Labourers of Bogidhola Tea Estate stage blockade, police resort to blank firing

A Correspondent

Golaghat: Lathicharge, blank fire and tear gas were used on tea garden labourers of Bogidhola TE when they came out on the streets to demand the release of three arrested tea labourers on Thursday morning.

According to report, on Wednesday, Golaghat Police arrested three labourers of the Bogidhola TE - Jamun Tanti, Jagdish Tanti and Roni Kumar - on the basis of the FIR lodged by the owners of the TE. The garden owners, Sudhir Roy and Samir Roy alleged that three labourers were allegedly involved in stealing green leaf from the garden. The Golaghat Police sent the accused labourers to Golaghat district jail on Wednesday.

In this connection, tea garden labourers of Bogidhola TE blocked the NH-39 highway at Purabangla demanding immediate release of the three garden labourers. They raised various slogans against the district administration, police administration and garden authority by blocking the busy NH-39 highway. Additional Deputy Commissioner Utpal Doley, Circle Officer Morangi Revenue Circle and Additional SP Dhruba Bora arrived at the spot. The situation came to that point where police personnel were compelled to lathicharge, use tear gas and resort to blank fire to control the situation. In the incident, five police personnel and at least 12 tea garden labourers sustained injuries.

Notably, several allegations against the authority of Bogidhola TE have been raised. It has been alleged that the owner of the TE allegedly siphoned off more than Rs 68 lakh since 1992 till date by depriving the labours of PF, gratuity, ration and bonus since a long time.

Interestingly, in 2017 open firing took place where several labourers sustained bullet injuries. Later, the owners of Bogidhola TE, Sudhir Roy and Samir Roy were arrested and sent to Golaghat District Jail. Later, on February 3, 2017 district administration declared lock-out at Bogidhola TE. In the meantime, a third party entered the garden and was allegedly involved in stealing the green leaf of the garden. The TE owner lodged as many as 56 cases in the local police station. Finally, due to negligence and ignorance of the Golaghat administration and police administration, this incident took place in Bogidhola TE again.

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