At a time when the state government has allocated Rs 25 lakh to organise a ‘Tea Gold Cup Football Tournament 2021’ in North Bengal’s tea belt to search for football talents, the staff and sub staff of all tea gardens in the Hills, Terai and the Dooars today observed a cease-work for around three-and-a-half hours, demanding a fresh agreement in their monthly salary.

According to the Convener of the Staff and Sub Staff Joint Committee (SSJC), AK Basu, they would observe five hours of cease-work every day from 2 August to 4 August if the Consultative Committee of Plantation Association (CCPA) failed to consider their demand and respond to them in a positive manner. It may be noted here that the three-year agreement for the salary has already ended.

Following the intervention of the state government, their salary was hiked as an interim measure. Significantly, Mr Basu, today claimed that as two tripartite agreements had not been signed, a tea worker was not getting Rs 45.31 every day. Tea workers are getting Rs 202 a day, but they should have received Rs 247.31 a day, based on the rate of increment since 2014, he said.

Similarly, a sub-staff is suffering a “loss” of Rs 2422.48 a month and staff is losing Rs 6188.20 monthly, Mr Basu added. Despite grievances and frustration among workers, the staff and sub-staffs, along with football lovers in the tea belt, will join hands with the government in organizing the football tournament, it is learnt.

Notably, the state labour department and its officials have already held a series of meetings to organise the tournament in five venues like Darjeeling, Jalpaiguri, Alipurduar, Siliguri and Malbazaar, with a view to searching for talented footballers below 18 years of age. A total of 16 teams are scheduled to take part in the tournament from the tea belt, while 27 matches will be played tentatively from 15 August.

Notably, chief minister Mamata Banerjee, addressing her party’s Martyr’s Day event on 21 July, had announced that a ‘Khela Diwas’ would be marked on 16 August by distributing footballs to local clubs across the state. According to her, the decision was based on the popular slogan, ‘Khela Hobe’ that her party, Trinamul Congress, used during the last Assembly elections and which helped Miss Banerjee to come back to power in the state.