Measures taken by SBI for tea garden labourers

Guwahati, Dec 6: As Tea Gardens worry about wages on note ban, the government has ordered banks to open accounts for all tea garden labourers so that wages can be transferred into accounts.

Following the decision taken on November 8, the Centre was quick to address the issue in Assam, which has the country’s largest number of registered tea gardens (780). SBI took the lead role to start with opening accounts, installation of ATM machines in Tea Gardens within a very short duration  where proper infrastructure is readily available. And with the initiation from SBI, Assam has already emerged as Model State.

So far SBI has opened more than 61,000 accounts; 10 numbers of POS machines have been installed in and around tea gardens. Many of the beneficiaries whose account have been opened started online transactions. A total of 30 sites so far are ready for installation of ATMs in various tea gardens. Out of 30 ATM sites, 11 ATM machines will be installed shortly within a span of two weeks. The 3rd Tea Garden ATM is supposed to be installed at Dhalsiri Tea estate, Dhekiajuli of Sonitpur District shortly. This was stated in a press release.