GUWAHATI, July 11 - In an attempt to bring about the welfare of tea tribe communities in the agenda of priorities and expedite their development, Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal on Tuesday asked the Directorate for Welfare of Tea tribes to re-activate and strengthen skill development centres in the tea garden areas.
Chairing a meeting at the conference room of his office in Janata Bhawan, Sonowal while reviewing the schemes for the welfare of tea tribe communities in the State, said that the skill development centres in 19 tea garden districts in the State need to be strengthened to render skill development training to the youth.
�Enabling the skill centres to live up to their mandate will not only hone the income generating faculty of the youth, but also increase their employability�, Sonowal said.
Sonowal also asked Power Minister Tapan Kumar Gogoi to ensure electrification of all households in tea garden areas on a priority basis under the Saubhagya scheme of the Government of India. He also asked the Assam Power Distribution Company Limited to install individual meters in the households of tea garden areas.
Moreover, taking stock of the progress of the schemes meant for the people belonging to tea tribe community being rolled out for their development, Sonowal asked Tea Tribe Welfare Minister Pallab Lochan Das to develop a fool-proof method to see that no names are left out while transferring benefits under Chah Bagicha Dhan Puraskar Mela. He also asked the MLAs belonging to tea tribe-dominated areas to see that all rightful beneficiaries get financial benefits under the scheme.
He at the same time asked the Tea tribe welfare Department to achieve complete target of the schemes like Smart Phone to line sardars in tea gardens, pre-matric scholarship to tea gardens, post-matric scholarship, construction of patient guest house at Gauhati Medical College and Hospital.
Sonowal also took stock of the implementation of daily wage hike of tea garden workers and bring in parity of the wages in the Barak and Brahmaputra Valleys. Moreover, the schemes like Prime Minister Surakshya Bima Yojana and Prime Minister Jiban Jyoti Bima Yojana, under which the tea labourers having bank accounts would be availing of life insurance and the annual premium of Rs 342 per scheme per beneficiary would be paid by the State government were also discussed. The Chief Minister asked the Principal Secretary Finance to take schemes to their logical conclusion.
The Tea Tribes Welfare Minister Pallab Lochan Das, Power Minister Tapan Kumar Gogoi, MPs Kamakhya Prasad Tasa, Rameswar Teli, MLAs Sanjay Kisan, Terosh Gowala, Principal Secretary to Chief Minister Sanjay Lohiya, Principal Secretary to Finance Department Samir Sinha, representatives from tea communities, senior officers of the Directorate for Welfare of Tea and Ex Tea Garden Tribes were present at the meeting.
