West Bengal tea plantation employees Welfare Fund bill passed

KOLKATA: The state assembly today passed ' West Bengal Tea Plantation Employees' Welfare Fund Bill, 2015', which will ensure welfare and provision of basic amenities for tea plantation workers in the state.

Labour Minister Moloy Ghatak while talking to reporters regarding the bill said it will provide interest subvention and matching grants to the employers of tea gardens as soft loan which they may take for undertaking social welfare schemes, medical facilities, housing, primary education, potable water supply, sanitation and child care and for providing other basic amenities for the families of tea plantations employees.

He also said that the bill will have provision to provide scholarship to the children of tea garden employees for undergoing training in technical institutes and polytechnics.

"The previous Left Front government has done nothing for the welfare of the tea plantation workers and their families. This step by our government will ensure overall welfare of tea plantation workers," Ghatak.

Ghatak also said that the bill has provisions to provide margin money as soft loan to incentivise the present owners or the new owners of the sick and closed tea gardens to infuse additional capital through bank loan for rejuvenation and modernisation of the tea gardens.