Assam govt increases daily wages of tea garden workers to Rs 318 ahead of assembly polls

Ahead of assembly polls, the Assam cabinet approved a proposal on Saturday to increase the daily wages of tea garden workers in the state to Rs 318, including 101 for rations. Tea estate labourers in the state will get a daily wage of Rs 217, a hike from Rs 167, and also receive Rs 101 for rations, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Chandra Mohan Patowary told reporters after the cabinet meeting.

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The cabinet chaired by the Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal gave its nod to a proposal of constituting a one-member committee to fix wages of small tea garden workers. J B Ekka, the labour department's principal secretary will be the only member of the panel. Chandra Mohan Patowary also talked about the other decisions which were approved by the cabinet;

• The purchase of 8,000 wheelchairs for uses in the forthcoming assembly elections and other purposes thereafter.
• The proposal to create Bodoland Administrative Staff College and a new department for the welfare of Bodoland was cleared.
• Rules made for service condition & eligibility of chairman, member secretary and members of Assam Pollution Control Board 
• To regularise the service of 101 vocational teachers in 637 schools.
• Amendment to the Guwahati Master Plan 2025 was also cleared.
• Green signal for allotments of land to Srimanta Sankaradeva University at Nagaon, World Renewal Spiritual Trust at Kamrup and a civil society organisation at Guwahati.
• An extension of up to 60 years to contractual employees who have been in service for at least 10 years in the Panchayat and Rural Department.

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Politics over Tea Garden Workers

With state elections round the corner, the wage revision of tea garden workers has now become a political issue in the state. As opposition Congress has been accusing the BJP-led government of failing to increase the daily income of the plantation workers. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi in his recent visit to the state had promised to increase their daily wage to Rs 365 if voted to power. 

Assam has over 10 lakh tea labourers in the organised sector, working in around 800 estates. The northeastern state contributes about 52 per cent of the country's annual production.

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Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had announced in the budget that the Centre will provide Rs 1,000 crore for the welfare of tea workers especially women and their children in West Bengal and Assam. On February 6, during her visit to the poll-bound state, Sitharaman distributed Rs 3,000 each to 7.47 lakh tea garden workers in the state under the Assam Chah Bagicha Dhan Puraskar Mela Scheme.

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(With PTI Inputs)