Women from Garganda Tea Garden in Alipurduar district, who are trying to set up a cooperative to operate the sick tea garden.
| Photo Credit: Shiv Sahay Singh
Basanti Naik, the widow of tea garden worker Gunjan Naik, who died in June 2025 in Garganda tea garden of West Bengal’s Alipurduar district, survives solely on food grains provided under her Antoday Anna Yojana (AAY) card.
The 51-year-old tea garden worker is too weak to work. Wages at the garden, run by the Merico Group, have been irregular. But officially, the garden is not closed, and workers do not get any assistance under the Financial Assistance to the Workers of Locked Out Industries (FAWLOI) scheme, which workers of closed tea gardens are entitled to. The only cash Basanti Naik receives is ₹1,500 under the West Bengal government’s Lakshmir Bhandar scheme.
Published – April 21, 2026 10:15 pm IST
