Guwahati: The Assam government on Monday formally began the process of granting land ownership rights to tea garden workers, describing the move as a landmark step towards ending decades of land insecurity faced by the community.
The rollout was launched at Dinjoy Tea Estate in Dibrugarh with the distribution of settlement application forms under the Assam Fixation of Ceiling on Land Holdings (Amendment) Act, 2025. Addressing the gathering, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said nearly 800 tea plantation workers witnessed the start of the process.
He said the State Assembly had recently amended the land ceiling law to allow ownership of house sites and land to workers living in labour lines, which were earlier legally owned by tea estate managements. With the amendment now in place, the government has moved to implement the decision on the ground.
Under the process, application forms are being distributed to workers residing in labour lines or occupying houses built on such land. The forms seek details such as the name of the beneficiary, the extent of land under occupation and basic demographic information. The Chief Minister urged workers to cooperate fully to ensure the process moves without delays.
A large-scale land survey has also been initiated simultaneously. Surveys have already been completed in 103 tea gardens, and work will begin in another 250 estates from Monday. The exercise is expected to eventually cover around 800 tea estates across Assam.
Highlighting the long-standing vulnerability of tea garden workers, Sarma said that despite nearly 200 years of the tea industry in Assam, workers had remained without ownership rights over the land they lived on. He said families often lived in fear of eviction, and children were forced to drop out of school to work, lest their families lose their homes. With the new policy, he said, tea workers would no longer have to live under such insecurity.
The government, he said, aims to issue land pattas to at least a section of tea garden workers before the 2026 Assembly elections, although the full exercise would take time. With nearly 10 lakh tea workers in the state and an estimated five lakh families eligible for land rights, the process is expected to take six to seven months.
To facilitate implementation, four-member committees have been constituted in each tea estate to assist workers in filling out application forms. The Chief Minister cautioned that lack of cooperation could slow down the process.
He also noted that some tea garden owners had voluntarily relinquished labour line land even before the law came into effect, citing Dinjoy Tea Estate as an example. In a significant relief, Sarma said tea workers would no longer require a no-objection certificate from estate managements to build houses under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY).
The government plans to geo-tag all houses in tea garden areas and, where possible, provide housing assistance of Rs 1.6 lakh per unit under PMAY. Families with damaged houses will receive repair assistance, while those without houses will be eligible for new ones. In addition, financial aid of Rs 1 lakh per family for house repair and maintenance has been announced, along with Aadhaar cards, ration cards, subsidised food grains and access to other welfare schemes.
Sarma said tea garden workers had been demanding land rights for decades, but no previous government had taken a decisive step. With the amendment of the land ceiling law, labour line land has now been brought under government jurisdiction, allowing the process of conferring ownership rights to begin.
The move, however, faces legal resistance from tea planters. Tea estate owners have approached the Gauhati High Court challenging the Assam Labour Line Land Allotment Act, arguing that it infringes upon property rights and was enacted without adequate consultation. The matter is currently pending before the court.