The West Bengal labour department has begun distributing application forms for Financial Assistance to Workers of Locked Out Industries (FAWLOI) among workers of three closed tea estates in Alipurduar district, beginning a process that could extend monthly support of ₹1,500 to around 4,400 people.
Forms were being distributed from Wednesday at Bundapani, Kalchini and Raimatang tea estates, according to a report in Telegraph India. The move follows an announcement by chief minister Suvendu Adhikari on Tuesday that the state government would take steps to reopen all closed tea gardens in the region and support affected workers.
Bundapani tea estate has remained closed since March 2025 and has around 1,140 workers. Kalchini and Raimatang have been closed since December 24, 2025. Kalchini has around 2,003 workers, while Raimatang has approximately 1,257 workers.
Workers at the three gardens had not been receiving the monthly FAWLOI assistance despite the closures, the report said. An official of the labour department said the completed forms would be forwarded to the state-level screening committee. Funds will be sanctioned after the applications are approved.
The assistance process places the screening committee at the centre of the immediate relief mechanism. Workers must complete the applications before their claims can be considered for approval, while the department will be responsible for collecting and forwarding the forms. The report did not specify the expected date for completion of the screening or disbursal of funds.
The three closures affect a significant concentration of tea workers in a district where estate operations provide employment and support local economic activity. The number of workers cited by the report refers to the workforce attached to the three estates; it does not establish how many individual households will ultimately receive assistance under FAWLOI.
Trade union leaders welcomed the distribution of forms but demanded that payments be made retrospectively from the dates on which the gardens closed. Bikash Mahali, the Alipurduar district secretary of Citu, said workers should receive the benefit for the period during which the estates had remained closed.
The demand raises a question about the gap between eligibility under a relief scheme and the time taken to complete its administrative process. The report states that workers at the three estates had gone without the monthly assistance for months, while the current process still requires screening committee approval before funds can be released.
Manoj Tigga, the BJP MP from Alipurduar, said the government had begun the assistance process within four months of taking office and questioned why workers had not received FAWLOI support under the previous Trinamool Congress government. His comments were made in response to criticism over the timing of the relief measure.
The next formal step is the submission of completed application forms to the state-level screening committee. Payment to eligible workers will depend on approval by the committee and subsequent sanction of funds by the state government.
