Workers of the closed Madhu tea estate in Alipurduar district blocked the Kalchini–Hasimara state highway for nine and a half hours on Thursday, demanding overdue monthly assistance under the West Bengal government’s Financial Assistance to Workers of Locked Out Industries scheme.
The garden has been shut since May 18, 2025. Of its original 952 workers, 736 remain, while the others have left for employment in different states, according to the report. Under the FAWLOI scheme, workers of closed tea gardens are supposed to receive ₹1,500 per month.
Binay Kerketta, a central committee member of the Pashchimbanga Cha Mazdoor Samiti, which organised the protest, said only 260 of the 736 remaining workers had received the assistance despite the garden being closed for more than 17 months. The workers were seeking payment of their pending dues, particularly with Durga Puja approaching.
“When we submitted a memorandum to the state labour department, we were told that the file had been sent to Calcutta for approval. But with Puja approaching, the workers have become frustrated and blocked the road, demanding their dues,” Kerketta said, according to the report.
Around 300 women workers initially left the garden intending to protest at the Kalchini police station. They later changed their plan and blocked the highway, where they were joined by male workers and family members. The blockade affected a state highway connecting Kalchini and Hasimara in the Alipurduar district.
A worker said the state should release at least 15 months of assistance to the workers who had not been paid. At ₹1,500 a month, that would amount to around ₹22,500 for each eligible worker, matching the figure cited by the protesters.
The dispute highlights the administrative gap between the existence of a welfare entitlement and the delivery of payments to workers of a closed industrial unit. In this case, the workers said they had been told that the file was awaiting approval from the state labour department, while only a portion of the remaining workforce had received assistance.
A department source said 130 workers were likely to receive the money before Durga Puja, while payments to the remaining workers would take more time. The source did not specify when the rest of the eligible workers would be paid.
District administration officials and police spoke to the protesters and persuaded them to clear the road in the evening. A worker said officials had assured them that the majority of the remaining workers would receive the amount before Puja. The payment process and the release of the balance dues remain the next points of concern for the workers.
