DARJEELING: Attending a tribal mass wedding—organised by the police— in the Alipurduar district Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee announced a gift for the entire tea belt. Tea workers will be getting an interim wage hike of 15 per cent. The Labour department will work on the process and will issue an official notification.
The Chief Minister, on Wednesday, inaugurated 37 projects and laid the foundation stone of 28 projects remotely from the programme.
Banerjee, on a tour of the Alipurduar, visited Suhasini Tea Estate on Wednesday to attend a tribal mass wedding organised by the Police department as part of community policing. As many as 510 tribal couples tied the knot at the mass wedding. The Chief Minister joined hands with the tribal girls and danced to the tune of tribal music at the programme.
Along with handing over Rs.25,000 to each couple as part of the Rupashree Welfare scheme, utensils and clothes as gifts, Banerjee also announced the gift for the tea garden workers.
Addressing the gathering, Banerjee said: "Before our government came to power your wage was Rs. 67 per day. We have now hiked it to Rs. 202. It will further increase. Till the wages are increased you will get an interim wage hike of 15 per cent. Minister Moloy Ghatak knows about it and will carry forward the process."
The tea industry of West Bengal engages 4.5 lakh employees, Around 12 lakh people are directly or indirectly dependent on it.
Incidentally, the trade unions have been demanding the implementation of minimum wages in the tea gardens. A minimum wage advisory committee was constituted by the West Bengal Government in 2015 to look into the issue. The committee had several meetings but is yet to come to a conclusion. While the trade union representatives had demanded Rs. 248, the management was not willing to go up above Rs. 220. "Mamata Banerjee chose the middle path. The interim hike of 15% works out to Rs.232.30," stated a political observer.
"We have given recognition to Tribal languages. Under the Cha Shundari Project, all tea garden workers will have their own houses," said Banerjee.