Thread by @Article14live

On 24 June, @MohdAbuzarCh & @nikita_jain15 reported how after taking over part of sprawling Doloo Tea Estate for a new airport in #Silchar, #Assam, govt & management said no jobs would be lost.
Now, the estate has been locked.
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In a notice pasted at the gates, the management said the estate was being shut “due to complete lawlessness” & “delay reporting (sic)”. No workers would be entitled to any benefits, such as food rations & wages, said the notice in English, which most workers cannot read
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“... plucking round could not be maintained and the management of Daloo Tea estate has suffered an irreparable loss in terms of quantity and quality of tea produced,” read the notice. An MoU was signed in March between 3 unions & estate owners.
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Workers alleged the 3 unions, allied to #Congress, #BJP & Left, signed an agreement with owners without their consent. On 12 May, tens of bulldozers razed a part of the tea estate for the new Silchar international airport. @MoCA_GoI in May said it did not know of the project
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The workers are tense & scared. “Our fears have come knocking on our doors. We have been going to work every day. All the allegations are false. We have nowhere to go,” said Gautam Bhumish, an estate worker. No management rep was available to them or for comment.
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Tea-garden workers are among #India’s poorest, battling for access to health, education, sanitation. India’s law on land takeover requires those who live off it to be compensated & rehabilitated. That did not happen at the Doloo Tea Estate.
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Despite promises from govt & management, the workers, when we met them, were worried their already tenuous jobs may end, as govt bought out the land for the airport.
They earn Rs 183/day. Assam’s rural poverty line is Rs 816.
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