Tea Board takes up Bengal tea garden workers’ wages with RBI

Tea Board has requested the Reserve Bank of India to take effective steps for ensuring prompt payment of wages to garden workers of West Bengal in the wake of demonetisation.

The officials of the board has requested the RBI officials "for issuing suitable directives to the concerned banks catering to the tea gardens in North Bengal for taking special initiatives for smooth payment of wages to the tea garden workers," the commerce ministry said in a statement.

They have also asked to take measures for improvement in the currency flow to the tea growing districts in West Bengal - Jalpaiguri, Darjeeling , Alipurduar and Coochbehar as per the requirement so that outstanding wages can be paid immediately and also ensuring timely payment of wages in coming days.

Further the tea board has requested for expeditious opening of bank accounts under Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY), for individual workers so that wages can be transferred by the garden owners directly to the workers accounts.