Apeejay Tea axes six senior officials without notice

Our Correspondent

TINSUKIA: Apeejay Tea, India’s oldest and third largest tea producer company spreading over 17 tea estates in the prime tea growing areas of Tinsukia, Dibrugarh, Charaideo, Udalguri and Sonitpur districts of Assam, after a brief lull is back in the news again for axeing six senior local management officials without any notice by its Kolkata-based registered office recently. The officials included one manager, four assistant managers and a senior welfare officer.

Such an arbitrary act by the management has been strongly resented by tea workers and employees. After the registered office shifted from Talap to Kolkata, entire administrative works, including appointment, retrenchment and contracts, are being controlled by the Kolkata office, leaving the least opportunity for local staff to address their grievances.

The managers whose services have been terminated and have been asked to vacate their premises within 15 days are Pranab Kr Sarma (Budlabeta TE), Utpal Chetia(Kharjan TE), Monoj Baruah (Sessa TE), Rajib Kr Sarma Sr Manager (Ghoiralie TE), Anjan Jyoti Duwarah (Hapjan TE) and Palash Pranjal Sarma, Welfare Officer (Pangaree TE). They have been allegedly branded as poor performers.

According to a source, the management allegedly does not follow any appointment and recruitment policy and advertisements are done through naukri.com in contravention of employment exchange regulation. Such strategy adopted by the management has been depriving the local candidates of seeking jobs in the company, the source said.

It is also alleged that the company at the behest of a senior financial adviser is contemplating to appoint a few retrenched executives of erstwhile McLeod Russell whose gardens had been sold out recently to M K Shah Group of companies in place of recently terminated executives of Apeejay Tea.

Also Read: Assam News