Guwahati: The Assam government’s decision to allow the state’s tea industry to function with full workforce has brought back the smiles to the faces of tea planters.
The tea industry in Assam had been appealing before the government to allow them to work with 100 percent workforce so that it can make up for some of the losses which it faced during the 17 day lockdown period which started from March 25.
It may be mentioned that the tea industry in Assam was allowed to function with 50 percent workforce from April 11 by maintaining social distancing and other Covid-19 protocols.
However, The Indian Tea Association had appealed before the government, that the tea industry be allowed to operate with full workforce and accordingly the state government in its cabinet meeting held on the April 9 decided that the tea industry will be allowed to work with full workforce.
The tea industry in Assam is about 172 years old. It occupies an important place and plays a very useful part in the national economy. Assam has around thousand tea gardens and they produce more than 50 percent of the India’s total output.
Meanwhile, the SESSA Tea Estate, which is under the Goodrick Company, Upper Assam in Dibrugarh District, was found bustling with workers on Monday. The SESSA Tea Estate has a plantation area of 435 hectares and around 2300 workers including temporary workers.
“This is a very good decision taken by the Government of Assam by allowing us to work with 100 percent workforce in the tea industry. We are just about to harvest the leaves when this lockdown thing happened. That was very unfortunate and we have to stop our work on immediate basis. But thankfully, the Government has allowed us to deploy 100 percent workers and we welcome the decision. This will definitely help us in reducing the losses in the tea gardens”, said the manager of SESSA Tea Estate.
