Guwahati: Operations at the Sekoni Tea Estate in Kaliabor have ground to a halt. The shutdown has dragged on for three months. Nearly 1,000 workers and their families now face a bleak future without access to basic rations or medical care. The crisis hit when owner Pankaj Kankaria reportedly left the area, forcing the estate to close its doors.
Laborers report they are living in fear. They claim the management exploited them even before the shutdown began. Officials from the Nagaon Deputy Commissioner office and the Labour Department visited the site previously. They promised to resolve the situation, but the workers say no real help arrived. Nothing changed.
The Sekoni unit of the Assam Tea Mazdoor Sangha and the Sekoni primary unit of the Assam Tea Tribes Students’ Association held a press conference on Sunday, August 30. They slammed both the Labour Minister and Kankaria for the ongoing disaster. The groups issued a clear demand: "demand immediate steps to restore normal operations and ensure that the workers receive their entitled facilities and benefits."
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