STAFF REPORTER
GUWAHATI: The State Government and stakeholders of the tea industry today unanimously decided to hike the daily wage of tea garden labourers by Rs 27. The hike will be effective from August 1, 2022. With this hike, a tea garden labourer will get Rs 232 in the Brahmaputra Valley and Rs 210 in the Barrak Valley. It will benefit around 7.50 lakh permanent tea garden labourers in the state.
Representatives of the Indian Tea Association, Northeast Tea Association, Tea Association of India, Bharatiya Chai Parishad, Assam Tea Planters Association and the Assam Chah Mazdoor Sangha (ACMS) had a meeting with Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma today on various issues related tea garden labourers, including their daily wage, healthcare, drinking water, ration cards, etc.
The Chief Minister said, "Our government has always given priority to the overall welfare of tea workers. In the past 15 months, our government has hiked tea workers' wage by 39 per cent."
In May 2021, tea workers' wages were Rs 167 in the Brahmaputra Valley and Rs 145 in the Barak Valley.
The meeting also decided tea estate management to continue the supply of food grains to the tea workers. The Chief Minister urged the tea gardens to take fair-price shop licences to supply food grains to their workers. He said the Government would issue ration cards to all tea garden workers.
The Chief Minister also assured the garden management to raise the government subsidy for orthodox tea from the existing Rs 7 to Rs 10 per kg to boost the exports of this variety of tea and to help in the equilibrium of the demand-supply mismatch of CTC tea.
The ACMS and other labour unions were demanding their daily-wage hike up to Rs 350 as promised by the BJP before the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. The BJP Government in the state hiked the daily wage of tea workers by Rs 30 in 2021. The State Government announced a 50-rupee hike in February 2021, but the garden management moved the court that kept that in abeyance.
According to sources in the Labour Welfare Department, the Government will take strict measures for the welfare of labourers in private and unorganized sectors, let alone tea garden workers. The move will cover domestic help, mall employees and the employees of other private establishments. According to sources, the Government will provide their insurance cover, issue health cards etc.
Assam has around 6.27 lakh people engaged in the private sector. According to sources, it has come to light that many private establishments stop short of doing all mentioned in the Labourers Act. According to sources, the Chief Minister has taken it seriously and instructed the Department of Labourer Welfare to take action for the welfare of the workers.
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