Flood-Stricken Tea Garden Workers: In the Dooars region of North Bengal, the flood-ravaged tea-garden settlement of Bamandanga-Tondu under Nagrakata block in Jalpaiguri district reveals a harsh reality: casual workers and their families, displaced by the October floods, are now living in temporary shelters while facing not only loss of livelihood and homes but also creeping predators—leopards and pythons—moving into the vacated spaces. Amid surviving the disaster, the workers must now confront an escalating human-wildlife conflict.
One family in particular—headed by tea-garden worker Raju Mahali—is emblematic of the crisis. Having lost their hut and many possessions in the flash floods of October 5, 2025, the family is now sheltering in a school-classroom. At night they hear rustling bushes, see tiger-cat eyes in the dark, and find serpent coils near the walls. A calf was taken by a leopard, a python was found in the classroom, and the reality of living unprotected in a wilderness-adjacent estate has hit full intensity.
Flood-Stricken Tea Garden Workers: The Flood Event and Immediate Impact
The flooding of the Bimaljhora stream triggered by heavy rainfall caused rapid inundation of several tea-garden settlements. Worker cottages were swept away, livestock lost, and furniture destroyed. Raju’s family lost their dwelling and all documentation; they moved to the primary school building as a temporary shelter.
While the official relief process began—damage assessment by the block panchayat, inclusion in state housing schemes for displaced tea-garden workers—the interim period has been fraught with uncertainty. The promised reconstruction home has not arrived, and the first month of displacement has exposed them to multitude of vulnerabilities.
Wildlife Incursions and Worker Vulnerability
Tea estates in the Dooars are unique ecological spaces: tea bushes extend into forested belts, plantations border reserve forests, and worker huts sit on fringe zones. This geographical overlap has made human-wildlife interactions frequent. Previous research by the Centre for Wildlife Studies documents high incidence of leopard attacks in tea estates.
In this case:
- A calf belonging to the family was seized by a leopard.
- A python of about 12 feet length entered the classroom at midday—children present.
- Night vigil has become routine for the family; the school classroom lacks protective fencing or lighting.
Worker housing typically lacks predator-proofing: chain-link fences, night lighting, secure cattle sheds. Flood damage further compromised boundaries. The combination of displacement, vulnerability, and predator activity has concentred risk.
Livelihood Loss and Economic Precarity
Tea-garden workers earn low wages, often casual and seasonal. Their assets—livestock, small savings, worker ration cards—make a modest buffer. For Raju’s household: the cows represented both livelihood and financial security through milk sales. Losing housing and facing wildlife threat compounds the economic shock.
The tea industry in the region is under strain: international tea price drops, rising input costs, labour shortages—so worker welfare schemes (housing, medical, safety) are under pressure. Disaster recovery funds for such workers are slow to disburse, and documentation loss (due to flood) makes claims harder.
Displacement, Housing and Psychological Stress
The family’s temporary shelter in the school is neither safe nor dignified. The school is scheduled to reopen soon, leaving them unsure of next steps. Night after night, they hear animal sounds, fear snake enters, cattle are vulnerable, children cannot sleep. The psychological toll includes trauma from the flood, fear of predators, and homelessness.
The absence of formal transitional housing—no fenced site, no lighting, no community protection—makes them dependent on their own vigilance. The state’s housing scheme for tea-garden workers offers relief in theory, but in practice delays and resource constraints undermine effectiveness.
Administrative Response and Gaps
Local panchayat officials say damage assessments are complete; housing allocations will follow. The forest department deployed a cage trap for the leopard—but a bait goat was required and the family could not afford it. The forest team noted that the displaced workers lacked fenced compounds, which increased risk of predator entry.
State housing schemes exist, but the pace of implementation is slow. Housing grant for tea-garden workers – “Banglar Bari” or estate worker housing – is designed for regularisation but often lags. Wildlife mitigation measures remain reactive rather than preventive: once an animal is sighted, action begins—but habitat creep, worker housing near forest edge, and structural vulnerabilities persist.
Broader Context: Dooars Environmental-Labour Challenges
The Dooars landscape represents the interface of plantation economy, forest ecology and climate vulnerability. Worker housing often lies in zones with flood risk and wildlife intrusion risk. Climate change intensifies flash floods. Estate workers are among the most marginalised labour segments.
Wildlife conflict is not incidental: a study found that a majority of human-leopard encounters in tea estates in the region occur when workers or cattle use fringe paths, or when habitat corridors are disrupted. With workers displaced and infrastructure damaged, protective measures weaken further.
Human Stories: Voices from the Ground
Raju’s wife Kunti sits in the dim classroom, recounting: “The children now sleep in my lap; we cannot leave them alone. Last night I heard the python hiss near the blackboard.”
Their eldest daughter Nayna says: “I used to study here, now we live here. I cannot focus; I fear the night.”
Nearby worker Vijay Mandal lost his hut and livestock in the flood. He now stays in a temporary shelter tent with his wife and two small children, recounting how a leopard peered through the kitchen door last week.
These stories highlight the intersection of economic, ecological and social fragility.
Recommendations for Policy & Practice
To address the multi-layered disaster faced by tea garden workers:
- Provide secured transitional housing in flood- and predator-safe locations.
- Repair injured infrastructure: lighting, fencing, cattle-walls, drainage.
- Compensate livestock loss and document replacement.
- Integrate wildlife mitigation into worker housing plans: vet-scoped enclosures, night guards, community watch.
- Fast-track housing schemes for tea-garden workers with simplified documentation.
- Strengthen disaster readiness: early-warning systems for garden settlements.
- Connect worker welfare with plantation management accountability: estates must maintain habitat-safe buffer zones.
Conclusion
The plight of the displaced tea-garden worker family — seeking shelter in a classroom and wrestling with threats from floods, predators and poverty — encapsulates the vulnerability of rural labour communities in forest-adjacent landscapes. Their story speaks of broken housing, lost livelihoods and the raw tension between humans and wildlife.
As the state and central authorities mobilise relief and reconstruction, the deeper challenge remains: aligning worker welfare, ecological protection and disaster resilience in a region where the natural world and the labour world meet. For Raju, Kunti and their children, the hope lies not just in a new house, but in a peaceful night’s sleep unswayed by fear of leopard footsteps or python coils.
External Links for Reference
- Tea Gardens & Big Cats – Centre for Wildlife Studies: https://cwsindia.org/tea-gardens-and-big-cats-unravelling-the-mystery-of-leopard-attacks-in-india/
- West Bengal Disaster Management Authority – Relief & Reconstruction: https://wbdm.gov.in/
- Business & Human Rights Resource – Plantation Worker Wildlife Conflict: https://www.business-humanrights.org/my/latest-news/india-tea-worker-attacked-by-leopard-in-west-bengal/
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