Demand for solution to woes of tea garden labourers

 A Correspondent

Dibrugarh, April 6: The members of the Joint Action Committee of Tea Tribes Adivasi Assam (JACOTTAA) have urged the government to address the long-standing and acute challenges being faced by the tea labourers of the State. In a press communiqué, the chief convener of JACOTTAA, Israel nda informed about the pitiable conditions of the tea labourers, and the cold response of the government towards the lamentable scerio. Underlining the gravity of the problem, the press release stated that things were so bad in the tea estates that the tea garden owners were on the brink of absconding. Referring to unfortute incident of Bogidola Tea Estate of 2017, it was said that the tea estate was closed ever since the incident and the government had not taken any measures in that direction yet.

 Expressing disappointment and disbelief over the turn of events, the press release stated that although the proprietors of Bogidola Tea Estate had violated laws by shooting at 16 tea labourers, the same owners on the contrary, had filed a court case against the labourers. It was also informed that several districts - Sivasagar, Jorhat, Golaghat, gaon, Dhubri, Silchar, Karimganj, Hailakandi and Lakhimpur – did not have a Deputy Labour Commissioner to look into the overall welfare of the tea labourers, and as such, there was no end to their woes and sufferings.

 Taking pot-shots at the labour department of the government, it questioned the department as to how was it going to tackle the serious issues of the labourers in the said districts in the absence of the Deputy Labour Commissioners. nda, on behalf of JACOTTAA, further accused the government of not doing anything for the economic, social and educatiol needs of the tea community members despite the tea tribes contributing so much to the State’s demographic dividend.