Guwahati, May 9: The management of the Meleng Tea Estate in Jorhat district today declared an indefinite lockout and evacuated the garden executives after the labourers assaulted the garden’s medical staff yesterday.

The labourers ransacked the garden hospital and manhandled the pharmacist, Hemanta Kalita, and two ward boys. The mob also ransacked the official bungalow of doctor Saifuddin Ansari, alleging that negligence by the garden hospital’s staff had led to the death of the son of a worker who was not employed by the tea garden.

The boy was admitted at the garden hospital but was later shifted to Mission Hospital where he died. The labourers alleged that the boy died because of poor treatment by the garden hospital staff.

The Tea Association of India (TAI), of which the Meleng is a member, has apprised the government and said doctors are reluctant to work in tea estates with an increase in such incidents.

TAI secretary J.N. Baruah said the garden hospital had provided the necessary treatment though it was not mandatory to provide treatment to the children of non-workers. “He died at the Mission Hospital and the garden hospital has nothing to do with it,” he said.

Baruah said several doctors and executives under the association had sought security after the incident. “We have taken up the matter with the government. This has become a serious matter. Attacks on tea garden officials have become a day-to-day affair nowadays,” he added.

The Assam Tea Tribes Students’ Association, on the other hand, said there was no reason for the garden management to declare a lockout.

“The labourers were angry after the death of the young boy. They did not attack the hospital staff as alleged,” said Dhiraj Gowala, the president of the association’s Jorhat unit.

The association has submitted a memorandum to the district authorities to ask the management to reopen the garden in 24 hours.

Gowala said there was negligence on part of the garden hospital staff leading to the death of the child. “There was no one to open the saline bottle and blood had entered the bottle from the boy’s vein. He turned weak, resulting in his death,” he said.

Gowala said the hospital staff was probably not serious because the victim was a son of a non-worker and the hospital staff was not serious.