The Tata Tea / ULFA Story

<< Previous

The Assam Tea Industry Terror Story

Till the late 1980s, militants did not interfere with the functioning of the Assam tea industry, as it was the single largest employer in the state. Even during the bandhs⁵ declared in the state during 1979-85, tea gardens were exempted, like other essential services. The first victim of the Assam tea killings was D Choudhury, Assistant Manager, Ledo Tea Estate, who was hacked to death in February 1989. In August 1989, Amal Barua, a field clerk of Corramore estate of the Williamson Magor group was shot dead. In March 1990, a Tata Tea employee, P C Scaria was gunned down.

The April 1990 killing of Assam Frontier Company Chairman and NRI tycoon Swaraj Paul's brother, Surrinder Paul (Paul), sent panic signals, as it now became apparent that appropriate measures had to be taken for the safety of life and property in the gardens. In October 1990, Bodo gunmen opened fire at a New Year's party at a planter's club, killing a manager and wounding ten others. In November 1990, executives of HLL's Doom Dooma Tea Estates in Assam and their families were airlifted out of the tea estates, with the help of the Army and the Air Force. HLL had been asked to pay Rs 35 lakh plus 5% of the net profits of Brooke Bond and Lipton. HLL refused to pay, and decided to close its business in the area instead. Soon after Paul's murder, the ULFA called a meeting of the Assam tea industry officials, which was attended by representatives from Tata Tea, Williamson Magor, Warren Tea, and Goodricke. The representatives were threatened with further killings if they did not pay money to the ULFA.

Most of the companies accepted the ULFA demands. Following this, the killings reduced substantially during 1991-93, though kidnapping and extortion continued unabated. Alarmed by the killings and the industry's plight, the Assam government set up the Assam Tea Plantation Security Force (ATPSF) to protect the tea estates. The costs of hiring, training, and equipping the forces were borne by the tea industry.

The tea estates were charged Rs 6 lakh per annum to hire one unit of the ATPSF. However, because of the high expenses, only 95 of the roughly 800 tea gardens in the state chose to maintain their own security forces. Also, the ATPPF just could not match the firepower of the militants.

Initially, the tea garden managers made direct cash payments to the militants. This was soon substituted by a system of paying via the tea garden contractors who could pay in cash and raise dummy bills on the companies. Exortion rates varied according to the size and number of gardens. Individual tea estate owners paid approximately Rs 5 per kg of tea, while larger gardens paid Rs 1-2 per kg.

Next >>

---

5] A bandh is a forced closure of public and private businesses, resulting in a curfew-like situation.