Hundreds of tea garden workers under the banner of All Tea Tribe Students’ Association (ATTSA) on Thursday staged demonstrations in various tea gardens of Dibrugarh district seeking hike in minimum daily wage to Rs 351 from the current wage of Rs 167.
The plantation workers carried out the protests at the Mancotta Tea Estate, Ida Tea Estate, Lepetkata Tea Estate, Barbaruah Tea Estate, Bolai Tea Estate and Dewanbari Tea Estate by burning effigies of Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal and Labour and Tea Tribes Welfare Minister Pallab Lochan Das.
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The agitators raised slogans against the BJP-led Government for failing to fulfil its 2016 pre-poll promise of hiking tea garden workers’ wages to Rs 350.
Until recently the tea garden workers in the Brahmaputra Valley were paid a daily wage of Rs 137.
On July 8, the State Government hiked the wages of tea garden workers by Rs 30 taking it to Rs 167. Similarly, the wages of garden workers in the Barak Valley were hiked to Rs 145 from Rs 115.
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Though the hike was termed as an interim move by the Government as the one-man committee headed by Additional Chief Secretary Kumar Sanjay Krishna is yet to give its recommendations.
There was widespread discontentment among the tea garden workers considering the fact that the BJP had promised to increase the wages to Rs 350 per day ahead of the 2016 Assembly polls, if voted to power.