Strike hits functioning of tea gardens, talks fail
Work at around 310 tea gardens in Dooars and Terai of north Bengal has been affected after the Progressive Tea Workers’ Union (PTWU), the labour wing of the Adivasi Vikash Parishad (AVP), called an indefinite strike from Tuesday, demanding hike in minimum daily wages of the tea workers. Although the state government held two rounds of separate talks with the tea gardens’ owners and the agitating union during the day, the outcome remained inconclusive.
After a meeting with the PTWU in the evening, state commerce and industries minister Partha Chatterjee said: “The dispute has to be solved because chief minister Mamata Banerjee wants growth in tea industry as well as the protection of the tea workers. We have urged the PTWU to withdraw the strike and join work.” State labour minister Purnendu Basu and North Bengal development minister Gautam Deb also attended the meeting.
PTWU chairman Sukra Munda said, “Nearly three lakh tea workers are on strike. We have demanded to fix our minimum daily wages at `91 instead of `67. A final decision will be taken after discussing the government’s proposal with the tea workers. Another meeting will be held on Wednesday to resolve the dispute.”
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IMI-Kolkata to start its classes today
age correspondent
Kolkata
Aug. 9: The RP-Sanjiv Goenka Group has now come up with a B-school with special focus on retail management to cater the demand of the quality human resources of the Indian retail industry which is booming. The B-school, International Management Institute-Kolkata (IMI-Kolkata) will begin classes on Wednesday. It has teamed up with Oxford Institute of Retail Management for research.
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