Dikom tea garden
Dikom tea garden. Image credit - YouTube

While Assam celebrated Rongali Bihu in a silent manner amid lockdown in view of Covid-19 pandemic, the labourers of Dikom tea estate in Dibrugarh decided to work on Tuesday despite being a holiday.

This was an unusual scene ever witnessed at the Dikom tea estate.

The workers at the garden decided to work and that too without any wages for the day as a gesture towards their management and employers who provided them with wages, ration and medical assistance during the 21-day lockdown.

The management of the tea garden extended support towards its labourers despite the garden has been accumulating huge losses.

Like other tea gardens in the state, Dikom tea garden has also started operation after a long gap due to the 21-day lockdown.

The Assam government recently decided to allow operation of the tea gardens with permissions from the deputy commissioners of the respective districts.

However, advisory was issued to the garden managements as a preventive measure to contain the spread of COVID19.

Dikom tea estate, which is owned by Rossell Group of Industries, has a total of 651 hectares under plantation.

The garden has around 1,200 permanent workers and almost equal number of temporary workers.

The total annual output is 12 lakh kgs of tea.

On Tuesday, the workers of the tea garden came out for work after initial rituals were performed for Bihu at the initiative of the superintending manager Samar Jyoti Chaliha.

Avik Chakraborty is Northeast Now Correspondent in Dibrugarh. He can be reached at: [email protected]