GUWAHATI, June 13 ? Panic has gripped tea executives in the State, particularly those working in tea estates are passing through a lean phase financially, in view of the killing of three executives within a fortnight including the one lynched by tea workers at Moderkhat Tea Estate in Dibrugarh district yesterday. These brutal killings of tea executives by mobs of tea workers indicated that trouble is brewing in the tea gardens in the State. The tension between disgruntled tea workers who are feeling cheated by the failure of many cash-strapped managements to provide them with all the perks they are used to enjoying for years, and the tea executives is obviously on the rise.
A senior tea executives based in Dibrugarh district, K Sensowa who is also the vice-president of Bharatiya Chah Parishad (BCP), today condemned the brutal killing of Mukul Dowerah, the executive of Moderkhat Tea Estate as well as the two other official killed by workers at Sapoi Tea Estate on May 30 last. Sri Sensowa stated that recurrence of one more such incident might trigger exodus of talented and experienced tea executives from the State which will pave way for inefficiency to strike root in the tea industry as has happened in ATCL gardens in the State. He said that the tea workers in Assam who are organised under various national trade union for more than half a century, must not resort to killing of tea executives on being feeling ?exploited? by managements.
?Killings of executives can?t be the way in a civilised society to settle score with management which can always be dragged to court in case of exploitation, if any, of tea workers,? the tea official said. Sources in the industry deplored that political parties in the State have so far failed to strongly condemn the killings of executives by the tea workers who are considered a vote bank by politicos. Not only the tea industry officials but also a large section of concerned circle in the State have expressed concern over the killings of executives.
An advocate from Dibrugarh, Smt N Ahmed Islam in a letter to this newspaper office condemned the killings of unarmed tea executives by mobs of tea workers. ?If the labourers had genuine grievances they should have approached the Labour Commissioner as per the provision of law. All law abiding citizens must condemn such heinous crime and culprits should be nabbed to prevent breakdown of law among the tea labourers,? the advocate stated in her letter.
Security tightened : Our Dibrugarh Staff Correspondent adds : With Thursday?s killing of a tea executive in the district prodding the upper Assam districts to sit up and take notice, the Civil Administrations in the area are devising ways to prevent similar mishaps. With the upper Assam districts being traditional tea belts, the Moderkhat incident, where assistant manager Mukul Dowerah was assaulted and hacked by a violent mob, the matter of security for executives has gained significance.
Speaking to The Assam Tribune, the Tinsukia Deputy Commissioner, Bhupendra Nath Das said he today sought suggestions from the tea associations to work out a strategy by which untoward incidents and attacks on tea managers can be averted. The associations have asked for a few days? time to give their suggestions.
In the city too, the Deputy Commissioner here, Niraj Verma is taking suggestions from various quarters to maintain tranquility in the tea gardens. The district has a few tea estates, which are prone to labour unrest. Verma stressed on quicker information dissemination for better maintenance of law and order. He has asked the assistant labour commissioner to keep the Civil Administration informed of any trouble brewing in any of the tea gardens in the district, howsoever minor the trouble may seem at first notice. ?The stress would be on averting flashpoints,? he said. He added that he has requested the garden managers and tea associations to promptly report any trouble to the Civil Administration.
The Dibrugarh and Tinsukia districts together have the most number of tea gardens in the country. These are a mixture of both the bigger corporate estates and those set up by the small tea growers. Given the remote location of a majority of the estates, getting the law enforcing machinery to reach trouble spots become a problem, at times. This is being taken care of by alerting even the remote police outposts, though this also means additional work load on the already overburdened police force in both the districts.