Alipurduar tea worker dies due to lack of money for treatment

Alipurduar : The issue of tea workers’ ordeal is no new in North Bengal and incidents of their deaths are sending alram bells ringing. The death of a tea garden worker in Alipurduar has brought the issue into sharp focus agin. Kishan Lohara, 49, a worker of the closed Raymatang tea plantation under the Kalchini police station, died on Sunday.
His family members said they failed to manage money to take him to a better hospital. The incident has sent shockwaves.

The plight of workers and their family members in tea gardens that are closed has worsened, sources said. They said the management abandoned the Raymatang tea plantation, owned by the Buxa DooarsTea Co. on October 26 over issues related to the Durga Puja bonus and workers’ wages.
“As the plantation isnow closed, workers have to make do without the wages, their only source ofincome. The closure has left the 12,500 workers in the plantation in direstraits.Sources said that Loharawas admitted in the Latabari Block Hospital on 22 November, and that thedoctors at the hospital had referred him to the district hospital.“Kishan Lohara wassuffering from bronchitis for a long period. He was referred to the Alipurduardistrict hospital from the Latabari Block Hospital. His family members couldnot take him to the district hospital because they did not have money. His family took him back home from the Latabari hospital,” said a staff at the tea garden hospital at Raymatang, Kamal Kujur.
While the block administration took initiatives to prevent such incidents from happening in thefuture, it was too little too late for Lohara’s family.The Block Development Officer of Kalchini, Bhusan Sherpa, said he came to know of the incident through reporters.“
“I immediately took initiatives to distribute my and the block medical officer’s telephone numbers in every tea garden in the block. I have appealed to all to contact us if any body experiences problems in taking their family members to the hospital or theydon’t have money for treatment of their family members. I will arrange foreverything. The government has schemes for the treatment of the poor,” Sherpa said.

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Malnutrition is a major problem among families, especially children, intea gardens in the Dooars and the Terai.Deaths of tea plantation workers in lack of treatment or due to alleged starvation have hit headlines in the past. “However, the plightof the garden workers does not seem to end, and their condition never got better”, a source said.