The Rediff Special/

Garden Sentinels

The ATPSF is hardly a match for faceless militants

No planter in Assam feels entirely safe despite the Assam Tea Plantations Security Force, which was formed in 1994. The force was specially raised to protect harried tea garden personnel from extortion threats, killings and abductions.

The industry had been demanding a special security cover since 1990, after tea magnate Surendra Paul was shot dead near Tinsukia. Subsequently, Tata Tea personnel were airlifted in the face of constant threats.

Initially, the industry had offered to raise its own force, but the state government refused. However, it was in no position to provide fail-proof security to all the 850-odd tea estates in the state.

So in early 1994, a compromise deal was struck. The government decided to provide the personnel and the industry agreed to bear the cost of their training and upkeep. Thus the force was created by drawing men from the home guards.

The one-time expenditure of raising the force, training it and arming it with a judicious mix of SLRs (self-loading rifles), and carbines was borne by the Indian Tea Association. Initially, only the ITA companies were prepared to avail of the ATPSF's services.

At the outset, Rs 80 million to Rs 100 million were spent on weapons, uniforms and communications gadgets. About 1,300 personnel were deployed in the 66 gardens located in vulnerable places. Most of these gardens were either in the Bodo-dominated areas on the north bank of the Brahmaputra, or in the ULFA-infested areas of upper Assam. Currently, about 90 gardens have ATPSF protection where nearly 2,500 personnel are deployed.

Although the ATPSF is under the operational command of district superintendents of police, administratively they come under the director general of home guards and civil defence. The monthly salaries of the ATPSF personnel are, however, paid by the companies using their services.

Tea industry sources say the cost of deploying the ATPSF adds close to 50 paise to each kg of tea. From the ITA side, a retired brigadier oversees the ATPSF's security aspect.

At present, only the big tea companies such as Tata Tea, Williamson Magor, Goodricke, Rossell Industries, Assam Frontier and Assam Company have deployed the ATPSF. They leaves a huge body of smaller, non-ITA affiliated gardens without adequate protection, and hence vulnerable to militant threats.

Kind courtesy: Sunday magazine

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