The Himal World Desk
Siliguri, Sept. 30: West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday opposed the bandh called by different trade unions working in tea gardens in the Hills of Darjeeling and Kalimpong, but expressed the hope that the bonus issue of the garden workers of the region would be resolved in the same manner as those of their fellow workers in the Dooars and the Terai.
Speaking to reporters at the Bagdogra Airport, the chief minister said she would not interfere in the on-going tripartite negotiations involving the workers, the owners and the labour department of the state government. “The labour department is holding tripartite meetings on the bonus issue. I will not interfere in the matter,” she said, adding categorically: “I never support any bandh.”
Trade unions across the board backed by the influential Anit Thapa-headed Bharatiya Gorkha Prajatantrik Morcha had called a 12-hour bandh in the hills today to demand 20 percent bonus. Earlier, after many rounds of negotiations, the garden owners had refused to concede more than 13 per cent as bonus. In the gardens of the Dooars and the Terai, the bonus issue was settled at 16 per cent.
The chief minister during her brief interaction with the media also accused some political parties, without naming any one particular party, of trying to foment unrest in the hills over the bonus issue.
