TMC MP Alleges Centre's tea garden creches in north Bengal are 'non-functional, unfit even for animals'
Mr Banerjee had posed an unstarred question at Rajya Sabha on July 25 (Friday) to the Minister of Heavy Industries regarding the issue. 'Whether it is a fact that there are no operating Creche houses in Karbala, New Dooars, Banarhat and Choonabhutti tea gardens of Andrew Yule group,' he asked.
In response, the Minister of Heavy Industries, Bhupathiraju Srinivasa Varma gave a list of five creches that are functioning in these tea gardens. Notably, these tea gardens are not directly Central Government owned, but managed by Andrew Yule and Company, which is a public sector enterprise owned by the Ministry of Heavy Industries, Government of India.
After the Ministry's response came in, Mr Banerjee issued an official statement and said that before the Monsoon Session of the Parliament begun, they had conducted a survey among the tea gardens workers of north Bengal, among many problems, non-functional creches were sighted as one of the major problems by the workers.
'Since Saturday morning our Trinamool Cha Bagan Shramik Union (TMC Tea Garden Workers Union) members have individually visited these creches and none of them are functioning. We made videos and taken photos. How did they claim these to be operating?'
The videos which were shared widely show that houses which are known as the creche are mostly closed or in dilapidated condition. Mr Banerjee accused that the creches which the government has called an 'operating creche' is not even suitable for 'animals, let alone humans.' He said that the creches mentioned are better suited as 'cattle sheds.'
On the other hand, the MP also highlighted that the West Bengal government and Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee have already decided to make creches for the tea garden workers and the ease of their children. 'We can also make creches in the four tea estates of the union government, but we would need their No Objection Certificate,' Mr Banerjee added.
Mr Banerjee then went to shed light on the other plights of the tea garden workers including lack of a provident fund and irregular wage payments, and more.
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