Tension prevailed in Margherita on Wednesday after members of the Assam Tea Tribes Students’ Association (ATTSA), along with the Assam Tea Tribes Women’s Committee, staged a massive protest against the management of McLeod Russel over its alleged employment practices.

The organisations held a five-hour democratic sit-in demonstration in front of the company’s advisory office in Margherita, demanding immediate recruitment of educated unemployed youths from tea tribe communities in vacant posts across various tea gardens.

Protesters alleged that the company has been unofficially retaining several employees in service even after their retirement. According to the demonstrators, this practice is depriving deserving local youths of employment opportunities and affecting the future of educated candidates from tea tribe families.

The agitators raised slogans demanding transparency in recruitment and urged the company management to prioritise local candidates for available posts.

Leaders of the protesting organisations warned that they would intensify their agitation if their demands were not addressed soon. Meanwhile, no official statement from the company management had been received at the time of filing this report.