Building a Wider
Horizon With Labour
From dawn till late in the day, Mongra Oraon draws 50 buckets of water from a well to irrigate a small patch of the sprawling Bundapani Tea Estate in Birpara in the Dooars. Though the garden has been shut for years, Mongra diligently carries on the back-breaking work to keep the crop healthy. “If we don’t water the bushes, red spiders will invade and affect leaf production. We will lose our only source of sustenance. We can endure hard labour in scorching heat but not hunger,” the sweat-drenched labourer says.
