Imphal, Dec 17: North-East Forum for International Solidarity (NEFIS) condemns the firing of bullets on tea-garden workers in Numaligarh area of Golaghat district in Assam.
Around tea workers were injured after the tea owners identified as Samir and Sudhir Roy fired upon to a group of tea worker clearance of their wages on December 12. The statement of the NEFIS said that instead of condemning the act, the Assam Govt. posted CRPF personnel in anticipation of protests that the workers may organize.
The statement added that tea-workers work under highly oppressive conditions in Assam tea gardens. They have historically been exploited and out rightly coerced to work, in active collusion with the state.
“The owners, as in the present case exercise quasi-magisterial powers over the workers, with beatings and abuses being a prominent feature of working atmosphere at tea-estates. The state’s inaction in the past has engendered abusive work environment in tea-estates and its apathy continues to foster it”, the statement said. The NEFIS while condemning the state government’s apathetic attitude towards the plight of tea-workers and demanded an immediate probe to look into their working conditions in Assam. It also demands that the victims’ families be provided adequate compensation.