Opposition Congress on Saturday said the BJP-led Assam government’s flip-flop on the tea garden workers’ daily wage hike issue is a lesson for everyone who voted for the party in the recently concluded Assembly election.
“The interim hike of Rs 38 a day is a harsh gift by the ruling BJP-led government for the tea workers who are paying a heavy price for their one mistake of voting the BJP, for believing in the party’s false promises. The Congress feels this is a lesson for others as well – to check what has been promised and what is being delivered,” Assam PCC media department chairperson Bobbeeta Sharma said.
The Assam government had on Friday decided to go for an interim daily wage hike of Rs 38 for tea garden workers after cancelling the earlier hike of Rs 50 notified on February 23.
The decision was taken so that garden workers “do not suffer” because of the court case challenging the earlier hike.
The hike will push the daily wage of a worker to Rs 205 from Rs 167 in Brahmaputra Valley and to Rs 183 from the existing Rs 145 in Barak Valley. Currently, workers are getting Rs 167 and Rs 145 a day respectively.
“They promised a daily wage Rs 351 before the 2016 Assembly polls but what have tea garden workers got till now? An interim hike of Rs 30 in 2018 and another Rs 50 just before the 2021 polls, which was on Friday scaled down to Rs 38. We don’t see any workers’ welfare here? ” Sharma pointed out.
Soon after the decision on the interim hike, first-time chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma had said that tea garden workers’ “welfare remains a committed priority” for his government.
“For the remaining Rs 12, we shall initiate consultation with stakeholders and certain that an acceptable solution will be found out soon,” the chief minister had tweeted.
Sharma said the Congress had promised to hike the daily wage to Rs 365 within six hours of coming to power. It was one of five-pre-poll commitments of the party. To counter the Congress, the BJP had announced the Rs 50 interim hike.
“A tea worker is now having to suffer a loss of Rs 160 a day going by what the Congress had committed. The annual loss per worker per year is Rs 4,500 a month. All because they believed in the BJP, their promises,” Sharma said.
Sharma said the handling of the daily wage issue by the BJP should be a lesson for all.
The Congress had religiously flagged BJP’s unfulfilled promises during campaigning for the three-phase polls, which the BJP-led alliance won comprehensively for a second straight term at Dispur.
The “unfulfilled” promises by the BJP included deportation of all illegal Bangladeshis by May 2014, implementing the 1985 Assam Accord, according Scheduled Tribes status to six communities of the state within a year, updating the National Register of Citizens, dredging of the Brahmaputra to ease flood and erosion problems, revival of the two paper mills and jobs for 25 lakh youths.
The Assam Tea Tribes Students’ Association is also unhappy with the Rs 38 interim hike.
ATTSA president Dhiraj Gowala told The Telegraph, “This decision is very unfortunate. There is big question mark over why the state government went on the back foot on its own promise as well as the tea garden workers representatives such as the ACMS and Bharat Chah Mazdoor Sangha.”
He went on to add: “ The daily wage issue is a long pending demand. Why should only the workers suffer? But the ATTSA will never agree with this decision and continue its demand and democratic agitations till the minimum wage is fixed as per prevailing rates,” Gowala said.