Second wave of COVID-19 hits Assam tea estates

A day after Zaloni tea estate in Dibrugarh district was declared as a containment zone after 200 workers tested positive for Coronavirus, 78 more positive cases have been reported from

A day after Zaloni tea estate in Dibrugarh district was declared as a containment zone after 200 workers tested positive for Coronavirus, 78 more positive cases have been reported from Mayajan tea garden in the same district.

The health department is carrying out extensive testing inside the garden, and numbers might rise by the evening.

Mayajan tea estate is located under Tengakhat development block and is owned by a company based in Kolkata.

Top officials, including the Medical Inspector of Plantations and officials from the state health department have been sent to the area to take stock of the situation.

However, workers of the tea estate complained that garden executives have disappeared from the scene since the outbreak in the labour lines. Workers have also alleged that daily routine is still being followed in the garden and at the factory, and no steps have been taken to contain this virus.

It has also been revealed that Mayajan tea estate hospital has no permanent doctor as of now, and patients are only at the mercy of a nurse and a few compounders.

However, Mayajan’s senior assistant manager Sunil Chetri clarified that being a small garden, the estate lacks proper infrastructure which is usually seen in larger tea estates. He added that to deal with the crisis, the management has taken a decision to convert the estate’s school and club house to accommodate Covid patients.

However, he admitted that his garden lacks basic medical care as the only dispensary inside the estate is very rarely visited by doctors.

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