has started and it is being done as per the memorandum signed by all the concerned stakeholders.
”If any person or groups have any grievances, then it should be addressed through proper channels and they should not create a law and order situation”, she said.
The Assam government has announced a compensation of Rs 50 crore for the acquisition of the land at Doloo Lalbagh and Mainagarh tea gardens for setting up a greenfield airport in Silchar and has already released Rs 2.37 crore as the first installment.
The tea garden management in a recent statement had said that they had already deposited Rs 1.57 crore in the workers’ Provident Fund (PF) account a couple of days ago. . Besides, the gratuity cheques were ceremonially handed over to the garden workers of the garden at a function organised by Cachar Administration here in Doloo tea estate on Monday.
Notably, a total of 80 lakh rupees was paid to 143 tea garden workers out of the 170 who had earlier applied for the gratuity funds and submitted their applications along with relevant documents to the concerned authority while the remaining are being processed and will be handed over in due course of time, the statement said.
BJP Silchar MP Rajdeep Roy said that he would like to thank the management of Doloo tea estate and Cachar Administration for initiating payment as promised to the workers”.
“I would also like to reiterate that the government is committed to the welfare of the tea workers as well as the industry and we are looking forward to an early settlement to the grievances of the tea garden workers and the land impasse at Doloo Tea estate”, he added.
Trinamool Congress Rajya Sabha MP Sushmita Dev alleged that the administration has completely ”mishandled the situation. We want the Greenfield airport but the way the land acquisition and eviction have begun is problematic. The administration is insensitive and we demand proper compensation and rehabilitation of the workers”.
Assam Congress President Bhupen Bora accused Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma of not considering the plight of the workers but was acting in the interest of a few industrialists.
He demanded that the eviction drive be immediately stopped as it was ”undemocratic and reflected the anti-labour policies of the government”.
A memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed in March between Doloo Tea Company Private Limited and various trade unions to protect the jobs of the tea garden workers so that the reduction in land pool does not result in job losses.
According to a proposal taken under the initiative of Silchar’s MP Rajdeep Roy, around 2500 bighas of land will be provided by the tea estate for construction of a Greenfield airport for Barak Valley .
The tea estate’s management assured that it will develop the infrastructure of the tea estate and rejuvenate the garden by extensive plantations on vacant lands of the garden within seven to eight years.
Roy said the government would stand for the interests of the tea estate’s workers and assured that not a single worker would be deprived of their rights.
He appealed to the common masses for their help and support for materialisation of the airport project.
