DIBRUGARH, Aug 6 - As inflation continues to gallop, the cost of living is becoming unbearable for the tea garden workers who draw a daily wage of merely Rs 137 in violation of the stipulated State�s minimum wage.
In a memorandum submitted to the Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal today, the All Adivasi Students� Association of Assam (AASAA) urged upon the Government to enforce a �living� daily wage of Rs 350 in the plantations, stating that the low wage was giving rise to myriad problems among the workers and their dependents.
The students� body said that the tea garden workers were unable to meet their basic needs due to the low wage. Issues like malnutrition, tuberculosis, infant mortality, maternal mortality and illiteracy are the direct offshoot of low wage, AASAA mentioned in the memorandum.
�It is unfortunate that the State Government has failed to finalise the minimum wage for the tea garden workers despite the expiry of the last wage agreement in December 31, 2017. The prolonged delay in fixing the revised wage is only exposing the insincerity and inefficiency of the State Government,� said Rustom Kujur, secretary of AASAA�s Dibrugarh district committee to The Assam Tribune.
It may be mentioned here that AASAA has been demanding hike in wages of the TE workers to Rs 350 and implementation of the Right to Education Act in the tea gardens since June, 2014.
