Social workers allege that workers engaged in cutting tea plants in Valparai's Nadumalai Estate are labouring without proper protective gear as well as putting public at risk since safety notice boards to warn the public have not been put up on the estate.
Coimbatore: There are about 62 tea estates in Valparai area of Coimbatore district with tea cultivation being the main source of livelihood for the locals. Once in 100 years, the tea plant is completely removed and fresh tea plant seedlings are planted and then grown, with tea leaves being plucked for further processing into tea leaves or tea dust.
The processed tea is usually divided into more than 10 varieties and sold. About 50,000 people are currently employed in the tea plantations of Valparai.
It is customary to use machines which are sharp to cut the tea plants in the tea garden areas after a proper notice board is put up, advising the public to traverse carefully through the tea gardens.
Workers generally use the machines only after the area is declared a prohibited area symbolised by a red ribbon.
Workers using the machine will also have to use helmets, gloves and protective gear which are mandatory and the tea garden management is expected to adhere to this safeguard for its workers.
But in the vicinity of the settlement in Nadumalai Estate area near Valparai, three estate workers are seen cutting tea plants on the roadside without any protective gear, not even helmets.
There ar eno visible notice boards either to warn the public. Social activists have demanded that the estate management should take precautionary measures immediately before anny casualty arises.