Alipurduar: On January 3, senior Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader and MP Abhishek Banerjee arrived by helicopter at the Majherbari Tea Estate in West Bengal’s Alipurduar district to launch the party’s election campaign in the tea belt in North Bengal for the upcoming assembly elections.Standing over a specially-built ramp to facilitate his interaction with tea garden workers, Banerjee promised a hike in the daily wages of tea garden workers from Rs 250 to Rs 300, if his aunt, West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee, secures a fourth consecutive term in office.However, beneath this political rhetoric, ASD (Absent, Shifted, Dead) data released by the Election Commission of India (ECI) in December 2025 as part of Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise, reveals a troubling reality about the plight of the tea garden worker.The Majherbari Tea Estate comes under the Kalchini assembly constituency and is reserved for Scheduled Tribe (ST) candidates owing to the high tribal population in the area.According to the ECI’s Special Intensive Revision (SIR) draft rolls, the average age of voters in Kalchini who were removed from the draft voter list on account of death, as per the ASD data, is just 58 years, the lowest in West Bengal, where the state average for this figure exceeds 65 years.This number further plunges at the booth level. Polling stations 274 and 275, located inside the Majherdabri Cha Bagan Special Kyadar Primary School – the very venue of Banerjee’s rally – show as per the ECI data that average ages of death were 54 and 56 years, respectively.This was not the first time that Banerjee positioned himself as a problem-solver in Alipurduar’s tea belt. In May 2023, local media carried glowing reports crediting him for the reopening of the Kohinoor Tea Estate, abandoned by its management six months earlier. The garden reopened within eight days of Banerjee’s assurance during an outreach visit.Widespread workers’ protests over unpaid wages, PF ‘defaults’Initially, Kohinoor’s reopening was framed as a triumph of Banerjee’s political intervention and renewed interests among corporates towards tea gardens. The garden was taken over by Merico Agro Industries Private Limited, a Kolkata-based company that was virtually unknown in the industry until a few years ago. Incorporated in 2018, the company has executed an aggressive expansion strategy by assuming operational control over distressed tea assets formerly owned by the Duncans Industries Limited.This rapid expansion includes Rangli Rangliot in Darjeeling district, Nageshwari, Kilkot, Manabari, and Bagrakot in Jalpaiguri, and a massive Alipurduar portfolio comprising Birpara, Hantapara, Dhumchipara, Tulsipara, Garganda, Dimdima, Bandapani, and Kohinoor.Yet, the “Kohinoor model” of revival appears to have been short-lived. In November 2025, the manager of the Kohinoor Tea Estate abruptly fled following months of workers’ protests over the non-payment of Provident Fund (PF) and gratuity, leaving 888 workers unemployed once again.Kohinoor is not an isolated case. According to a document signed by the union leaders and managers from various Merico gardens from January this year and seen by The Wire, pertaining to a tripartite meeting that took place the same month between the government, tea garden workers’ unions and the Merico management, workers in gardens such as Tulsipara and Garganda are owed up to seven fortnights of wages, while staff members in Garganda have not been paid for seven months as December 2025.The Wire reached out to the Surajit Baksi, Director of both Merico Agro and Sammelan Tea on January 12, January 19 and February 13 through phone and WhatsApp. This report will be updated if and when the management team responds.Legally, these delays constitute a clear violation of the Payment of Wages Act, 1936. Under Section 5, wages must be paid within seven days of the end of the wage period in establishments employing fewer than 1,000 permanent workers, a threshold most Merico gardens fall below. The Act also provides detailed preventive and supervisory powers under Section 14 for inspections, calling for registers and records, taking statements, and seizing documents where offenses are suspected, which may even be invoked suo motu.Yet, despite the scale and duration of these violations, such powers have not been exercised by the State Government, at least not within the collective memory of the affected workers.In addition, all Merico gardens have a long record of not clearing pending gratuity, which workers often receive only through the recovery mechanism under the Payment of Gratuity Act.Yet, state authorities have failed to exercise their supervisory or seizure powers to intervene.Across Alipurduar and the Dooars, Merico Agro Industries Pvt. Ltd. and its sister concern Sammelan Tea & Beverages Pvt. Ltd. now face widespread workers’ protests over unpaid wages, PF ‘defaults’, gratuity arrears and broken commitments.“In 14 tea gardens in this area, workers are not receiving their regular wages and the benefits they are entitled to. We called on all workers’ organisations to join the movement without any flags. The workers themselves are the organisers. But TMC and Bharatiya Janata Party-affiliated unions have refused to take part in our movement,” claimed labour rights activist Shankar Das from Madarihat.The systematic neglect of the gardens, including the sale of machinery and the cutting of essential shade trees, has destroyed productivity and devalued the land.“This was a Duncan company garden. After driving them away, where did companies like Merico and Sammelan come from? Abhishek Banerjee said at the party meeting in Alipurduar that our wages would be increased from Rs 250 to Rs 300. But in today’s market, this amount is meaningless,” said a labourer from the Tulsipara Tea Estate told The Wire.Tea garden workers sit on a dharna in Alipurduar in January 2025. Photo: By arrangementFar more devastating is the impact on life itself. After the death of a worker at the Garganda Tea Estate in July 2025, a survey that was part of a fact-finding report by rights organisations found that 38% of the workers were undernourished.Trade union leaders and rights organisations have alleged that people lost their lives owing to “starvation”.“In 2003-04, we saw starvation deaths taking place in closed and abandoned gardens. However today, there is starvation and severe malnutrition even in open gardens. This is the result of the employers not even paying daily wages properly with administrative inaction, even when there is open flouting of labour laws,” claimed trade union activist Anuradha Talwar.In the days surrounding Banerjee’s visit, tea workers in Alipurduar were already in confrontation with the management and the government over non-payment of wages. The agitation intensified after promised tripartite meetings repeatedly failed because management did not appear.“Since 2018, we have seen both BJP and Trinamool compromise with the owners and suppress workers’ rightful demands. In this area alone, there are severe problems in 12 Merico tea gardens. The directors of Dalmur Tea Garden cheated the workers and fled. Without a workers’ movement, we will not survive. For now, we have called on all workers to unite on a joint platform without any party flags,” said a worker from Merico-owned Hantapara Tea Garden.On January 6, barely an hour before a scheduled meeting, Merico sent a letter refusing to negotiate with the protesting workers’ representatives, stating it would speak only to TMC and BJP-affiliated unions.A worker from Tulsipara Tea Estate who had come for negotiations, allegedly jumped from the fifth floor of Dooars Kanya, the state secretariat in the region. He survived. That same night, a woman worker from Hantapara sitting in the dharna, fell seriously ill and had to be hospitalised.After two freezing nights under the open sky outside the Alipurduar district collectorate, the workers got a partial breakthrough in the form of a written assurance that said the company will clear pending wages by January 31, 2026, including one immediate fortnight’s payment. According to local media, TMC MP Abhishek Banerjee’s intervention helped in resolving the stalemate. However, despite the written assurances, the payment was not cleared.“Right from day one when Merico took over these gardens, it signed opening agreements with promises of payment of dues, replacement of retired workers etc., which it has never followed. Workers, therefore, are very suspicious of the management and are very sceptical about any promise they make,” said Talwar, who was agitating with workers.Staggering scale of the sum owed to workersThe Merico management’s new Monthly Rated Employee Salary schedule provided by workers’ unions reveals the staggering scale of the sum owed to workers: as of January 2026, the company owes a combined Rs 3.81 crore in “Old Due Salaries” to more than 6,900 workers across seven tea gardens.The workers had insisted on receiving an officially signed and sealed copy of the assurance routed through the labour administration before agreeing to withdraw their protest – a demand that underscored months of broken timelines and shifting assurances.The government also indicated that a follow-up meeting will be held in February to address unresolved demands such as PF, gratuity, and bonus. Yet, by January 8, this had been extended to March 31, 2026.TMC Rajya Sabha MP Prakash Chik Baraik, who intervened in the midnight of January 6 as a mediator told The Wire, “I am the son of tea-garden worker. An instalment has already been paid, we would also ensure their PFs dues are paid.”While speaking to The Wire, Rajesh Barla, a BJP tea workers’ union leader who attended the earlier tripartite meeting in January, expressed open disillusionment, “At the tripartite meeting we were told that Merico would clear everything by March-April. Some wages have been paid in a few gardens, but it is now clear that we were misled.”Trinamool-affiliated tea workers’ leader Birendranath Oraon offered a more guarded version, “Merico had earlier said they would not be able to clear all dues before April. Still, they informed the tripartite meeting in writing that they would pay all money as per the agreement and on time.”“Sarkar ne humko kangal kar diya (government has made us beggars). The TMC-union had promised us that a part of the payment would be released by January 24, but again it didn’t happen. The management has now sent the manager on leave. These leaders have some connection with the management. They do not think of our wellbeing,” alleged an unpaid labourer from the Tulsipara Tea Estate.Beyond unpaid wages, the most significant financial default alleged by rights organisations involves the alleged fraudulent mishandling of the PF. Although Merico continues to deduct 12% of employee wages for PF contributions, the company has reportedly, according to workers or rights bodies? not deposited it into employee accounts since 2023.Rights organisations have alleged citing data from the PF commissioner’s office that by July 16, 2025, the total PF dues across just seven gardens, including Hantapara, Dhumchipara, and Birpara, had climbed to staggering levels. Dhumchipara alone accounts for over Rs 8.54 crore in unpaid dues. When expanded across ten gardens over three years, an estimated Rs 29.27 crore is reportedly siphoned from over 10,000 workers, the organisations have stated.When approached, the additional labour commissioner, North Bengal, passed the buck on the labour minister.“I have no authority to comment on this matter. The Hon’ble Minister, who is the head of the department, will say what needs to be said,” said Partha Biswas, the additional labour commissioner, North Bengal.“Approvals were granted for six (tea gardens). However, problems have arisen there regarding workers’ wages, PF and related issues. After hearing the workers’ demands, we have already held discussions twice with Merico’s management. They have been told that within the next 15–20 days of the current month, all outstanding wages across all gardens must be paid and PF-related matters resolved,” West Bengal labour minister Moloy Ghatak told The Wire.Despite years of non-payment, in March 2025, chief minister Mamata Banerjee had publicly reinforced the government’s faith in Merico Agri Industry Private Limited, announcing at Nabanna that the company had finally been granted leases for six tea gardens across Alipurduar, Jalpaiguri and Darjeeling districts. The newly-granted lease, initially for three years, may be extended to 30 years based on the company’s performance she had said.Names of tea garden workers have been withheld to protect their identities.This piece is the second story of a two-part series on the plight of tea garden workers in West Bengal. The first part can be read here.