‘Assam tea company denying benefits to workers’

GUWAHATI: A tea plantation company has been found to be reneging on its commitment to provide housing and other services to workers on its tea estates, according to a report by the compliance advisor ombudsman (CAO) for the International Finance Corporation (IFC). Amalgamated Plantations Private Limited (APPL), the company in question, became IFC’s partner in 2006. APPL employs over 30,000 workers across 21 tea estates in Assam and four in West Bengal. Following the partnership, IFC approved 20% equity investment of US$ 7.8 million in the company. The shared programme was designed to improve productivity and give workers the opportunity to have a share in the company’s profits.

The CAO in its findings said IFC’s pre-investment environment and social review were not “commensurate with the level of social and environmental risks and impact.”

IFC is the World Bank’s private sector arm, with the CAO reporting directly to the president of the World Bank group.

“The report validates concerns workers have been raising for years about poor living and working conditions on APPL plantations,” Wilfred Topno, director of People’s Action for Development, one of the three organizations that filed the complaint on behalf of the workers, said…

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