OUR CORRESPONDENT
TINSUKIA: The Women's Safety Accelerator Fund (WSAF) conducted a stakeholders' meeting at DC's conference hall Tinsukia on Tuesday to engage with local partners for creating safe and empowered workspaces for women in the tea estates in the region.
In Tinsukia, the WSAF is implemented by the NGO Contact Base. Ananya Bhattacharya and Devdan Mukherjee from Contact Base shared their experience from the field. They dwelt at length on lack of awareness and understanding on forms of violence against women and girls (VAWG), normalization of domestic violence and low awareness on responding to incidents of violence. They highlighted the need to strengthen the existing care and protection mechanisms with the estates. The program is currently operating in 29 Tea Estates of Assam, spread across 9 districts. The fund intends to benefit over 200,000 women tea workers across 300 tea estates in Assam by 2023.
While Jatin Bavishi from the WSAF Secretariat introduced the program to all stakeholders, the meeting was chaired by the Deputy Commissioner of Tinsukia Narsing Pawar in presence of Sarfaraz Haque, ADC, Apurba Borgohain, AC, Rizwana Tasnim Hazarika, District Child Protection Officer, besides other officials and tea estate managers from Powai, Hatimara, ChotaTingrai and Tongonagaon Tea Estates.
Also read: Free LPG cylinders distributed to women beneficiaries under PM Ujjala 2.0 scheme in Tinsukia
Also Watch: