India: Employers fail to provide safe drinking water, tea garden workers face death and disease

In late August 2009 an outbreak of diarrhoea and dysentery occurred in the tea gardens around the town of Birpara in North Bengal (part of West Bengal state in North-eastern India). Despite laws in India which specify that plantation workers, which includes tea workers, must have access to safe drinking water, medical facilities and proper sanitation, employers flaunt these laws regularly. The result is the state health system is overloaded and workers die from preventable diseases. The following video includes an interview with Dr Joydeb Barman, Superintendent of the Birpate State General Hospital, on the impact of the outbreak.

http://asianfoodworker.net

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• India
• IUF
• workers
• tea
• health
• water
• Bengal
• hospital
• diarrhoea
• dysentery

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This case study demonstrates precisely why Aotearoa New Zealand Auckland's super-city water services SHOULD NOT BE PRIVATISED!