Assam chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal on Saturday appealed to the tea community to empower themselves with education so that they can take advantage of government schemes.

Addressing a programme to celebrate the third Shramik Kalyan Divas at Kathalguri tea estate in the district, Sonowal said Assam was known across the world for its tea. “But the people who actually produce Assam tea were neglected for the last seven decades. The Centre is now committed to uplift the condition of the tea garden community in Assam.”

Sonowal highlighted that 10,000 tea tribe youths will be provided one-time grant of Rs 25,000 to encourage entrepreneurship and Rs 10,000 to meritorious matric and HS students from the community. He called upon youths to strive for excellence in academics, culture and sports.

Shramik Kalyan Divas is celebrated to mark the birth anniversary of tea community leader and social worker Santosh Kumar Topno.

“Topno dreamed of an educated and empowered tea tribe community and people should join hands to make this dream a reality,” Sonowal said.

He also called for maintaining cleanliness and hygiene in all the tea gardens of the state to reduce prevalence of diseases. He stressed on maintaining unity and harmony among the people of Barak and Brahmaputra valleys, plains and hills.

He presented the award for best performance in implementing wage compensation scheme for pregnant women in tea gardens to Jorhat district and inaugurated a cultural stage in memory of Mangri Orang at Mariani.

He presented awards to garden managements for best implementation of government schemes and released a souvenir. He felicitated writer Jaleswari Tasa, artiste Dulal Manki and footballer Pranjal Bhumij, among others.

Union minister of state for food processing Rameswar Teli, Jorhat MP Topon Kumar Gogoi, Rajya Sabha MP Kamakhya Prasad Tasa were present at the function.