Assam Chah Mazdoor Sangha demands workers of state owned tea estates be paid at par with private estates

GUWAHATI: Workers body, Assam Chah Mazdoor Sangha (ACMS) asked the BJP led government to pay workers of state owned tea estates at par with private estates.

There are 26,000 workers in state government owned 14 tea estates of Assam Tea Corporation Limited (ATCL).

ACMS general secretary Rupesh Goala on Friday said in a statement that workers in other tea gardens get Rs 167 as daily wage, while workers in government-run tea gardens are paid Rs 115 as daily wage.


“There 14 governments-owned tea estates in the state and all these gardens are paying Rs 115 daily wages. Why is this discrimination? We have reminded the managements of these gardens several times about the disparity in wages. Even workers also staged agitation in the past. But so far nothing has been done by the managements,” Goala said.

The tea garden workers in private estates of Brahmaputra Valley in Assam get daily wage of Rs. 167 per day while the tea garden workers in Barak Valley are getting a wage of Rs. 145 per day.

Assam has over 10 lakh tea workers in organised sector working in 850 tea estates. Assam roughly produces 55 percent of India’s tea.