AHEAD OF POLLS, ASSAM HIKES TEA WORKERS’ WAGE TO ₹217 PER DAY

GUWAHATI: The Assam cabinet on Saturday decided to increase the daily wage of tea garden workers by ₹50 from ₹167 to ₹217 ahead of the assembly polls in the state due in April-may.

After the cabinet meeting, parliamentary affairs minister Chandra Mohan Patowary said tea garden workers would also get ₹101 daily for rations — effectively taking their daily earnings to ₹318. Organisations of tea garden workers have been demanding a hike in daily wages to ₹351.

The cabinet also formed a one-member committee comprising principal secretary JB Ekka to look into ways in which a similar hike can be done in small tea gardens of the state.

The decision comes six days after Congress leader Rahul Gandhi announced that if his party comes to power in the state it would hike wages from ₹167 to ₹365 daily.

Slamming the move as a poll gimmick, Rupesh Gowala, general secretary of Assam Chah Mazdoor Sangha, a Congress-affiliated body, said: “We are unhappy with the decision. The BJP government promised before 2016 to raise our wages to ₹351 and after five years they increased it to only ₹217...”

Congress MP Gaurav Gogoi also hit out: “Sheer betrayal... Promising to raise daily wage of tea workers to ₹351 and after five years increasing it to ₹220...”