in remote Lakhipur Assembly constituency of Cachar district of Assam are left to the mercy of God and to die due to the apathy of the tea garden management and the Assam State Government.The tea garden is under threat of being converted into a ‘death valley’ due to hunger and diseases spreading in the area for lack of food and medical services. So far about 15 people have lost their lives due to hunger and lack of medical treatment. This constituency is represented by Assam’s former minister, Dinesh Prasad Gwala who has ironically said that the deaths occurred due to diseases and not due to hunger.

The four month long lockout in Buban Valley tea garden forced the poor workers into a very tight corner. The management as well as the state administration did not pay heed to the workers who toil for the benefit of their employers. Even after fifteen people including a newly born child have paid with their lives due to hunger and lack of medical treatment there was no indication of any concern either from the management or from the state government.

Assam’s former minister, Dinesh Prasad Gwala has ironically said that the deaths occurred due to diseases and not due to hunger.

However, after 43 workers fell sick and some human rights organizations came to their rescue and the media highlighted the issue the state government started to make a move. The People’s Right Forum, a human rights organization announced that it would move to the High Court for an independent probe into the matter and find out the reasons behind the workers’ deaths. On the other hand, Barak Valley Human Rights Commission has approached the food commission of the apex court of the country. Asian Human Rights Commission has also lodged a complaint related to this matter in the United Nations.

The Chief Minister of Assam, Tarun Gogoi, has now asked the Sports and Excise Minister, Ajit Singh, accompanied by Additional Chief Secretary, Prashanta Kumar Choudhury to review the situation in Bhuban Valley and submit reports soon.  It may be mentioned here that after four months of continued lockout in the tea garden there was no sign of improvement in the condition of the workers. Forty three workers of the garden had struggled for their lives and 12 workers out of these died of hunger in the first week of January itself.

The district administration arranged a few meetings with the management without any results. Barak Valley Human Rights Commission alleged that the government and the inquiry commission have both failed to shoulder their responsibilities. It has been alleged that the rural health centre is grossly inactive in the area. The Asom Tea Tribe Students Union alleged that the investigation by Additional Chief Secretary P K Choudhury is also progressing very slowly and nobody knows whether his report will be complete in time.

Meanwhile, minister, Ajit Singh has asked the health department to submit the list of sick workers and has also instructed the social welfare department to pay `700 each to 15 patients suffering from TB.