Dear Friends,
The AHRC has received the following information from its partner organisation MASUM in West Bengal. Sabita Pradhan, wife of Mr. Mani Pradhan, about 48 years old, died at Dumchipara tea garden due to an ailment caused by starvation. She is one of over 65 individuals to have died in the West Bengali tea plantations due to starvation since January 2015. These starvation deaths are one among the many human rights abuses faced by workers at many of the tea plantations that have been closed down, owned by Duncans Industries in West Bengal.
CASE NARRATIVE:
On 14.01.2016 Sabita Pradhan, wife of Mr. Mani Pradhan, about 48 years old, died at the tea garden due to an ailment caused by starvation. She was a worker at the Dumchipara Tea Garden; many deaths related to starvation have been reported from the same garden.
Since April, workers and their families of the tea estates owned by Duncans Industries are living in the following situation. In total, 75,000 people have been surviving on food and medicines given by the state government. Due to financial losses, the company stopped paying wages and providing rations in the 14 gardens. A woman who died 9 months ago, was the sole source of income for her family. Her husband was mentally ill and could not work. As the wages and ration payments became irregular, she was finding it nearly impossible to manage a square meal for her family. In her last week, she became ill, could no longer work and soon passed away. This woman’s story is startlingly familiar. Thousands of people at the tea estates that closed down in Terai and Dooars are facing similar struggles.
From June 2015, a known 90 workers have died in 6 of the 14 estates, with 21 dead in Birpara tea estate, 25 in Bagrakote, 16 in Hantapara, 15 in Dhumchipara, 7 in Gargandya and 6 in Nageswari.
Following the closure of the Dumchipara tea garden, there have been reports of human rights abuses, and deaths related to employer negligence. Since the tea estate was shut down, workers have been living in conditions with no electricity, stable infrastructure or drinking water. Food rations are scarce. As work at the plantation is the only source of income for most of the 3,018 residing workers, many individuals are falling ill or dying from starvation and disease. There are 5,356 people residing on the plantation, and 1,111 families. Most workers are tribal migrants with limited practical skills. This renders their efforts to seek alternate employment opportunities futile. Many workers find employment in a river near Bhutan, where they crush stones for 45 rupees (.67 USD) per day. As a result, most families have lost their source of income. Many young women are urged to become domestic helpers where they fall prey to sexual assault, physical abuse or human trafficking. In addition, there is very little electricity on the estates, only found in the rooms of workers who pay individually for it. There are no streetlights in the region, darkness rendering the area vulnerable to crime. Countless girls, as young as 8 years old have gone missing in the middle of the night, forced into prostitution rings.
The closest source of drinking water for residents at the Dumchipara estate is many kilometres away, while the common water tap is open for one hour per day. Raising hygiene and safety concerns, latrines are often built unstably, giving residents no option but to defecate next to open mud drains. In the absence of a sanitation system and appropriate infrastructure, cholera and diarrhoea outbreaks are common.
In April, 2015, 60% of employees were paid 40% of their regular wage. No workers have been paid since May, 2015. Most of the workers are not listed as Below Poverty Line (BPL). The majority of benefits of the Central and state governments do not reach the population in the tea gardens.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:
In the Duncans owned tea estates in Terai and Dooars, further reports of starvation related deaths and malnutrition are surfacing. Issues such as illiteracy, alcoholism, forced migration, and trafficking are prevalent. An activist working with Shakti Vahini, an anti-trafficking NGO, told The Hindu that in the first ten months of 2015, over 2800 victims of trafficking from West Bengal were rescued. The tea gardens are among some of the most vulnerable regions for trafficking.
Birpara tea garden, also managed by Duncans, has been closed since March 2015. The 1,529.4 hectare tea garden once employed nearly 2,025 permanent workers in addition to over 1,100 temporary workers. Dependent families number 1332 in the Birpara tea garden, and the factory where 250 individuals were employed, is now empty. MASUM toured Birpara tea gardens on a fact-finding mission. They found evidence conducive to human rights abuses and abysmal living conditions. The team met permanent workers, temporary workers, family members of the deceased, medical assistants, village heads, and families of persons who migrated from the area in search of job. Upon MASUM’s arrival, the workers expressed their anguish over the failure of both the garden management and the government in ensuring their rights. In its hospital, the tea estate does not have medicine or adequate professional supervision. This has led to numerous deaths of sick workers and women during childbirth. Homes are exposed to the elements with no electricity. Most of the children at Birpara have quit school, as there is no money to buy gas for the bus. They are forced to crush stones at a nearby quarry.
At the Duncans estates in Terai and Dooars, workers are extremely dependent on the management of Duncans Industries. The corporation is responsible for providing salaries, electricity, housing, food rations, water, and healthcare for over 75,000 people, in accordance with the Plantation Labor Act of 1951. For years, Duncans management has cut the majority of services. It no longer provides food rations, creating famine-like conditions in the estates; most families eat only one meal a day. Many people are suffering from tuberculosis, bloated stomachs, stunted growth, jaundice, and anaemia. There is no medicine on most of the estates. Women often die during childbirth, primarily due to a lack of professional medical supervision. This grave situation demands the immediate attention of the authorities.
SUGGESTED ACTION:
Write letters to the relevant authorities calling upon them to take the necessary measures to ensure that former employees are receiving unemployment benefits, adequate medical care and housing facilities and that their safety and security is ensured.
The AHRC is writing separate letters to the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food and the UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples for their intervention into this matter.
To support this case, please click here: SEND APPEAL LETTER
SAMPLE LETTER
Dear __________,
INDIA: In West Bengal, starvation related deaths, trafficking and extensive human rights abuses in tea plantations owned by Duncans Industries
Name of the victim: Sabita Pradhan
Name of alleged perpetrators: Duncans Industries
Place of incident: Dumchipara tea garden, Birpara Tea gardens
I am writing to you to voice my deep concern about the living conditions and neglect of the former employees at the Dumchipara and Birpara tea estates, owned by Duncans Industries in West Bengal.
On 14.01.2016 Sabita Pradhan, wife of Mr. Mani Pradhan, about 48, died at the tea garden due to an ailment caused by starvation. She was a worker of the Dumchipara Tea Garden; many deaths related to starvation have been reported from the same garden.
Since April, the workers and their families of the Duncans gardens, 75,000 people, have been surviving on food and medicines given by the state government. Due to financial setbacks, the company stopped paying wages and providing rations in the 14 gardens. A woman, who died 9 months ago, was the sole source of income for her family. Her husband was mentally ill and could not work. As the wages and ration payments became irregular, she was finding it nearly impossible to manage a square meal for her family. In her last week, she became ill, could no longer work and passed away. This woman’s story is startlingly familiar. Thousands of individuals at the tea estates in Terai and Dooars are facing similar struggles.
From June 2015, a known 90 workers have died in 6 of the 14 estates, with 21 dead in Birpara tea estate, 25 in Bagrakote, 16 in Hantapara, 15 in Dhumchipara, 7 in Gargandya and 6 in Nageswari.
Following the closure of the Dumchipara tea garden, there have been reports of human rights abuses, and deaths related to employer negligence. Since the tea estate was shut down, workers have been living in conditions that have no electricity, stable infrastructure or drinking water. Food rations are scarce, and because work at the plantation is the only source of income for most of the 3,018 residing workers, many individuals are falling ill or dying from starvation and disease. There are 5,356 people residing on the plantation, and 1,111 families. Most workers are tribal migrants with limited practical skills, rendering their efforts to seek alternate employment opportunities futile. Many workers find employment in a river near Bhutan, where they crush stones for 45 rupees (.67 USD) per day. As a result, most families have lost their source of income. Many young women are urged to become domestic helpers, Here, they fall prey to sexual assault, physical abuse or human trafficking. There is very little electricity on the estate-only found in the rooms of workers who pay individually for it. There are no streetlights in the region, darkness rendering the area vulnerable to crime. Countless girls, as young as 8 years old have gone missing in the middle of the night, forced into prostitution rings.
The closest source of drinking water for residents at the Dumchipara estate is many kilometres away while the common water tap is open for one hour per day. Raising hygiene and safety concerns, latrines are often built unstably, giving residents no option but to defecate next to open mud drains. In the absence of a sanitation system and appropriate infrastructure, cholera and diarrhoea outbreaks are common.
In April, 2015, 60% of employees were paid 40% of their regular wage. No workers have been paid since May, 2015. Most of the workers are not listed as Below Poverty Line (BPL). Therefore, most benefits of the central and state governments do not reach the population in the tea gardens.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:
In the Duncans owned tea estates in Terai and Dooars, further reports of starvation related deaths and malnutrition surface. Issues, such as illiteracy, alcoholism, forced migration, and trafficking are prevalent. An activist working with Shakti Vahini, an anti-trafficking NGO, told The Hindu that in the first ten months of 2015, over 2800 victims of trafficking from West Bengal were rescued. The tea gardens are among some of the most vulnerable regions for trafficking.
Birpara tea garden, also managed by Duncans, has been closed down since March 2015. The 1,529.4 hectare tea garden once employed nearly 2,025 permanent workers in addition to over 1,100 temporary workers. 1332 families are dependent on Birpara tea garden, and the factory at which 250 individuals were employed, is now empty. MASUM toured Birpara tea gardens on a fact-finding mission, and found evidence conducive to human rights abuses and abysmal living conditions. The team met permanent workers, temporary workers, family members of the deceased, medical assistants, village heads, and families of persons who migrated from the area in search of job. Upon MASUM’s arrival, the workers expressed their anguish over the failure of both the garden management and the government in ensuring their rights. In its hospital, the tea estate does not have medicine or adequate professional supervision, leading to numerous deaths of sick workers and women during childbirth. Homes are exposed to the elements and lacking electricity. Most of the children at Birpara have quit school, as there is no money to buy gas for the bus. They are forced to crush stones at a nearby quarry.
At the Duncans estates in Terai and Dooars, workers are extremely dependent on the management of Duncans Industries. It is responsible for providing salaries, electricity, housing, food rations, water, and healthcare for over 75,000 people in accordance with the Plantation Labor Act of 1951. For years, Duncans management has cut the majority of these facilities. The corporation no longer provides food rations, creating famine-like conditions in the estates; most families eat only one meal a day. Many people are suffering from tuberculosis, bloated stomachs, stunted growth, jaundice, and anaemia. There is no medicine on most of the estates. Women often die during childbirth, primarily due to a lack of professional medical supervision.
Local governments have taken no beneficial action to raise the living standards of the individuals residing on the premises. They have done little to ensure that the former employees have access to unemployment benefits.
Therefore, I hereby request you to:
• Ensure that the former employees are given adequate food
• Ensure that former employees are receiving unemployment benefits
• Ensure that former employees have access to adequate medical care, especially those suffering from diseases
• Ensure that housing and restroom facilities are being periodically maintained and renovated
• Establish a mode of public transportation, so individuals have the chance to seek job opportunities, have easier access to drinking water, and children can continue to attend school
• Provide food rations for those who are unable to afford basic sustenance
• Install a water pump
• Ensure that Duncans Industries is held responsible and accountable for the human rights abuses on their estates
I look forward to your prompt action in this matter.
Yours sincerely,
______________
PLEASE SEND YOUR LETTERS TO:
1. Justice H.L. Dattu, Chairperson
National Human Rights Commsion
Manav Adhikar Bhawan
Block-C, G.P.O. Complex, INA
New Delhi-110023
Email:cr.nhrc@nic.in
2. Shri Rajnath Singh
Minister of Home Affairs
Room no 104, North Block, Central Secretariat
New Dehli— 110001
INDIA
Tel: +911123092462
Fax: +911123094221
Email:jscpg-mha@nic.in
3. Shri. Jual Oram
Union Minister for Tribal Affairs
1, Pt. Motilal Nehru Marg,
New Delhi – 110001
Tel : +91 11 23381499 / 23388482
Fax: +9111-23070577(FAX
Email: jualoram@nic.in
4. Smt. Mamata Bannerjee
NABANNA (14th Floor)
325, Sarat Chatterjee Road,
Shibpur, Howrah-711102
INDIA
Tel: (033)2214-5555, 2214-3101
Fax: (033)2214-3528
E-mail: cm@wb.gov.in
5. Surajit Kar Purkayastha, IPS, DG and IGP, West Bengal
West Bengal police Directorate
Nabanna
325 Sarat Chatterjee road
Howrah – 711 102
Tel: 033-2214-5400
Email: dgpwestbengal@gmail.com
Thank you.
Urgent Appeals Programme
Asian Human Rights Commission (ua@ahrc.asia)
