DIBRUGARH, Dec 12 - About 200 women representatives of over 90 nearby tea gardens today pledged to make a concerted effort to shut down illegal liquor shops within their respective tea estates and also check gambling in the vicinity.
The women will be carrying out a month-long massive campaign against drinking and gambling in the tea gardens from January 3, 2018. The pledge was administered to the women representatives by Nabin Keot, the Dibrugarh branch secretary of the Assam Chah Mazdoor Sangha (ACMS) at its conference hall.
Earlier, the women attended a two-hour-long motivational programme. The programme was presided over by Sharmila Turi, branch president, Mahila Samittee, ACMS. The speakers in the programme included Rupesh Gowala, secretary, Doomdooma ACMS branch, Nabin Keot, secretary of the host branch, branch accountant Jiten Karmakar, Padmavati Rajwar, branch secretary, Mahila Samittee, ACMS and Pores Aind, Staff Correspondent of The Assam Tribune. The programme was also attended by the branch president Boga Kumar Nag.
The speakers said that if the bad practices in the tea gardens like drinking, gambling and superstitious beliefs etc., are not stopped the community will be heading for a bleak future. They said that drinking habit was not only causing harm to the social fabric of the society but was also dismantling the sanctity of several families by picking fights, draining hard earned money, causing poverty and affecting health of the people etc.
