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Tasa slams tea industry Bonus issue

By Staff Correspondent

JORHAT, Aug 22 - BJP Rajya Sabha MP Kamakhya Prasad Tasa today slammed the state tea industry for its inability to pay 20 per cent bonus to its workers and employees.

Addressing a press conference, Tasa reacted to the statement made by several tea industry captains under the banner of Consultative Committee of Plantation Associations (CCPA) -the apex body of tea producer associations in India - in Guwahati on Tuesday stating that the gardens may not be able to pay more than the minimum 8.33 per cent stipulated under the Payment of Bonus Act, 1965.

"How could CCPA say that all gardens will not be able to pay 20 per cent bonus as balance-sheets of the gardens are not uniform," Tasa, also a former ATTSA leader questioned the tea industry's announcement.

The MP, while stating that the industry will be paying bonus on the basis of the performance shown in the balance-sheets of gardens of the last fiscal (2018-19) year.

Refusing to buy the gloomy picture projected by the industry captains about the tea sector in Assam, Tasa said that industry by prematurely announcing of inability to pay 20 per cent bonus and instead stick to the minimum rate of 8.33 per cent as per the Act, has created "unnecessary anxiety and tension" among the workers much earlier.

He pointed out that bonus is normally paid before Durga Puja celebrations, which is scheduled for the first week of October this year, and hence making announcement of inability to pay bonus at 20 per cent by the industry as a whole was uncalled for and would only create problems.

The MP said that the industry should have been careful before speaking on failure to pay bonus at 20 per cent by all gardens.

He said that he would urge the Government not to pay heed to the "unjustified demands" of the tea industry.

Tasa alleged that the tea estate owners never tried to upgrade the age-old method of managing the gardens and instead invested the profits outside the State.

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