‘Minimum wage of tea garden workers likely to be fixed by Jan 30’

Siliguri: The state government is determined to resolve the minimum wage issue of tea garden workers ahead of Lok Sabha elections. A meeting of the minimum wage committee was held on Tuesday at Shramik Bhawan in Siliguri in the presence of minister Moloy Ghatak where a discussion on minimum wage took place.

Another meeting has been called on January 30 in this regard.

“Today’s meeting was helpful. We had a positive discussion with tea garden owners and trade unions. Hopefully, we will be able to make a good decision on January 30,” said the minister.

Trade unions are continuing their protest, demanding a minimum wage for tea garden workers. They demanded a worker should get more than Rs 300 as minimum wage. Around five years ago, owners lodged a case in the High Court. Court ordered them to mutually fix an amount of minimum wage. Therefore, the state has formed a minimum wage committee with representatives of trade unions, government and owners. Currently, tea garden workers are getting Rs 250 wage per day.