Assam Government moves to hike wages of tea workers

* Garden owners reluctant to follow suit

STAFF REPORTER

GUWAHATI: Tea Tribes Welfare Minister Sanjay Kishan has said that the State Government will issue a notification to effect a hike on the daily wages of tea workers.

The Minister's assurance came during a meeting of the 'Minimum Wages Advisory Board for Plantation Workers' held here on Saturday. Chaired by Kishan, the meeting was attended by all stakeholders of the industry. Even though Kishan said that the government is determined to increase the daily wages, he did not spell out the hike percentage.

Representatives of the tea workers' union demanded that the State Government's earlier draft proposal of increasing the daily wage to Rs 351.33 must be implemented.

However, representatives of the tea planters' associations and owners of tea gardens who attended the meeting said that it would be impossible to pay wages at the proposed enhanced rate considering the present precarious financial situation faced by the tea industry and the increasing cost of production. Many owners expressed fear that they might have to close down their gardens in case of hike in wages.

The general secretary of Assam Chah Mazdoor Sangha (ACMS) Rupesh Gowala told The Sentinel after the meeting on Saturday evening that the proposed Rs 351 daily wage must be implemented from the retrospective effect from March 1, 2018. He also said that the present BJP-led government had promised to increase the daily wages of tea workers; and it cannot escape from its responsibility.

Sources said that during the meeting, the government has asked the tea garden owners and planters' associations to extend their suggestions on the issue within February 10.