GUWAHATI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday lauded Assam’s BJP-led government for ending a “historical injustice” by giving land ownership rights to the tea garden workers.
At an event in Guwahati, he launched the distribution of land deeds to tea plantation workers, the first such initiative in the 200-year-old history of Assam tea. He also released the 22nd instalment of the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi scheme, transferring over `18,640 crore to more than 9.32 crore farmers.
Modi said the BJP honoured the tea garden community by granting land rights.
“Assam earned a place on the global stage because of the hard work of its tea garden workers. The aroma of the tea they grow has become India’s identity around the world. Today, the BJP and the NDA stand with these hard-working people, giving them the respect and the support they deserve,” the PM said.
He further stated that they did not get land ownership rights earlier, as theCongress never cared for them. “The Assam government is ending this historical injustice. These families will now get land, and the road is clear for them to get pucca houses,” Modi said.
He further stated that he was repaying a debt by honouring the tea workers. “You worked in the tea gardens of Assam, and the tea leaves reached far away in my village in Gujarat. I reached this far by selling your tea,” he said.
Eligible tea garden workers, living in the labour housing lines, can now apply for legal ownership of land as well as homes they and their families have lived in for generations. Assam has around 10 lakh tea garden workers.
On March 9, the state government had issued a gazette notification, increasing the minimum daily wage of tea plantation workers by `30. Their daily wage will increase to `280 in the Brahmaputra Valley and `258 in the Barak Valley from April 1.
Earlier in the day, Modi inaugurated and laid the foundation stone for development projects worth over Rs 4,570 crore at Kokrajhar in the Bodoland Territorial Region.
Centre wants DM, CP on deputation after Prez visit row
After the Union Home Ministry decided to get the services of Siliguri police commissioner C Sudhakar and Darjeeling DM Manish Mishra on central deputation following the row over President Droupadi Murmu’s recent north Bengal visit, the state government on Friday transferred Mishra and posted him as special secretary in the state Home Department. No decision related to the Siliguri CP has been taken yet.